Obama Pushes for Whistle-Blower Bill

[ProSense]

Source: Roll Call

The White House on Tuesday urged Congress to take up a long-stalled effort to enhance protections for government whistle-blowers as part of a larger multinational project to promote government transparency joined by President Barack Obama at the United Nations.

<...>

The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act was killed during the last Congress when an undisclosed Senator put a "secret hold" on the legislation just before the Senate adjourned. After the Senate unanimously approved the package earlier, the House weakened certain national security provisions. When the Senate took up the revised legislation, it faltered despite broad bipartisan support.

<...>

Akaka on Tuesday praised Obama's push to reform whistle-blower laws.

"I am pleased the President and his administration reaffirmed their strong commitment to passing my Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act this Congress. If we are to make real progress to reduce the deficit, we must empower whistleblowers to uncover waste, fraud and abuse," Akaka said in a statement.


Read more: http://www.rollcall.com/issues/57_32/Obama-Pushes-for-Whistle-Blower-Bill-208883-1.html?pos=hbtxt

[MannyGoldstein]

1. So Obama wants to end his unprecedented war on whistle-blowers?

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/05/16/whistleblowers

That would be good news, but why the sudden change of heart?

[hlthe2b]

2. I'm afraid I can't help but be caught in the irony as well...

I'd surely like to see this as a sea change, but.... :shrug:

[ProSense]

3. Um,

"So Obama wants to end his unprecedented war on whistle-blowers?"

...there is no such thing.

What Greenwald and others who make the "war on whistleblowers" claim always fail to mention is that Obama is cleaning up Bush's mess here. NYT:

<...>

Describing for the first time the scale of the Bush administration’s hunt for the sources of The Times article, former officials say 5 prosecutors and 25 F.B.I. agents were assigned to the case. The homes of three other security agency employees and a Congressional aide were searched before investigators raided Mr. Drake’s suburban house in November 2007. By then, a series of articles by Siobhan Gorman in The Baltimore Sun had quoted N.S.A. insiders about the agency’s billion-dollar struggles to remake its lagging technology, and panicky intelligence bosses spoke of a “culture of leaking.”

Though the inquiries began under President Bush, it has fallen to Mr. Obama and his attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., to decide whether to prosecute. They have shown no hesitation, even though Mr. Drake is not accused of disclosing the N.S.A.’s most contentious program, that of eavesdropping without warrants.

<...>

Under President Bush, no one was convicted for disclosing secrets directly to the press. But Lawrence A. Franklin, a Defense Department official, served 10 months of home detention for sharing classified information with officials of a pro-Israel lobbying group, and I. Lewis Libby Jr., a top aide to Mr. Cheney, was convicted of perjury for lying about his statements to journalists about an undercover C.I.A. officer, Valerie Plame Wilson.

The F.B.I. has opened about a dozen investigations a year in recent years of unauthorized disclosures of classified information, according to a bureau accounting to Congress in 2007.

<...>

Bush launched the investigations and now Obama is cleaning up the mess. Drake's home was raided and he was terminated during the Bush administration.

So what's the spin: Absolve Bush for launching the investigations, add a qualifier for Bush's convictions and repeat often "Obama's prosecutions!!"

It's nonsense!

Had Bush not launched these investigation, Obama wouldn't have to go through the process of cleaning up these loose ends.

SEC Opens Whistle-Blower Website as Dodd-Frank Program Begins

Bank ordered to reinstate fired employee and pay $930,000

[caseymoz]

4. Tell me how cleaning up a mess and grinding your heel in are similar?

And BTW, "cleaning up the mess" is not nearly all Obama has done against whistleblowers and it isn't just Greenwald who has documented this. I'm glad you gave the "others" some credit.

There have also been journalists (see Cenk) who have been fired for not being friendly enough to Obama, along with other retaliations less extreme.

What is going on actually: we're in election season now. Obama is turning back into the liberal champion he claimed to be in 2008.

