RESEARCHER
National Whistleblower Center
Wed Mar 17 03:16:18 2004
64.140.158.123



National Whistleblower Center
http://www.whistleblowers.org/

This may be our best chance this year. Let's make the most of it.
Please Take Action Today!

Visit the NELA Action Center at http://capwiz.com/nela/home/  to find contact information for your Senators as well as more information on the CRTRA & JOBS bill. To send a fax or email to your Senators, click on the Take Action Now For The Civil Rights Tax Relief Act alert. A sample letter has been provided for you.

Thank you for being an Advocate in Action!
NELA

BLUE WHISTLEBLOWERS:
Professionalism, Retaliation and Remedies

A one-day conference sponsored by the
American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey
Rutgers University School of Law at Camden
Journal of Law and Urban Policy.

The conference will be held Friday, April 2, 2004
9:30 AM – 4:00 PM at Rutgers Law School in Camden
217 N. Fifth Street, Camden, NJ 08102

Featuring Panels On…

* · Overview of Police Whistleblowing Issues
* · Litigation Strategies
* · Protecting Whistleblowers: Legislative, Policy and Administrative Solutions

And Expert Speakers Including…

* · Professor Samuel Walker, Department of Criminal Justice, University of Nebraska at Omaha
* · Stephen M. Kohn, Chairman, National Whistleblower Center, Washington DC
* · De Lacy Davis, Executive Director, Black Cops Against Police Brutality
* · Ellen Green-Ceisler, Director of Integrity and Accountability for the Philadelphia
Police Department
* · Jane Turner, FBI Whistleblower
* · Marc. S. Raspanti, Esq. (Phildelphia, PA)
* · Anne Richardson, Esq. (Pasadena, CA)
* · Bill Buckman, Esq. (Cherry Hill, NJ)
* · Richard Rosenthal, Director of Independent Police Review Division, Portland City Auditor’s Office
* · Charles V. Campisi, Chief of Internal Affairs Bureau, New York City Police Department (INVITED)

This conference is free of charge! CLE credits are available for a $25 administrative fee. Advance registration is required.

Register online at: http://camlaw.rutgers.edu/acluconference  or contact Jane Rhodes at jwrhodes@camden.rutgers.edu  or 856-225-6658.

For more information contact Deborah Jacobs at the ACLU-NJ at djacobs@aclu-nj.org .

FBI OPR STUDY FLAWED AND INEFFECTIVE

OPR UNIT CHIEF JOHN ROBERTS RESIGNS

Washington, D.C., February 27, 2004. Today the FBI released the results of a Director Mueller-appointed two member “commission” concerning the effectiveness of the FBI’s internal ethics unit, the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). The report fails to address any of the systemic cultural issues which have plagued both the FBI and OPR, and failed to recommend effective reforms.

The so-called Bell Commission was established in large part due to the “whistleblowing” of FBI OPR Unit Chief John Roberts. Mr. Roberts, who worked over 20 years for the FBI, was the Principal Investigator in the Ruby Ridge and Potts Party voucher fraud investigations. Mr. Roberts’ allegation that OPR practiced a “double standard” of discipline was sustained in two separate investigations by the DOJ Office of Inspector General.

“The FBI hates whistleblowers,” said Stephen Kohn, attorney for John Roberts. “Because of the hostile work environment against whistleblowers within OPR, Mr. Roberts was forced to cut short his career at the FBI.” Mr. Roberts resigned from the FBI, effective today.

“The Commission ignored the key problems within OPR. Instead, the Commission white-washed the double standard and called it a ‘simplistic conclusion,’” Kohn said. “The double standard is real and well-documented. It undermines the FBI’s effectiveness,” Kohn added.

“The Commission utterly failed to address OPR’s long-standing history of retaliation against whistleblowers. The report shockingly confirms the FBI’s culture of protecting high ranking officials who engage in misconduct,” said Dr. Frederic Whitehurst, a former Supervisor Special Agent who was the target of an FBI OPR investigation merely for contacting the Senate Judiciary Committee.

