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As part of POGO's effort to identify good government practices at the state and local level, I attended the DC City Council's Committee on Government Operations and the Environment's June 26 hearing on the "Whistleblower Protection Amendment Act of 2009." It will likely become law, as 12 of the 14 council members signed on to introduce the bill. If the components of the bill remain the same through the mark-up process, it could be one of the most protective and comprehensive whistleblower protection laws in the nation. (For a look at how your state ranks on whistleblower protection, check out PEER's great analysis.) First off, I want to commend the Committee staff for following the good oversight hearing practice of having those most affected by the legislation speak first (the whistleblowers), followed by the subject matter experts (public interest groups), and lastly the government panel. This format, which we recommend during our COTS training to congressional staffers,

Former head of Israel's Atomic Energy Commission says the Israeli nuclear whistleblower has served the regime because his revelations helped Tel Aviv intimidate others. Yet Uzi Eilam, a retired army brigadier-general who ran the commission between 1976 and 1986, says the whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu did a service by alerting foes to the country's military might. Vanunu was sentenced to 18 years as a traitor in a secret trial in 1986. He was abducted at that time from Italy after revealing information about an illegal nuclear program at Israel's Dimona reactor to Britain's Sunday Times newspaper.

Former head of Israel's Atomic Energy Commission says the Israeli nuclear whistleblower has served the regime because his revelations helped Tel Aviv intimidate others. Yet Uzi Eilam, a retired army brigadier-general who ran the commission between 1976 and 1986, says the whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu did a service by alerting foes to the country's military might. Vanunu was sentenced to 18 years as a traitor in a secret trial in 1986. He was abducted at that time from Italy after revealing information about an illegal nuclear program at Israel's Dimona reactor to Britain's Sunday Times newspaper.

"POGO often talks about how not to treat whistleblowers-retaliating against them, ignoring them, and marginalizing them-yet we often do not hear about how government agencies should treat someone who shines the light on significant wrongdoing. This morning's broadcast of Democracy Now! provides an example of how legislators, and inspectors general (IG), can pick up the baton from a whistleblower. Democracy Now's host Amy Goodman interviews Arnie Gundersen, a nuclear engineer and former vice president of his power plant who blew the whistle on inadequate storage of radioactive material at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant 20 years ago. While the Nuclear Regulatory Commission did not confirm his allegations, then-Ohio Senator John Glenn and the IG substantiated his allegations. "

The U.S. Department of Energy has upheld a 2008 decision in favor of an Idaho National Laboratory employee who claims he was mistreated after filing a whistleblower complaint against the company that operates the lab. The agency issued its ruling Tuesday in the case of Dennis Patterson, a former 27-year employee at INL. Patterson, was the former manager of employee concerns and business ethics for Battelle Energy Alliance, the contractor that runs INL. In his 2006 case, Patterson accused Battelle of retaliating against him repeatedly after he filed a whistleblower complaint with the Department of Energy.

"Amnesty International has accused the Israeli authorities of subjecting jailed nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment by holding him in solitary confinement. The 56-year-old, who spent 18 years in prison for revealing details of the country's nuclear arsenal to a UK newspaper in 1986, was sent back to jail for three months on 23 May on charges of contact with a foreign national, and almost immediately placed in solitary confinement."

"A whistleblower has accused Olympic Dam of exposing its workers to dangerous radiation levels - a claim BHP Billiton has denied. The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has backed the company, saying it was not an issue. But Greens MP Mark Parnell says the levels of polonium-210 are above the company's health standards and the whistleblower told him workers are being put at risk, with too few safeguards at Olympic Dam. Mr Parnell said the substance was a dangerous toxic by-product of uranium production that could kill an 80 kilogram person with one microgram."

Whistleblowers have the potential to right a lot of wrongs, but if no one protects them against backlashes they are likely to repress the urge to speak up. That is why most workplaces have adopted policies that protect whistleblowers from reprisals, such as harassment or entries in their personnel files that could harm their careers.

Veteran Managers at SONGS Nuclear Power Plant near San Clemente Say Southern California Edison Retaliated When They Reported Nuclear Safety Concerns SAN ONOFRE, Calif., Nov. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- In whistleblower complaints filed this week with the U.S. Department of Labor, two managers at Southern California Edison's San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) say the company violated federal law when it retaliated against them for raising nuclear safety concerns. Rick Busnardo and Mike Mason have worked at SONGS for 25 and 29 years respectively, and together manage the fabrication shop that builds steel casks for the long-term storage of the plant's spent fuel rods. The integrity of the casks is critical because the spent fuel remains highly radioactive for hundreds of years. Busnardo and Mason allege that trouble began when they reported a "willful violation" of nuclear-safety standards to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in October 2008, after learning that a fabricator in their shop had performed welding operations that fell short of the plants' quality-assurance specifications. Busnardo and Mason believe their report angered Edison management because the NRC had cited the SONGS plant for a high level of such willful violations several months earlier, and the company wanted to avoid further scrutiny.

