Without whistleblowers, it would be difficult to apprehend many of the 10 to 15 percent of commercial vessels illegally dumping oil and sludge into the ocean. And the whistleblowers stand to profit, in one recent case, the award close to $1 million. -db From The New York Times, February 13, 2012, by Theo Emery. Full story
After six current or former Food and Drug Administration employees complained that their e-mails were being monitored, Senator Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) ordered an investigation into the FDA’s monitoring program aimed at doctors and scientists alarmed that unsafe medical devices were approved. Grassley said, “I write to express my concerns over your agency’s treatment of whistleblowers as a result of their disclosures to Congress, and specifically disclosures to my office. Whistleblowers . . . are often treated
The Office of Special Counsel stepped up to protect two whistleblowers employed by the federal government in a move unprecedented in the previous administration. The two cases concerned health and safety issues, one on providing mine resistant vehicles for the Marines and the other the approval of medical devices. -db From Project on Government Oversight (POGO), October 10 2011, by Nick Schwellenbach. Full story
The Australia Broadcasting Corporation reports that the future of WikiLeaks is threatened as a key figure in the organization called “The Architect” left the organization taking with him the submission system or drop box which was his creation. Now WikiLeaks has no way to receive submissions from whistleblowers and protect their identities. WhistleLeaks founder Julian Assange denied that the organization was in crisis. -db From the Australia Broadcasting Corporation, October 4, 2011, by Andrew Fowler
The Obama administration has reduced the backlog of Freedom of Information Act requests but still faces a large number of unfulfilled requests. Under a new plan, the administration wants to improve the processing of the requests and also address other crucial issues in government openness including strengthening whistleblower protections and making more information available. Writing for The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Kirsten Berg quotes John Wonderlich of the Sunlight Foundation who likes