All Things Whistleblower: A GAP Blog

Whistleblower Exposes ‘Substandard’ Health Treatment of Marines; Promptly Retaliated Against

Complaints of poor Marine mental health care at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina will be investigated by the Defense Department following a request from a North Carolina Congressman. The Congressman asked for the investigation following the release of documents pertaining to the September firing of a brain trauma specialist who worked as a contractor at Camp Lejuene and had made internal complaints about the facilities, quality of care, and poor security. Salon.com, which had originally reported on the firing, last week released the documents, which showed Camp Lejeune officials had changed the psychiatrist's performance evaluations from good to poor after he made the complaints.

GAP is no stranger to Marine Corps retaliation against whistleblowers. Franz Gayl, a former Marine and now civilian working for the Marines, faced unrelenting retaliation from blowing the whistle on the bureaucratic holdup of putting MRAP vehicles – which offer significantly greater protection to American troops than Humvees – in the field.

Gayl appeared on GAP's television program, Whistle Where You Work, to discuss the retaliation he has faced as a whislteblower. To watch the episode and learn more about Franz Gayl's courageous struggle, click here.

Google Partnering With NSA = Cacophony of Alarm Bells

This post was written by GAP Homeland Security Director Jesselyn Radack for her Daily Kos Blog.

Google has decided to partner with the National Security Agency (NSA) to analyze the recent corporate espionage attack on Google's systems  - said to have originated in China - in an effort to prevent similar cyber attacks in the future.

There is an enormous danger to Americans' privacy and a great propensity for error when government and private sector partnerships are initiated without aggressive oversight and meaningful regulation.

Alarm bells sound even louder when the NSA is involved, considering the NSA's infamous record of teaming up with the private sector to invade Americans' privacy in the name of national security. George W. Bush's so-called  "terrorist surveillance program," (a.k.a. warrantless wiretapping) authorized under dubious legal reasoning from our favorite former-DOJ official "torture lawyer" John Yoo, resulted in the NSA and telecommunications companies doing an end-run around the 4th Amendment to dig into Americans' private data without warrants.

Dennis Blair, Director of National Intelligence, insists that the Google-NSA partnership is necessary for national security, a mantra we've heard too many times to justify improper surveillance and privacy-invading programs:

Cyberspace cannot be protected [Blair] said, without a "collaborative effort that incorporates both the U.S. private sector and our international partners."

There are countless unanswered questions about the Google-NSA partnership:  Exactly what information will Google and the NSA be sharing? What happens to that information? What safeguards are in place to guarantee the information shared is kept out of government databases when there is no reasonable suspicion of criminal activity? What authority will the NSA use to obtain information from Google in the name of cyber security? Will a neutral party oversee the partnership to ensure Americans' privacy is protected?

It is especially worrisome that, as reported in The Washington Post, Google and NSA refused to comment specifically on the agreement:

Google and the NSA declined to comment on the partnership. But sources with knowledge of the arrangement, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the alliance is being designed to allow the two organizations to share critical information without violating Google's policies or laws that protect the privacy of Americans' online communications. The sources said the deal does not mean the NSA will be viewing users' searches or e-mail accounts or that Google will be sharing proprietary data.

After all of the disastrous missteps and proven illegality that the NSA has committed in recent years, it is unacceptable that all the assurances we have that this program will protect privacy and not result in illegal spying are from "anonymous sources."  It seems the NSA is once again saying "trust us, we're the government."  Frankly, while trusting the government is an already dubious notion, it is downright laughable coming from an agency like the NSA.

Cyber security is no doubt an important issue.  However, private sector cooperation with government agencies, especially ones notorious for secret surveillance, should only be undertaken where there are regulatory privacy safeguards and aggressive oversight in place.  Privacy should not be an area where we shoot first and ask questions later. The right to be left alone is far too crucial to our democracy to be cast aside by a few powerful government officials and corporate executives.  

Google should heed its own mantra - "Don't Be Evil" - before it leaps into bed with a government agency already known to toss out the rule of law.

2007 Government Investigation Found “Unintended Acceleration” Problems in 3% of Toyotas?!

During a 2007 investigation, federal regulators found that a significant amount of Toyotas accelerated without warning, but apparently couldn’t pinpoint the problem. The National Highway Traffic Safety Board Administration (NHTSA) eventually concluded the problem only affected a small amount of cars and did not inform consumers, despite the fact that they found at least three out of every hundred Lexus (a Toyota brand) owners in Ohio were experiencing the unwanted acceleration.

Does that sound like a significant amount? You bet. From the article (WaPo):

"Anything over 1 percent would raise a red flag, particularly for the manufacturer," said James C. Fell, who worked at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for 30 years, and was chief of research for traffic safety programs.

