gofast

Anytime a fed gets fired for telling the truth, we all lose. This ruling is absurd, it means the TSA can cover up malfeasance, even retroactively, by designating the information SSI. Whistleblower protection is a myth.

Bart

*****

law dawg

He didn't go straight to the media. This was in the bad old days in the FAMS. Director Quinn's dictatorial style refused to take into any input from the field. FAMs tried and tried, but the media was the only option available to them.

Bobby tried to do it internally (many, many FAMs did) but only the media listened. And shortly thereafter, this ridiculous policy was changed, directly because of this media exposure.

Loren Pechtel

Except we don't have wrongdoing here that he was blowing the whistle on. We have a decision he didn't agree with and took it to the media, in the process revealing information detrimental to our security.

I agree with protecting whistleblowers but he isn't one.

law dawg

It was a decision that he, and many others, felt put civilian aviation at risk. He felt it's wrong to make decisions that endanger people's lives. One might disagree with his assessment, but it was more than just he disagreed with a decision.

ralfp

He took the action necessary to "blow the whistle" on a practice he considered dangerous/bad/whatever. If the policy was sound; so what if he revealed it? He did not reveal any confidential info; the person(s) who sent that info "in the clear" did that.

If this guy is not a "whistleblower", who is? Any policy that does not interpret the term as broadly as possible loses any real meaning.

The guy works for the government. Government should be as open to the people as possible; how are we to make voting decisions if we are not allowed to know the policies enacted by the people for whom we vote? A postal employee telling the public that his delivery route is inefficiently designed may not be a whitsleblower, but he should certainly not be fired for telling the public this information.

Global_Hi_Flyer

+1.

typical government behavior. Because they can.

Ari

So, I guess, in the end, he paid a price for everyone else's safety. So it goes. I hope he can find good work elsewhere-- seems like his heart was in the right place, anyway. He looks young enough, too, to start a new career. Hopefully this wont tarnish his record too much.

I have to ask, though, what if they didn't reverse the policy? Then wouldn't all would-be terrorists know that certain flights were FAM-less?

goalie

i happen to agree. maybe i read the decision wrong but but the former fam did go thru proper channels and got nowhere. if it had been a nuclear reactor or something similar that could pose a threat to public safety and the person was stonewalled in their attempts to get the situation rectified, what avenues are left?

Wally Bird

We only have the TSA's word the policy was in fact reversed. Don't know about you, but that means diddly to me.

Ari

The TSA would never lie to us.

I trust law dawg's post here on a blog more than I trust the TSA statement . . . so sad.

But there is evidence that the policy was reversed other than the TSA's claim:

http://www.tsa.gov/press/happenings/...agreement.shtm
http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/zmg...ip/t269614.htm

eyecue

The really bad thing is that after something like this comes out, it cannot be considered ssi anymore. I would have to agree that he pissed off the wrong people.

law dawg

It was reversed.

And yeah, your question is accurate as to what would have happened if they hadn't reversed the policy, but it was a 99.9999999999999% chance they would. Congress wouldn't have stood for it.

halls120

The Washington Post and the New York Times.

This why the failure of Congress to enact protection for whistleblowers is so short sighted and stupid. It forces people to leak to the press.

Which is probably what they want, oddly enough.

Spiff

True enough, but the TSA, by definition, is an embarrassment to all connected with it, be they employees, scumbags "in charge" of TSA, or those who must deal with this disgusting, un-American agency each time they fly.

Time to wipe this embarrassing mistake out.