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Fast and Furious scandal update shows whistleblower risks
Examiner
Anthony Martin, Conservative Examiner
3/17/2012
Excerpt:
"In a move that comes with incredible risk to the lives and careers of whistleblowers within the Justice Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (the ATF), a veteran agent sent a notice yesterday to Attorney General Eric Holder, the Acting Director of the ATF, and the entire Senate Judiciary Committee stating that whistleblower agents have every intention to do whatever is necessary to restore integrity to an agency that is rife with corruption.
Special Agent Vince Cefalu and a coalition of ATF whistleblower agents stated,
The agents who blew the whistle on the now infamous Fast and Furious scandal, in which the Obama Administration used the ATF to place guns directly into the hands of Mexican drug cartels in order to make a case for strict gun control laws, have faced retaliatory action from supervisors within the agency.
Supervisors and directors, on the other hand, were apparently rewarded for their illegal behavior by being transferred to cushy jobs within the Department of Justice.
Cefalu further stated,
And in a stunning admission by ATF Deputy Director Edgar Domenech, the memo reports that Domenech had confirmed in a whistleblower complaint he filed with the agency that he knew the Bureau has a propensity for reprisal and that any action on the part of an agent to go public with information about corruption would result in "career suicide."
Eric Holder and the Justice Department have forbidden ATF agents from providing further testimony to Darrell Issa's House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Senator Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has been investigating the scandal relentlessly.
But agents who signed the memo sent to Holder, the ATF director, and the Senate Judiciary Committee state that they are willing to put their careers on the line by defying Holder and providing full and complete testimony to Congress concerning every violation of the law committed by government officials within the Justice Department and the ATF."
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View the complete article at:
http://www.examiner.com/conservative...leblower-risks
Examiner
Anthony Martin, Conservative Examiner
3/17/2012
Excerpt:
"In a move that comes with incredible risk to the lives and careers of whistleblowers within the Justice Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (the ATF), a veteran agent sent a notice yesterday to Attorney General Eric Holder, the Acting Director of the ATF, and the entire Senate Judiciary Committee stating that whistleblower agents have every intention to do whatever is necessary to restore integrity to an agency that is rife with corruption.
Special Agent Vince Cefalu and a coalition of ATF whistleblower agents stated,
“It is our intention to assist in restoring integrity, accountability and responsibility of ATF management and employee confidence in ATF and Main Justice.”
The agents who blew the whistle on the now infamous Fast and Furious scandal, in which the Obama Administration used the ATF to place guns directly into the hands of Mexican drug cartels in order to make a case for strict gun control laws, have faced retaliatory action from supervisors within the agency.
Supervisors and directors, on the other hand, were apparently rewarded for their illegal behavior by being transferred to cushy jobs within the Department of Justice.
Cefalu further stated,
“At the heart of many of these matters, the plain and simple fact is that managers, legal counsel and members of the staff at Internal Affairs are systematically giving false oral and written testimony, concealing waste fraud and abuse, exercising abuse of their authority, both real and perceived, reprisal/retaliation and discrimination on the part of ATF managers who are not being held accountable and responsible for their intentionally harmful actions.”
And in a stunning admission by ATF Deputy Director Edgar Domenech, the memo reports that Domenech had confirmed in a whistleblower complaint he filed with the agency that he knew the Bureau has a propensity for reprisal and that any action on the part of an agent to go public with information about corruption would result in "career suicide."
Eric Holder and the Justice Department have forbidden ATF agents from providing further testimony to Darrell Issa's House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Senator Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has been investigating the scandal relentlessly.
But agents who signed the memo sent to Holder, the ATF director, and the Senate Judiciary Committee state that they are willing to put their careers on the line by defying Holder and providing full and complete testimony to Congress concerning every violation of the law committed by government officials within the Justice Department and the ATF."
................................................
View the complete article at:
http://www.examiner.com/conservative...leblower-risks