The recent recall of 2.3 million Toyotas and the unprecedented halt in sales of several popular models because of faulty accelerator pedals raises questions about why Toyota and the NHTSA had failed to bring the problem to light previously.

In another hit to Toyota's reputation, the Japanese government has recently ordered Toyota to investigate the braking system on the 2010 Prius, following which the United States said it would begin an inquiry as well. This also raises questions about the efficacy of the NHTSA, as 111 of the 171 complaints filed with the agency by 2010 Prius owners involved brake problems.

In the News Today

In news from Capitol Hill today:

Despite a promise from President Obama that his administration would be the most open in history, more than 300 individuals and groups have filed lawsuits in order to get public records in the past year. Many of the plaintiffs argue that the lack of transparency remains the same since the Bush administration, as 298 public-records lawsuits were filed in 2008, the last year of Bush’s tenure.

Embattled Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will face many tough questions today during his testimony in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The specific issue at hand is Geithner's role in the bailout of AIG as president of the New York Federal Reserve, and his possible role in its decision not to disclose information about AIG's "back-door" bailout of other firms. Geither has faced criticism from Democrats and Republicans.  

A coalition of nonprofit groups, including GAP, sent a letter to President Obama asking for a revision in the year-old executive order than restricts lobbyists from jobs in the administration. The order does not cover many special interest insiders, while still restricting non-profit or charity lobbyists, who do not have a particular financial interest in policy.

In public safety news:

New technology for radiation, and the nature of overworked hospital workers, has created new avenues for human error in the therapies. And because of the nature of the therapies, mistakes can be repeated multiple times, causing serious damage to patients.

And finally in climate science news:

Following the Massachusetts special election win by Republican Scott Brown, advocates of a climate policy are creating a more modest proposal, believing their more comprehensive cap-and-trade based plan would not pass the Senate. Instead, they are turning to a plan involving more "job-creating energy projects and energy efficiency measures."

In recent months, two cases against big producers of heat-trapping gases, including ExxonMobil and Shell Oil, have gone ahead in federal court after previous decisions to dismiss them were reversed. The cases, and others, are part of a climate change litigation movement that could eventually bring large industries to the negotiating table.

China Replaces Lead in Toys with Cadmium, a Dangerous Carcinogen

Following the release of a report by the Associated Press documenting the presence of cadmium in children’s jewelry imported from China, U.S. officials are beginning an investigation “as quickly as possible to protect the safety of children.” Twelve percent of the jewelry tested by the AP contained at least 10 percent cadmium, which can get into children’s systems by sucking or biting. Cadmium has been found to hinder brain development in the very young, and is a known carcinogen. The highest level it was found at in a given toy is 90% cadmium by weight.

Amazingly, because of the inadequate consumer protections, these items fail to qualify for a recall. Apparently, they would if they were painted. From the AP:

A patchwork of federal consumer protection regulations does nothing to keep these nuggets of cadmium from U.S. store shelves. If the products were painted toys, they would face a recall. If they were industrial garbage, they could qualify as hazardous waste. But since there are no cadmium restrictions on jewelry, such items are sold legally.

One piece of jewelry, a flip flop bracelet charm sold at Walmart, "shed more cadmium in 24 hours than what World Health Organization guidelines deem a safe exposure over 60 weeks for a 33 pound child." A CDC official labels the metal a poison:

“There's nothing positive that you can say about this metal. It's a poison,” said Bruce A. Fowler, a cadmium specialist and toxicologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On the CDC's priority list of 275 most hazardous substances in the environment, cadmium ranks No. 7.

Ominously, this investigation also follows the announcement that China passed Germany in 2009 to become the world’s top exporter.

In the News Today

In public health news today, ABC News reports that despite talk of a push for greater drug safety, the number of drugs approved in 2009 was similar to the number approved in years before.

An article from Frank Chiropractic reported that drug research is full of conflicts of interest that threaten drug safety, using GAP’s 2009 report, The ABC’s of Drug Safety, as its main evidence. One conflict, for example, is that while drug companies continue to grow, the FDA continues to experience cutbacks, thus threatening regulation and oversight.

A physician and a community hospital in Minnesota agreed to pay almost $850,000 after another doctor blew the whistle on fraudulently billing of Medicare for "unreasonable and unnecessary" hospitalizations. Under a federal law, the whistleblower received $203,150. 

In other news, the New York Times featured an editorial by two members of the 9/11 Commission arguing that the government should examine the entire intelligence and airline safety system to determine if the failures that lead to 9/11 and the failed Christmas Day terror attempt are endemic or fixable. Obviously, despite the commission’s recommendations, major lapses are still apparent.