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DOE engineer, inspector, and career troublemaker Joe Carson makes life difficult for functionaries… and for himself Joe Carson is waiting to learn the outcome of a federal legal appeal in which he is named appellant. If he wins, there will be no large sums awarded or giants toppled. He will simply have the agreement of a federal court that the United States Office of Special Counsel, a government agency intended to protect the interests of government workers who provoke the ire of their co-workers or supervisors, has failed to be effective. If he loses, he intends to take his case to the Supreme Court. It's difficult to say whether Carson has a preference.

The Supreme Court accepted the government's stance Monday that nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu will have to undergo a trial period before he can leave Isreal. Vanunu served 18 years in prison for revealing Israeli nuclear secrets to a London paper, and since his release in 2004 has not been allowed to leave the country. The government told the High Court that it would give Vanunu a half-year trial period in which he is forbidden from talking to any press or foreigners. If Vanunu passes the trial, the government will consider allowing him to leave the country.

Once again the Israeli authorities have shown their disregard for human rights and unremittingly vindictive behaviour towards Mordechai Vanunu (House arrest for Israeli nuclear whistleblower, 30 December). Despite having known of Mordechai's two-year relationship with his Norwegian girlfriend, the authorities chose now, over Christmas (a repeat of what happened two years ago), to once again arrest and detain him and his girlfriend for 24 hours, on the basis that he was mixing with foreigners. Mordechai has been discouraging his many supporters from contacting him. But the authorities have shown little sympathy to his response to their requests that he should keep a much lower profile.

Once again the Israeli authorities have shown their disregard for human rights and unremittingly vindictive behaviour towards Mordechai Vanunu (House arrest for Israeli nuclear whistleblower, 30 December). Despite having known of Mordechai's two-year relationship with his Norwegian girlfriend, the authorities chose now, over Christmas (a repeat of what happened two years ago), to once again arrest and detain him and his girlfriend for 24 hours, on the basis that he was mixing with foreigners. Mordechai has been discouraging his many supporters from contacting him. But the authorities have shown little sympathy to his response to their requests that he should keep a much lower profile.

The man, who in 1986 lifted the lid on Israel's nuclear secrets, has been placed under house arrest ahead of an expected indictment following his meeting with a Norwegian woman. Mordechai Vanunu was detained by authorities in Jerusalem for breaching a ban imposed on contact with all foreigners. His defence has argued that the meeting was no more than a romantic liaison and did not relate to any nuclear issues, says a report by the Irish Times. "This Jewish state has 200 atomic . . . hydrogen bombs, atomic weapons, neutron bomb. They are not able to say they have the bomb, they are not able to destroy anyone . . . instead they arrest Vanunu Mordechai," said the defendant in court, where he spoke only in English as part of a continued campaign against Israeli authorities, including a boycott of the Hebrew language. Vanunu has been fighting for permission to leave Israel for over two decades.

The man, who in 1986 lifted the lid on Israel's nuclear secrets, has been placed under house arrest ahead of an expected indictment following his meeting with a Norwegian woman. Mordechai Vanunu was detained by authorities in Jerusalem for breaching a ban imposed on contact with all foreigners. His defence has argued that the meeting was no more than a romantic liaison and did not relate to any nuclear issues, says a report by the Irish Times. "This Jewish state has 200 atomic . . . hydrogen bombs, atomic weapons, neutron bomb. They are not able to say they have the bomb, they are not able to destroy anyone . . . instead they arrest Vanunu Mordechai," said the defendant in court, where he spoke only in English as part of a continued campaign against Israeli authorities, including a boycott of the Hebrew language. Vanunu has been fighting for permission to leave Israel for over two decades.

"I am a resident of San Luis Obispo County, and an employee of Diablo Canyon (DCPP). I understand that a good many people are very concerned about DCPP after what happened to the plant in Japan. I field questions about our plant almost every day, from neighbors and family members. Being aware of both the plant design and conditions at the Fukushima plant and DCPP, I am not worried about a similar disaster here. I could go into the specific reasons why I do not believe such a threat is credible, but that is not why I am writing to you. I do believe DCPP is a threat to our community, but it is not because of the plant's design, or a potential natural disaster. I believe the principle threat is the company that runs the plant, PG&E."

