Obama urged to return jobs to whistle-blowers

A coalition of government watchdog organizations has asked President Barack Obama to restore the jobs of some federal employees who were fired or marginalized during the Bush administration.

The groups, led by the Washington-based Government Accountability Project (GAP), are seeking an executive order on behalf of national security whistle-blowers who reported mismanagement and wrongdoing within the federal government.

The "poster children" for the effort are current and former Las Vegas-based federal air marshals who suffered retaliation for questioning agency directives, said Tom Devine, GAP's legal director.

"An executive order would be a very inspiring precedent," Devine said. "It would help erase all the cynical disillusionment that whistle-blowers feel towards their government."

A Review-Journal story last year contrasted apparently light punishments given to air marshals who have run afoul of the law with severe discipline handed down to air marshals who filed whistle-blower disclosures about alleged waste, fraud, and abuse.

The air marshal service has said it has "a policy of zero tolerance for retaliation in the workplace."

At least four past and present Las Vegas air marshals should be reinstated to their former positions, Devine said. They are on a preliminary list of about 20 names circulating among whistle-blower groups. Others on the list include a former National Security Agency analyst who spoke publicly about wiretaps on American citizens and a former FBI special agent who expressed concern about the adequacy of the bureau's counterterrorism division.

Robert MacLean, a former Las Vegas air marshal whose name is on the list, lost his job after informing a television reporter of Transportation Security Administration plans to remove agents from long-distance flights in 2003.

The agency's proposed measure came at a time when the TSA was warning of a heightened risk of terrorist attacks using commercial planes. The plan to cut back security for these flights sparked congressional outrage and was scrapped, but the government fired MacLean, claiming he had revealed sensitive security information.

He is still appealing his dismissal with a panel called the Merit Systems Protection Board, a quasi-judicial agency that critics say can't appropriately rule on often complex matters.

"We want to serve the federal government as if we never blew the whistle," said MacLean, who is now unemployed and living in Orange County, Calif. "We don't want would-be whistle-blowers to be afraid to come forward with their concerns."

In his first days in the White House, Obama signed several executive orders, including one pledging to promote open government by making public information more available.

Devine said immediate relief for whistle-blowers is something of a long shot, but he hopes the request for an executive order will at least lead to a fact-finding investigation by the new administration's Office of Special Counsel.

Other groups joining the call for an executive order include the Project on Government Oversight, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, and the Bill of Rights Foundation.

These whistle-blower advocates feel they have a friend in Obama, who late last year spoke of the need to "empower federal employees as watchdogs of wrongdoing and partners in performance." Obama's ethics agenda, which was released last week, includes a commitment to strengthen whistle-blower protection.

"Starting today, every agency and department should know the administration stands on the side not of those who seek to withhold information, but those who seek to make it known," Obama said last week.

In a letter sent earlier this month to the Obama administration, the watchdog groups touted the importance of whistle-blowers, "whether the issue is a financial bailout of the banking or auto industry, fraud at a Wall Street firm, prescription drug safety, environmental protection, infrastructure spending, national health care, homeland security, national defense, or foreign policy."

The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association also supports the proposed order, said Jon Adler, the group's president.

"A tourniquet has been placed on the vocal cords of proud men and women who have served in (federal) law enforcement," Adler said. "They should be reinstated and be given all the compensation they lost, so they can resume doing the jobs they love."

P. Jeffrey Black, a current Las Vegas air marshal whose name has been associated with the proposed executive order, said he filed 16 whistle-blower complaints against the air marshal service between August 2004 and December 2008.

In 2004, Black testified before the House Judiciary Committee about agency policies he said endangered public safety. Former Las Vegas air marshals Spencer Pickard and Jimmie Bacco were similarly outspoken about concerns including strict dress codes and boarding policies that made air marshals easy to identify. Pickard resigned under pressure, and Bacco was forcibly removed from his job.

"The Obama administration now has an opportunity to makes things right for those federal air marshals that have sacrificed their careers in order to keep the public safe," Black said.

Devine said an executive order would help quickly address injustices experienced by whistle-blowers. But he also urged Congress to pass more robust whistle-blower protection laws that would make future executive orders unnecessary.

In 2007, the House and Senate passed separate bipartisan bills updating the 1994 Whistleblower Protection Act, but a compromise bill wasn't drafted before Congress adjourned last fall.

"Until that law gets passed, we don't have any other option," he said. "There's no excuse for delay on this."

Contact reporter Alan Maimon at amaimon @reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0404.