The whistleblowers below are not all protected by the current Whistleblower Protection Act, which does not cover federal employees who work at certain national security agencies, in certain scientific or research capacities, nor does it extend to private contractors. The whistleblower legislation circulating in the House and Senate aims to protect many of the whistleblowers exempted from current law.
Department of the Interior
Teresa Chambers, Chief of the US Park Police, was fired for blowing the whistle on dangerous staffing shortages in her department. An Inspector General found a “climate of fear” at the agency and employees complained about the chilling effect her case had on whistleblowing. They called it the “Chamber’s Effect.”
National Security
Bogdan Dzakovic was an FAA security investigator who blew the whistle on airport security weaknesses known prior to 9/11. After 25 years of government service, he is now “updating agency phonebooks” and doing other administrative tasks at the TSA.
Mike German was an FBI Special Agent, and a rising star in the Bureau, who blew the whistle on colleagues violating wiretap regulations in a counter-terror operation. He went up the chain of command with his allegations, and was later forced to resign.
Frank Terreri was a federal air marshal who disclosed serious security problems in the post-9/11 Air Marshal Service. Superiors took his gun and badge and opened several investigations against him. He was reinstated one day after the ACLU filed a first amendment suit.
Pentagon
Bunny Greenhouse was the top procurement official at the Army Corps of Engineers. She blew the whistle on a multi-billion dollar no-bid contract with Halliburton for work in Iraq and was subsequently demoted.
Samuel Provance was an army intelligence soldier who blew the whistle on a cover-up involving abuses at Abu Ghraib. He was demoted and alleged a campaign of humiliation and retaliation against him. He was honorably discharged in 2006.
Ernie Fitzgerald was one of America’s seminal whistleblowers, a civilian Air Force analyst fired in 1969 after disclosing a $2.3 billion dollar cost overrun in a pentagon aircraft program. He was eventually reinstated and served the government until retiring, at age 80, in 2006.
Miscellaneous
Rick Piltz was a senior official with the U.S. Climate Change Science Program who blew the whistle on a White House official—a former petroleum lobbyist—who was altering scientific reports to reflect administration views. He resigned out of frustration.
Natresha Dawson was a paralegal at the Office of Special Counsel, the agency charged with investigating whistleblower complaints. She was fired for criticizing the counsel’s general lack of respect for whistleblowers. The Special Counsel is currently under investigation for retaliation against several of his employees.
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