Temat: WHISTLEBLOWER NEWS. April 12, 2014 – 12

WHISTLEBLOWER NEWS. April 12, 2014 – 12

Washington Post: Sen. Charles Grassley Plans New Whistleblower-Protection Caucus
Summary: Longtime whistleblower champion Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) is announcing that he will form a new Senate Caucus focusing on whistleblower protection.
Key Quote: “Whistleblowers are often treated like skunks at a picnic,” the lawmaker said. “It takes guts to put your career on the line to expose waste and fraud, and whistleblowers need senators who will listen and advocate for them.”

ATVN: Panelists Discuss Government Surveillance and Journalism …

Foreign Policy: We Can't Say All That We See in Darfur
Summary: A former spokesperson for the Africa Union-United Nations mission in Darfur published an online column asserting that the UNAMID lies to the media about horrific conditions in Sudan and that it fails to protect civilians.

GovExec: Blowing the Whistle at Your Agency Just Got Easier …

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Another Lawsuit from Ex-Ethics Staffer is in the Works
Summary: On the heels of a jury awarding $700,000 to a whistleblowing former head of a Georgia ethics commission – who was allegedly fired for trying to investigate wrongdoing involving Gov. Nathan Deal's campaign finances – there appears to be yet another whistleblower who will file charges against the commission.

Statement of Make It Safe Coalition on 25th Anniversary of Whistleblower Protection Act
Summary: Yesterday marked the 25th anniversary of the Whistleblower Protection Act being passed into law.

Kyodo News: Ex-U.N. Official Pushes for Greater Whistleblower Protection
Summary: This piece details the saga of U.N. whistleblower/GAP client James Wasserstrom and his efforts to strengthen whistleblower protections at the international body.

CNN: UNC Fake Class Scandal and NCAA's Response Wind Their Way to Washington …

Deutsche Welle: Spiegel Report – NSA Spied on 122 World Leaders, Kept 300 Files on Merkel
Summary: Over the weekend, German media outlet Der Spiegel reported that the "NSA maintained a database of world leaders" as of May 2009 that contained 122 total names.

Vermont Public Radio: Lawmakers Mull Protections for Whistleblowers
Summary: This article provides background information and an update on legislation in Vermont that would guarantee anonymity for government workers to report wrongdoing or illegal behavior to public bodies.

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Whistleblower Suit Claims DuPont Ascension Parish Plant Leaked Cancer-Causing Gas
Summary: A recently-unsealed 2012 whistleblower lawsuit details allegations that a DuPont plant in a Louisiana parish "regularly leaked cancer-causing gas.

Associated Press: Accountability Group Unhappy with UNC Response
Summary: Late last week, GAP publicly released its letter to the Chancellor of the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill (UNC-CH), raising serious concerns about school officials' treatment and smearing of whistleblower Mary Willingham, who recently exposed that an estimated 8-10% of UNC-CH revenue-sport student athletes from 2004-12 read below a third-grade level. The saga continues, as the piece linked to above details UNC-CH's response to GAP (only after media reports were published), which left the concerns raised by GAP President Louis Clark "overwhelmingly unaddressed."

New York Times: Obama to Call for End to N.S.A.'s Bulk Data Collection
Summary: According to media reports, President Obama is preparing a legislative change to the NSA's bulk phone collection that would "end its systematic collection of data about Americans’ calling habits. The bulk records would stay in the hands of phone companies, which would not be required to retain the data for any longer than they normally would. And the N.S.A. could obtain specific records only with permission from a judge, using a new kind of court order." The proposal would also reportedly make changes to the FISA Court's oversight of NSA programs.

See: http://www.whistleblower.org/