How an internal surveillance program targeting FDA whistle-blowers ‘crossed the line’

Stephen Kohn, Partner at Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto, LLP and an attorney representing a group of Food and Drug Administration whistle-blowers, tells “Viewpoint” host Eliot Spitzer about the FDA’s use of surveillance software to spy on a group of its own scientists who expressed concern about the safety of FDA-approved imaging devices designed for mammograms and colonoscopies.

“Under Supreme Court precedent, the agency could do routine network monitoring, or nontargeted monitoring, but the moment they select a group of people for specialized, highly intrusive spying because of their protected activities, their whistle-blowing, their viewpoint, they cross the line,” Kohn explains.

“We are going to challenge this as aggressively as possible,” Kohn says. “Do we live in an Orwellian state? Do we have whistle-blower rights? Or can you be targeted for outrageous monitoring simply because you raise concerns related to the public safety?”

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July 18,2012