Veteran Managers at SONGS Nuclear Power Plant near San Clemente Say Southern California Edison Retaliated When They Reported Nuclear Safety Concerns SAN ONOFRE, Calif., Nov. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- In whistleblower complaints filed this week with the U.S. Department of Labor, two managers at Southern California Edison's San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) say the company violated federal law when it retaliated against them for raising nuclear safety concerns. Rick Busnardo and Mike Mason have worked at SONGS for 25 and 29 years respectively, and together manage the fabrication shop that builds steel casks for the long-term storage of the plant's spent fuel rods. The integrity of the casks is critical because the spent fuel remains highly radioactive for hundreds of years. Busnardo and Mason allege that trouble began when they reported a "willful violation" of nuclear-safety standards to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in October 2008, after learning that a fabricator in their shop had performed welding operations that fell short of the plants' quality-assurance specifications. Busnardo and Mason believe their report angered Edison management because the NRC had cited the SONGS plant for a high level of such willful violations several months earlier, and the company wanted to avoid further scrutiny.

"Reliable sources have revealed that as a result of a secret trial, Iranian nuclear whistleblower Amid Nasri has been sentenced to 18 years in solitary confinement. Nasri, a former worker at an Iranian uranium enrichment plant, revealed to the Sunday Times in London that Iran was developing nuclear materials as part of a program to create nuclear weapons. Lured to Rome by a strikingly beautiful Iranian secret agent, Nasri was kidnapped by the secret service and returned to Iran for trial. "

"Vindication does not happen often, but yesterday the head of Australia's Lucas Heights nuclear facility said a whistleblower was "absolutely correct" to raise serious safety concerns at the site. The comments from ANSTO chief Dr Adrian Paterson contrast with the treatment that 55-year-old reactor operator David Reid has received at the hands of management over the past 12 months. Mr Reid has been employed by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) at the south Sydney facility for the past 28 years. "

"There were demands last night for the release from prison of the man known as the Israeli nuclear whistleblower after it emerged he was being held in solitary confinement in the same section of prison as some of Israel's most notorious criminals. Mordechai Vanunu, who spent 18 years in jail for revealing details of Israel's nuclear arsenal in 1986, was sent back to prison for three months in May after being found guilty of unauthorised meetings with foreign nationals. Vanunu, who became a cause celebre for human rights activists around the world and was elected rector of the University of Glasgow in absentia, is being held in Ayalon Prison in central Israel. Amnesty International is calling for Vanunu's immediate release and his brother, Meir, contacted the Sunday Herald to express fears over Vanunu's wellbeing after being the first person to visit him in seven weeks. In an email, Meir Vanunu said: "I found him to be all right in general, but it was a depressing experience. The disturbing main fact is he is held in the hardest prison section there is in all Israeli prisons. It has the most notorious criminals in the country, well known hard murder cases and so on. Of course, there is no justification for doing this to Mordechai and it is only a continuous vindictiveness and harassment by the secret services and not serving any so-called 'security' interests.""

It's disheartening to see factories that churn out the most hellacious waste in the world plop down into Idaho lava fields, set up high-paying jobs, and then become integrated into the area via churches, spirited Little League ball teams and 4-H clubs. When something dreadful occurs at a nuclear site, often our culture covers it up. Whistleblowers are terrified of repercussions, being shunned by society and worse. Few want to be known as killing the goose with the golden eggs, even if they are speckled with plutonium. Three years ago, right before Christmas, there was a news splash at the Los Alamos, N.M., laboratory. Five workers were exposed to the highly carcinogenic PU-239. It took several days before this information came out to the public. Then it was through the Project on Government Oversight that co-workers coughed this up to, rather than their own trusted government and contractor.

Localnews 8 has learned Friday night that The Department of Energy Office of Hearings and Appeals ruled in favor of a whistleblower at the INL in several claims he made.