[ProSense]

5. Hmmmm?

"And BTW, "cleaning up the mess" is not nearly all Obama has done against whistleblowers and it isn't just Greenwald who has documented this. I'm glad you gave the "others" some credit.

There have also been journalists (see Cenk) who have been fired for not being friendly enough to Obama, along with other retaliations less extreme.

What is going on actually: we're in election season now. Obama is turning back into the liberal champion he claimed to be in 2008. "

Got evidence beyond an empty statement? See, from the time he took office, the administration has taken positive steps in this area.

So the notion that there is an "unprecendented" war on whistleblowers is utter nonsense.

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. You're probably right. Which means he needs to make some

real change before the election.

[No Elephants]

12. LOL. Your claims are the ones that could use some support.

[caseymoz]

21. Like what his administration has said and done on Julian Assange and Wikileaks?

And how about the treatment of Bradley Manning? And the condition in which Manning was subjected to? Do you need documentation on that? That wasn't inherited from Bush, and I don't think Daniel Ellsberg was subjected to similar treatment. Do you need a reminder of what Obama said when he was asked about Manning's solitary confinement? In skivvies? Under constant camera surveillance?

Unprecedented is the correct, descriptive word for it.

Is my statement still too empty for you, or are you going to demand I totally embarrass you?

[Fearless]

11. +1

[No Elephants]

10. Did you not read what you quoted?

"it has fallen to Mr. Obama and his attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., to decide whether to prosecute."

Obama's hands are not tied. No one is forcing him to have his D of J follow in Bushco's footsteps on every single judicial proceeding.

And it's not only Bush's cases, nor is it only Greenwald.

For instance,

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2058340,00.html

http://www.veteranstoday.com/category/government-and-politics/

http://www.pri.org/stories/politics-society/government/the-obama-administration-s-war-on-whistleblowers.html

There are more, but you get the idea. If you don't, you can google "Obama administration hardest on whistleblowers."

[ProSense]

15. Hmmm?

"Did you not read what you quoted?

'it has fallen to Mr. Obama and his attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., to decide whether to prosecute.'"

Yes, I read that, which is why I stated that the investigations and indictments occurred under Bush.

"Obama's hands are not tied. No one is forcing him to have his D of J follow in Bushco's footsteps on every single judicial proceeding."

What were you expecting, that Obama would enter office and simply dismiss pending cases without looking at the merits?

Again, the claim that these Bush-initiated cases represent "unprecedented" action by the administration is utterly bogus!

[caseymoz]

22. He and his team have had more than enough time to consider merits.

How many cases have they dismissed for being unmerited? They should have been able to determine that by now?

Do you know if the "sunshine administration" has dismissed any for lack of merit? Do you know of any review process they've talked about? If not, I think it's about time you stop waiting.

[No Elephants]

23. What I was expecting has nothing to do with your (still) unsupported claims.

Did you really think it did?

[Vattel]

13. Dumbest post of the week award.

[ProSense]

14. Great rebuttal! n/t

[No Elephants]

24. The only thing you've cited rebuts your own claims. No need for anyone else to pile on.

Your OP has been amply answered, with facts and sources, by a number of posters.

What you cited in an attempt to answer those posts cuts against your own claims, rather than supporting them.

So, no rebuttal at all is required, let alone a great one.

[No Elephants]

9. +1

[Hell Hath No Fury]

16. I caught that, too.

:crazy:

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. That would be phenomenal.

Extend it down to city government, allow the protection to include citizens as well as employees, and remove any statute of limitations if conspiracy and/fraud can be proven. He does that and I'll turn into a cheerleader for Obama.

[L0oniX]

8. The irony escapes him.

[JTFrog]

17. K&R

Haters be damned.

:eyes:

[No Elephants]

25. Self delete.

[pmorlan1]

18. Unbelievable!

Yeah, pass the whistle blower act to protect whistle blowers from the Obama Administration.

[lsewpershad]

19. Open govt..Yea

[B2G]

20. Really?

He can start with Larry Alt and John Dodson.