Though it is not in his congressional district, complaints have surfaced that House Majority Whip and 6th District Congressman James Clyburn is putting pressure on the Department of Energy that stimulus funds he acquired should benefit his interests. An anonymous complaint filed with the Department of Energy's Office of the Inspector General made many allegations of wrongdoing at the Savannah River Site. The whistleblower specifically outlined high-level DOE executives who the person said were using their positions to gain power and bolster their position within the department. Those same people, specifically Cynthia Anderson, DOE Environmental Management's (EM) head of the American Recovery Act Program, have allegedly demanded that Clyburn's district benefit from the funds and that his district should be the focus for events.

Though it is not in his congressional district, complaints have surfaced that House Majority Whip and 6th District Congressman James Clyburn is putting pressure on the Department of Energy that stimulus funds he acquired should benefit his interests. An anonymous complaint filed with the Department of Energy's Office of the Inspector General made many allegations of wrongdoing at the Savannah River Site. The whistleblower specifically outlined high-level DOE executives who the person said were using their positions to gain power and bolster their position within the department. Those same people, specifically Cynthia Anderson, DOE Environmental Management's (EM) head of the American Recovery Act Program, have allegedly demanded that Clyburn's district benefit from the funds and that his district should be the focus for events.

Mining giant BHP Billiton is risking the lives of its staff and employees at Olympic Dam in South Australia by exposing them to unsafe levels of radiation, according to a company whistleblower. Documents received by The Independent Weekly say BHP Billiton has been warned about the risks, and has chosen to take no action. The documents show BHP Billiton uses manipulated averages and distorted sampling to ensure its "official" figures slip under the maximum exposure levels set by government. But experts have warned exposure levels currently regarded as the international limit should be lowered, following the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko in London four years ago."

Half the story has been told. On Tuesday the Washington Post reported that Bush is creating civil service positions for loyal appointees, in order to make it hard for Obama to get rid of them. Bush has also, for some time now, been terminating large numbers of employees in the federal government, people known as whistleblowers, people suspected of disloyalty. Some of the higher profile cases are well known.

Sibel Edmonds is a national security whistleblower and senior Senators Charles Grassley and Patrick Leahy, and Department of Justice Inspector General Glenn Fine called her a credible witness- much of her testimony was corroborated by others at the FBI. She was hired by the FBI September 21, 2001 as a contract translator, and fired March 26, 2002 after pressing allegations of corruption, espionage and coverup in the FBI's Translation Unit. Attorney General John Ashcroft claimed "state secrets" privilege in her case and even classified her date of birth.

April 28, 2008 -- Syria, a member of George W. Bush's "Axis of Evil", is in the spotlight again as an alleged recipient of nuclear technology from North Korea and a potential producer of nuclear weapons. We have heard it all before but even if it is true, and let us assume it is true, there is more to this accusation than what meets the eye. We need to revisit what the courageous whistleblower, Sibel Edmonds, testified to behind closed doors in the Senate.

Roland Burrows worked for Uranium Resources, Inc., as a wellfield operator at the Kingsville Dome in-situ uranium mine in Ricardo, Texas, back in 1996. He says the company at the time was regularly flushing high volumes of water into the mine field that would have expanded groundwater pollution beyond its permitted area, posing a potential future risk to the residents of Kingsville.

Sibel Edmonds, former contract-FBI translator/whistleblower and "most gagged person in U.S. history" has finally told all - to Antiwar.com's Philip Giraldi. It's all in the cover story for November's issue of The American Conservative magazine, "Who's Afraid of Sibel Edmonds?" which hits the stands (and Website) on Tuesday. Last month, Edmonds was deposed in a civil lawsuit for 6 hours (video and transcript here), and told as much of her story as she ever has, and all together in one place. Now, however, she has gone much further and apparently told Giraldi everything, less sources and methods.

A man who lost his job after raising questions about safety at the Petten experimental nuclear plant has been awarded €200,000 in compensation, news agency ANP reports on Friday. Paul Schaap had demanded €800,000 for lost income and pension rights after he was sacked for publishing a document listing problems at the plant in 2001. Last week it emerged that Ad Bos, who went public with a major corruption and fraud scandal centering on the construction trade in the 1990s, had also been given compensation by the government.

