Ag Gag Undercover #4 – Star-Crossed Lovers
Today GAP’s Food Integrity Campaign released the fourth video in its series, “Ag Gag Undercover,” which aims to raise awareness about the anti-whistleblower ‘Ag Gag’ bills. Watch all of the videos here!
Rolling Stone: The Trials of Bradley Manning
This Rolling Stone piece offers an in-depth look at Bradley Manning’s character, story and motivations as a young man finding himself involved in a largely unnecessary war. The article focuses on the increasingly harsh conditions of his captivity.
Key Quote: “Manning had a reason to believe the U.S. was engaged in activities that violated a number of laws, and so he made a fateful decision to expose illegality,” says [GAP client] Thomas Drake, a former National Security Agency official who was indicted under the Espionage Act in 2010 for leaking sensitive information to the press. “That is the classic definition of a whistle-blower, and what has happened to him since is classic retaliation against someone who exposed pathological power run amok.”
Three FBI Directors Have Leaky Baggage
While the CIA is making promotions of officials involved in the agency’s torture program, the FBI is considering promoting many notable officials notable for bad practices in handling whistleblowers. GAP National Security & Human Rights Director Jesselyn Radack profiles the questionable candidates in this blog post.
Key Quote: The new FBI Director should steer nation’s law enforcement agency toward enforcing the law rather than stretching it to give the Executive the most power, and toward using statutes like the Espionage Act as they were intended – to prosecute spies – and not to persecute whistleblowers like former National Security Agency senior executive Thomas Drake and John Kiriakou.
Australia Whistleblower Update: AFL Whistleblower Policy and Medical Investigation
The head of the Australian Football League (AFL) Player’s Association has come forward in support of an anti-retaliation whistleblower scheme to be implemented. The issue has come to the forefront of the sport since two players reported ‘irregular practice’ – possible substance abuse – among their fellow AFL athletes. The move by the Association head is meant to encourage more to speak out in a sport that historically desires silence from participants.
In other Australian news, a whistleblower’s complaints ten months ago have sparked an investigation into six Queenland doctors to determine criminal behavior. Allegedly, the doctors were complicit in various cases of medical wrongdoing, ranging from unnecessary instances of bodily harm to unwarranted surgeries and failed cosmetic procedures.
The Daily Californian: UC Pays $1.2 Million to Settle Federal Whistleblower Lawsuit
The University of California will pay $1.2 million to settle a False Claims Act suit filed in 2008 by a former professor. The lawsuit alleged that nurses in the UC Irvine hospital administered anesthesia without any certified anesthesiologist present. The claim was not the first in the history of the UC Irvine Medical Center, which was criticized for improper patient care scandals in 1995 and 2006.
A False Claims Act suit brought against an Illinois IT company that sells products to government agencies like the CIA and IRS has reached a settlement of nearly six million dollars. The suit was sparked by a whistleblower who proved that the company sold and profited from products originating from countries that are prohibited under the Trade Agreements Act.
The Daily Californian: UCSF Initiates Layoffs in Wake of Whistleblower Report
Almost immediately after a report from the UC medical workers union accused UCSF of dangerously understaffing its Medical Center, the school is proceeding to cut 300 additional jobs from the facility. Officials say the layoffs are necessary as they prepare to build a new $1.5 billion hospital campus. All UC medical centers are taxpayer-supported institutions meant to train future health workers.
Jack Davis is Communications Associate for the Government Accountability Project, the nation’s leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization.