{"id":6681,"date":"2017-04-25T12:01:34","date_gmt":"2017-04-25T12:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/multiracial.com\/?p=6681"},"modified":"2017-09-06T15:20:01","modified_gmt":"2017-09-06T15:20:01","slug":"defense-secretary-mattis-urged-to-review-whistleblower-retaliation-cases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/2017\/04\/25\/defense-secretary-mattis-urged-to-review-whistleblower-retaliation-cases\/","title":{"rendered":"Defense Secretary Mattis Urged to Review Whistleblower Retaliation Cases"},"content":{"rendered":"

Defense Secretary Mattis Urged to Review Whistleblower Retaliation Cases<\/h1>\n

POGO (Project on Government Oversight)<\/p>\n

April 25, 2017<\/p>\n

A coalition of whistleblower advocates wants Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis to hold two-high ranking officials found to have retaliated against whistleblowers accountable, saying proper action would set the tone for his tenure.<\/p>\n

In a letter<\/a>\u00a0organized by the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) and sent today to Mattis, the advocates cited the cases of National Security Agency (NSA) Inspector General George Ellard and Navy Rear Admiral Brian Losey.<\/p>\n

Last May, after a review panel found that Ellard had illegally retaliated against a whistleblower, NSA head Admiral Michael Rogers proposed firing Ellard. However, Ellard appealed and Mattis\u2019s predecessor, Ashton Carter, failed to act on the appeal, leaving Ellard\u2019s fate unresolved.<\/p>\n

Given the importance of Ellard\u2019s position and the seriousness of the findings, Mattis should review the case and take appropriate action, the coalition wrote.<\/p>\n

In Losey\u2019s case, a Department of Defense Inspector General investigation found he retaliated against staff members suspected of reporting him for allegedly misusing taxpayer funds for personal travel. While Losey was cleared of allegations, he drew up an \u201cenemies list\u201d of those he believed turned him in, the investigation found.<\/p>\n

The case ultimately led Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) and Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-RI) to urge then-Navy Secretary Ray Mabus to deny Admiral Losey\u2019s promotion, which Mabus did in March of last year. Unfortunately, it appears the Navy secretly reversed that decision, giving Admiral Losey a retroactive promotion, back pay, and a bigger pension.<\/p>\n

The advocates urged Mattis to review this case, as well, stating that it is extremely rare for a DoD IG to substantiate retaliation, which creates a belief that senior officials can act against whistleblowers with impunity. That Losey received special treatment even in the face of the IG\u2019s rare substantiation of retaliation reinforces that belief.<\/p>\n

The letter was signed by Demand Progress, Government Accountability Project, International Association of Whistleblowers, James Madison Project, Katz Marshall & Banks, The Multiracial Activist, National Medical Malpractice Advocacy Association, Project On Government Oversight, Public Citizen and The Rutherford Institute.<\/p>\n

To\u00a0see the letter, go here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Founded in 1981, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is a nonpartisan independent watchdog that champions good government reforms. POGO\u2019s investigations into corruption, misconduct, and conflicts of interest achieve a more effective, accountable, open, and ethical federal government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Defense Secretary Mattis Urged to Review Whistleblower Retaliation Cases POGO (Project on Government Oversight) April 25, 2017 A coalition of whistleblower advocates wants Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis to hold two-high ranking officials found...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[103,215],"class_list":["post-6681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases","tag-press-release","tag-whistleblowers"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Press-Releases.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p89tuq-1JL","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6681"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6682,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6681\/revisions\/6682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}