Two months after it roared through the state Legislature, a bill requiring Georgia Power customers to pay early for new nuclear reactors is still awaiting Gov. Sonny Perdue's signature. The governor's office has indicated that he intends to sign it. Recent headlines: * New Georgia medical school faces hurdle * Sugar factory says whistleblower faked explosion warning * 'Zero' chance of a comeback for Cathy Cox * Metro and state news Meanwhile, though, the bill has become the target of a lawsuit by the Fulton County Taxpayers' Foundation, the same group that sued over the Beltline.

"Chilcot inquiry will be told Lord Goldsmith's top lawyer advised invasion was against the law Elizabeth Wilmshurst, the Foreign Office lawyer who resigned on principle on the eve of the Iraq war A senior Foreign Office lawyer who quit in protest at the invasion of Iraq will this week lay bare the sharp divisions within the Blair administration and its Whitehall advisers as Britain careered towards war in 2003. On Tuesday, three days before Tony Blair faces the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war, Elizabeth Wilmshurst will make perhaps the most explosive contribution to date by revealing the confusion and infighting between officials and ministers over the legality of deposing Saddam Hussein without United Nations support. "

"An otherwise garden-variety workplace dispute has posed a larger question at the Byron nuclear generation station, 80 miles west of Chicago: How adequately are security guards trained and equipped to protect nuclear power plants? The question is raised by a complaint brought before a federal administrative judge by Matt Simon, a former guard and weapons trainer at Byron who is asking the court to decide between two explanations for why he no longer works at the facility. Was he an incompetent employee who falsified weapons logs, as claimed by Exelon Corp., which operates Byron? Or was he fired a year ago for trying to alert his superiors to security lapses at the plant, as he asserts? In what his attorneys characterize as a whistle-blower suit, Simon alleges there was a consistent policy of dumbing down security training and certifying unqualified guards. He says rifles and other equipment failed. He says plant officials filed false security reports with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and that his firing resulted directly from his speaking out."

Exposing and stopping NRC Chairmen and Commissioners' 31 year-long noncompliance with their vital statutory duty to NRC employees Dear NRC Chairman and Commissioners You (as other agency heads) are non-compliant with one of your most (if not most) vital statutory duties to your employees - to assure they are adequately protected from NRC violations of the bedrock values of the federal civil service - the "merit systems principles." Such violations are termed "prohibited personnel practices (PPP's)" and include the whistleblower reprisal type PPP. (The "merit systems principles" and "prohibited personnel practices" are codified at 5 U.S.C. §2301 and §2302.) You simply cannot reduce your duty to "prevent PPP's," per 5 USC §2302(c), to "issue policy about PPP's" and/or "hold training about PPP's" - to "prevent PPP's" you must assure that NRC employees are, in objective fact, adequately protected from PPP's. If they are not adequately protected from PPP's, you are not complying with your duty to "prevent PPP's."

"Is Bighorn-Desert View Water Agency Director Martha Oswalt an intrepid whistleblower, or is she a "domestic enemy"? At Tuesday's board meeting, former board president Judy Corl-Lorono lambasted Oswalt for activities that could undermine the agency. She called out the director for independently distributing an agency document from the California Department of Public Health and using it to scare customers with unsupported "malicious rumors" about the quality of their drinking water. The report, dated April 14, refers to tests of samples of Wells 2 and 3 that indicate certain levels of naturally occurring radiological materials could be on the rise, and are nearing or have reached state limits for radioactive materials. These wells are off line and not pumping. They normally would serve the Desert View customers in Flamingo Heights, but those users are getting water from Well 8, in which elevated levels are not being detected. The Department of Public Health advised the agency that should the water exceed government-set maximum contaminant levels for the radiologicals, and the agency fail to comply with the federal Radionuclide Rule for monitoring and reducing radioactive material, "the agency will need to complete public notification and investigate treatment options.""

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission was criticized for being a watchdog with no bark - and less bite - Monday when it comes to nuclear reactors leaking radioactive tritium. The NRC was in Brattleboro to discuss the radioactive leak at the nearby Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor with the community, first in an afternoon open house and later with a three-hour public meeting. Residents and local officials told the NRC during the evening session that the NRC was ineffective because there were few - if any - regulations to hold nuclear companies accountable. Paul Blanch of West Hartford, Conn., a nuclear consultant and former industry whistleblower, said nuclear companies were taking advantage of the situation. "Regulations are nonexistent or never enforced," said Blanch, who said that Vermont Yankee could have discharged "10,000 times" the tritium that it did and still not violate any NRC regulations."