Protecting Whistleblowers

Especially with the break of many stories this week of the charging of Boeing Whistleblower, Gerald Eastman, it is appropriate to remind everyone that Whistleblower protections are not very good at this point in time.  Most Whistleblowers are reporting wrongdoing because they feel responsible and duty bound to do so.  Life can and usually does become very ugly fast for those who have the courage and resolve to stand up to the wrongdoers.  This is especially true for Federal and Defense Department Whistleblowers.  And it is important to remember that the Justice Department is a huge hinge pin for all whistleblower cases when they enter our legal system, as if the courts are not represented by judges that can make good law decisions, and cannot remain in good accord with the U.S. Constitution, we don't have much to help or protect us, and our legal system and our rights and our way of life suffers.

  Please look at http://whistleblowersupporter.typepad.com to see the other cases nationwide of complaints or whistleblower cases that concerned faulty parts, and construction for planes the past few years.  Mr. Eastman is not an isolated case, but is in good company.  He is experiencing pretty heavy duty retribution for his commitment to seeing through concerns about airplane and safety inspections at The Boeing Company, which is not only devastating him, but his family as well.  Because the Boeing Company is pressing 16 counts of computer trespass, (and potentially faces up to 6 years in prison if convicted of all of Boeing/King County Prosecutor charges), Mr. Eastman is having to seek an attorney to defend himself against criminal charges in King County, and also still seeks to see justice done on his whistleblower case regarding airplane safety and inspection problems.  Mr. Eastman has been unemployed, thanks to the actions of his company, for an extended amount of time and the financial stress of all of this is profound.  If anyone can suggest a lead on an experienced and really good attorney for both the defense on the criminal charges pressed by Boeing and also the whistleblower case, please leave a comment, or you may contact me at [e-mail]

You may also show support for Mr. Eastman, by writing to The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, expressing your concerns, and/or make reports of additional information that you might be aware of to http://www.pogo.org  (You may do this anonymously if necessary.)  You may read more about Mr. Eastman's struggle at http://www.thelastinspector.com  And you may email him directly from that site as well.   

To help whistleblowers in general, please take a moment and contact your elected officials, particularly your elected Senators to the U.S. Senate and let them know you value protecting whistleblowers, and want S. 274 brought out of a hold status and brought to a vote in the Senate.  (The house already passed the equivalent of this bill.)  It is the Senate holding it up now.  Until this and other bills that grant whistleblower protections to Federal and Defense Department whistleblowers as well as corporate whistleblower protections we currently have, we will not be able to candidly confront and resolve these problems, and courageous individuals will continue to be harassed and suffer outrageous acts of retribution at the hands of the wrongdoers.

In addition, for Federal Employees, the Office of Special Counsel and the Merit Sytems Protection Board are also necessary gates in the complaint process.  The effectiveness of these two entities has been criticized and in doubt lately.  (Please see other posts on this topic on this site and sign a peition or find out how else you can help make the laws and the OSC and MSPB useful and effective.  You can also read about these entities at www.POGO.org and other advocate sites.

Also check in to the U.S. House of Representatives, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Henry A. Waxman, Chairperson.  There are many cases currently listed under investigations and there are many more that have not been announced on their website yet.  Please write them if you have something of significance to report.  http://www.house.gov  Click on Commitees on the upper left hand list, and then go to the bottom of the page to click on email the comittee. 

Also, if you are a concerned about corruption or wrongdoing, and are afraid to openly report it, you may go to http://www.pogo.org and go to Report Corruption, and click on Report Anonymously to make an anonymous report.  They really do read these, and organize them in files to be used when they are working on an investigation on a particular topic.  Your tip could make a difference!