Whistleblower Cases Increase

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WUSA) — New York Times columnist David Carr wrote on Tuesday that the Obama administration ” has been more prone than any administration in history in trying to silence and prosecute federal workers.” Carr was writing about prosecution of so-called whistleblowers who call government wrongdoing to public attention. It’s happening at all levels of government. “What we are seeing is intense retaliation against anyone who comes forward to report illegality or misconduct, whether that’s at the state or federal level,” said David Colapinto one of the founders of the Whistleblowers Center (whistleblowers.org) in Georgetown. “It’s happening because politicians and government officials do not like wrongdoing exposed in the newspaper or in the media. That’s what it all boils down to. “They cite, in national security cases, violations of the Espionage Act. What they’re really doing is using that law, an old law that was intended to prosecute spies, to prosecute whistleblowers who are trying to disclose illegality in our government, whether it’s waterboarding, whether it’s illegal wiretapping. “That’s on the federal level. You also see it on the local level where police officers or firefighters come across illegalities in their departments. They face the same or similar types of retribution,” Colapinto told 9News Now. “It’s bad for the public. The public has s right to know when their government is breaking the law,” he said. “These cases are intended to punish and also to deter, to chill other employees from doing similar acts,” Colapinto said.