"An e-mail from an anonymous whistleblower claiming Vermont Yankee nuclear power station officials were aware of a radioactive leak years ago and failed to properly fix it is being investigated by the state attorney general's office. On Wednesday, state officials said the e-mail claims that leaking underground pipes carrying radioactive fluids at the Vernon plant were first discovered two years ago and never reported to authorities. Utility regulators said the claims are true, but are now exploring them further with help from the state attorney general's office. The tip, from a person who claims to be a VY employee was received last weekend, and alleges Yankee employees were told to patch the leaking pipe rather than shutdown the power plant to make permanent repairs."

In advance of tomorrow's related story [Update: That story now posted here], I thought you might appreciate a quick look at the following if you've never seen it before. Diane Sawyer narrates the story of FBI translator-turned-whistleblower Sibel Edmonds as she was awarded the 2006 PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award. In the bargain, it's also worth remembering that Sawyer herself is at least aware of Edmonds, who she is, and some of what she's had to go through, further begging the question of why ABC News has failed to even note --- much less investigate and/or cover --- the recent revelations of bribery and blackmail of current and former U.S. Congressmembers and high-ranking State and Defense Department officials, and the theft and sale of nuclear secrets by agents of Turkey and Israel, as detailed in her sworn deposition in August, and remarkable AmCon cover-story interview which followed it late last month...

In advance of tomorrow's related story [Update: That story now posted here], I thought you might appreciate a quick look at the following if you've never seen it before. Diane Sawyer narrates the story of FBI translator-turned-whistleblower Sibel Edmonds as she was awarded the 2006 PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award. In the bargain, it's also worth remembering that Sawyer herself is at least aware of Edmonds, who she is, and some of what she's had to go through, further begging the question of why ABC News has failed to even note --- much less investigate and/or cover --- the recent revelations of bribery and blackmail of current and former U.S. Congressmembers and high-ranking State and Defense Department officials, and the theft and sale of nuclear secrets by agents of Turkey and Israel, as detailed in her sworn deposition in August, and remarkable AmCon cover-story interview which followed it late last month...

We are current or former federal employees who "blew whistles" about agency wrongdoing and experienced unlawful reprisal for doing our lawful duty. This should worry America - that federal employees with significant responsibilities for public safety are punished for doing their duty in an age of all-too-possible catastrophic terrorist attacks. We put the blame largely upon the U.S. Office of Special Counsel and desire Congress and/or the Obama administration to do the oversight necessary to substantiate or dispel our concerns. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel was created by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 with an unprecedented mandate as a federal law enforcement agency - to protect civilian federal employees from agency lawbreaking, specifically violations of the "merit principles" of the federal civil service (termed "prohibited personnel practices," most particularly from the whistleblower reprisal type).

We are current or former federal employees who "blew whistles" about agency wrongdoing and experienced unlawful reprisal for doing our lawful duty. This should worry America - that federal employees with significant responsibilities for public safety are punished for doing their duty in an age of all-too-possible catastrophic terrorist attacks. We put the blame largely upon the U.S. Office of Special Counsel and desire Congress and/or the Obama administration to do the oversight necessary to substantiate or dispel our concerns. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel was created by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 with an unprecedented mandate as a federal law enforcement agency - to protect civilian federal employees from agency lawbreaking, specifically violations of the "merit principles" of the federal civil service (termed "prohibited personnel practices," most particularly from the whistleblower reprisal type).

An Israeli court on Tuesday halved a six-month sentence against nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu, who spent 18 years in jail for divulging Israeli nuclear secrets, "Considering his ailing health and the absence of indications that his actions put the country's security at risk, we believe his sentence should be reduced," the judges said.

Ruling favors government whistleblower who pointed out public health dangers at mine Earle Dixon was a Bureau of Land Management project supervisor overseeing the cleanup of a radioactive former copper mine in Northern Nevada when he began speaking out about what he perceived as potential public health and safety hazards that were far worse than state and federal agencies were willing to admit. The BLM did not take kindly to Dixon's opinions and fired him in October 2004.

Ann Harris, a former TVA employee and nuclear plant whistleblower, has been named to receive a national Sierra Club award for her "strong and consistent commitment" to increasing awareness of how nuclear issues can affect lives, the environmental and conservation group announced. Harris, who lives in East Tennessee, is a Sierra Club Tennessee Chapter member and leader of the national group's radiation committee.

A whistleblower reported that leaky ducts at a TVA coal plant in northeastern Alabama allowed gases to bypass pollution controls. TVA paid $100,000 in fines, but a TVA Inspector General report discloses that "significant" duct leaks also occurred at one of the agency's Tennessee plants and another plant in Kentucky.