For example, the report identifies a special agent and a high ranking manager (a member of the Senior Executive Service), who were both caught engaging in “sexual activities” with other FBI employees while utilizing “Bureau space,” “Bureau vehicles” and engaging in sexual acts on Bureau time. The agent received a 60 day suspension. However, the high ranking manager only received a 15 day suspension. The Commission concluded that the penalties in the two cases was only “arguably disparate treatment.”

“Not only was there disparate treatment in these cases, but the Commission failed to address the systemic cultural issues which resulted in the FBI failing to effectively discipline senior executives. Nothing in the Commission report prevents the FBI from continuing this disturbing double standard,” Kohn added.

“When Jane Turner blew the whistle on theft from Ground Zero, she was fired for “tarnishing the image” of the FBI. When executives use FBI time and space, funded by the taxpayers, to engage in improper sexual activities at work, they are mildly reprimanded and permitted to remain in their elite positions,” Kohn said.

“It’s no wonder that John Roberts, an honest and hard working FBI employee, could no longer tolerate the FBI’s culture, and double-standard system of rewarding or protecting high ranking officials who engage in misconduct,” said Kohn.

FBI VIOLATED NEW YORK AND FEDERAL
CRIMINAL LAWS AT GROUND ZERO

FBI Confirms Agent Thefts from Ground Zero
DOJ Still Refuses to Release Investigatory Report

Washington, D.C. February 26, 2004. A confidential report by the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General (OIG) confirmed the numerous FBI agents violated federal and New York criminal laws when they stole various items from New York’s 9/11 Ground Zero site. However, the Department of Justice, which investigated the criminal theft allegations, has refused to release a detailed report documenting FBI criminal activities at the Ground Zero crime scene and for two months attempted to keep the report secret.

The OIG investigation was sparked by former Special Agent Jane Turner, a twenty five year veteran of the Bureau, who found a Tiffany’s crystal globe on a desk in the FBI’s Minneapolis field office. When she asked about the origin of the crystal globe, an FBI employee admitted it was stolen from Ground Zero. Ms. Turner confiscated the globe as stolen property and turned over her information to the OIG.

“While America mourned, highly paid FBI officials lined their pockets with property stolen from the victims,” said Stephen M. Kohn, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the NWC and the attorney for Jane Turner.

The FBI publicly defended the agents involved by claiming there was no “FBI policy” prohibiting such conduct.

“I am deeply disturbed by the FBI’s justification for the agent misconduct,” said Jane Turner, the veteran agent who blew the whistle. “The FBI is not above the law, and every agent has sworn an oath to uphold all the laws of the United States, including the laws of the State of New York. It is a shameful day in law enforcement history when the FBI asserts that it needs a ‘policy’ in order to prevent or to discipline agents who violate laws,” Turner added.

“The FBI’s reaction to the theft allegations reflects a dysfunctional culture that undermines national security. The nation’s most elite police department does not need a “policy” to guarantee that its agents do not break the law,” Kohn added.

In a letter to Attorney General Ashcroft, the NWC emphasized its outrage at these criminal acts, its disapproval over the Department of Justice’s apparent refusal to prosecute the offending agents, and its retaliation against the original whistleblower. The Center urges the Attorney General to:
# Release to the public the OIG theft report.

# Prosecute the offending FBI agents or refer those agents to New York police authorities for prosecution.

# Reinstate and publicly commend Jane Turner, the FBI agent who “blew the whistle” on the thefts and was later terminated for “tarnishing the image” of the FBI.

The following is a chart of the major federal and New York criminal laws violated by the FBI agents identified in the confidential OIG report:
http://www.whistleblowers.org/

Searched the web for The National Whistleblower Centre
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&edition=us&q=The+National+Whistleblower+Centre&btnmeta%3Dsearch%3Dsearch=Search+the+Web