Washington Post: Workplace Secrecy Agreements Appear to Violate Federal Whistleblower Laws
This front-page article details how federal agencies and corporations have increased the use of nondisclosure agreements, or gag orders, that employees are being pressured to sign. These agreements chill employee free speech and can violate various whistleblower protection laws. The article highlights serious issues raised by whistleblowers at the Hanford nuclear site, financial institutions and defense contractors. GAP Legal Director Tom Devine is quoted.
Key Quote: While the KBR [formerly Kellogg Brown & Root] agreements use direct language, others that have been surfacing in the workplace are more subtle, whistleblower lawyers say. Some instruct employees to report wrongdoing to the company before alerting an outside agency. Others tell employees that they cannot collect monetary awards for fraud they uncover.
“There has been a shift from the traditional, sweeping gag orders to more disingenuous variations of these agreements,” said Tom Devine, legal director of the Government Accountability Project, which represents numerous whistleblowers, including former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. “The techniques are becoming much more sophisticated, but they have the same chilling effect.”
Reddit: GAP’s Tom Devine Answers Your Whistleblower Questions
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Whistleblower Protection Act, GAP and the Make It Safe Coalition hosted a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” last Friday, in which GAP Legal Director Tom Devine answered a variety of whistleblower-law related questions.
Deutsche Welle: Germany NSA’s Main Target, Claims Ex-Staffer
According to NSA whistleblower and GAP client Thomas Drake, Germany became the agency’s prime spying zone after the 9/11 attacks. Drake stated the NSA could no longer trust German intelligence because a terrorist cell had lived and planned the attacks while going unnoticed by German authorities. Drake will testify this Thursday before the German Parliament’s NSA Inquiry Committee. GAP National Security & Human Rights Director Jesselyn Radack is quoted.
Key Quote: GAP National Security and Human Rights Director Jesselyn Radack said Germany’s federal prosecutors should summon NSA officials responsible for surveillance in Germany.
“And, if they don’t respond, then it should become more difficult for them to make a nice, small family trip to Europe, because they would then be sought under warrant,” she said.
Radack claimed the true intention of the NSA’s mass data gathering was to exercise broad control, not principally to avert terrorist attacks by finding the “needle in the haystack.”
“It’s about control over the population and economic espionage,” she said.
Santa Fe New Mexican: County Whistleblower Doesn’t Regret Standing ‘Up for what is Right’
A whistleblower reported wrongdoing in Santa Fe Country regarding a vendor’s management of a heating and cooling contract. After reporting the problems to his managers resulting in no action, he consulted with a state official and turned to the media. Five years and a legal battle later, Eddie Garcia received the final installment of an $180,000 legal settlement last week.
Dylan Blaylock is Communications Director for the Government Accountability Project, the nation’s leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization.