Blogged by Brad from St. Louis…
When we first ran the full Declaration of Independence here at The BRAD BLOG on the Fourth of July, 2005, it felt very much like a seditious act during those dark, oppressive days. Incredibly, we actually paused for a moment or two to consider whether there would be blowback of some sort for posting such a thing publicly. That we felt some level of concern in posting this document — described by the National Archives as “the nation’s most cherished symbol of liberty” — at that time, is an irony that may take the historians decades to fully explain.
This is the third Fourth of July in a row on which we post this extraordinary document in full, along with the strong encouragement for you to read it. In full.
We have just done so again ourselves, and find it more incredibly apropos than ever. The section enumerating the crimes of King George against his country and constituents is remarkable in its near line-by-line parallels to the crimes of our own King George today: “A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”
We stand by both the following Declaration and the words of Kieth Olbermann on MSNBC last night, calling on Bush and Cheney to do the right thing for their nation and Resign. For the good of this country. For the good of the world.
We challenge you to read America’s Declaration of Independence which follows and not draw the direct and striking parallels that are so apparent from the very first paragraph on through the end.
On Independence Day, 2007, the following words likely ring more true than any single day since they were first adopted, some 231 years ago, by a small band of rag-tag patriots who declared their right to be free from tyranny, for a Government which derives its power from the consent of the governed, and “whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its power in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
Please read on…
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Thanks Brad, for this…
Even to add a comment seems almost inappropriate; but there seems to me something of the original spirit in the following:
“America is an ideaâ€
…At bottom, at the end of the day, and when all the shouting and chest-beating is over, America is an idea. You can take all of our roads, our cities, our crops, our people, our armies – you can take all that away, and the idea that is America will still be there as pure and great as anything conceived by the human mind. What is that idea?
The idea is simple and stupendous simultaneously.
The idea that is America says you can go where you want, say what you want, think what you want, spend what and where you want, pray to whomever you want, or not pray at all, and the government cannot restrict your doing this unless you are demonstrably causing harm to a fellow citizen. Simple…and amazing.
The document says we are gifted the unalienable right to “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” The substance of those rights are the freedoms I have listed, and all the others I have not named. That is the idea that is America. We are unique in all the world to have such concepts be an essential part of our founding.
“Patriot Act Finds Trouble in Texasâ€
William Rivers Pitt Town Hall, Austin TX 9/22/03
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/092203A.shtml
Well said …
I like the Rude one’s quote from Tom Paine too…so fitting…
[…]hammered to Dick Cheney’s door or Bush’s bible:
I stumbled on this on the 4th of July. Mindblowing…
http://www.archive.org/details/...ppaOnCrossfire
If only we had more conservatives like Zappa… rest his soul. And, we sure could use him now.
Is there anything you guys can do about the fact that this is probably the slowest-loading blog on the net? I’d like to link to it more often, but I know that my dial-up readers probably won’t bother to wait for it to load up. I lost my broadband briefly a while back and discovered I couldn’t get it to load at all on dial-up, and even with broadband I often lose my patience.
This site is far too valuable to be inaccessible for so many people. I implore you to do something to fix it.
Avedon #6
Tell it to the government agents who are filtering it before it gets to the user.
They need to upgrade their spy equipment. And protective armor.
Or Brad could become a bushie and they would back off and that would speed things up.
Brad,
According to some, King George never existed, because among other things, people who commit election felonies do not exist.
Probably the most absolutely hilarious talking point fostered by Diebold, or perhaps fostered by the GOP directly, is this:
Yes, that hilarious statement was made by a Diebold warlord. I guess they think that if a pardon is possible the neoConvicts are not really felons.
The fact of the matter is that election felonies are being directed from the White House itself:
(Raw Story, bold added).
We need to declare our independence from government lies and addiction to oil. Like Australia’s Defense Minister has done:
(BBC News, emphasis added). Truth in Government, it is not just for Australia anymore.
They needed a “Pearl Harbor” to do all this. Something to distract from what they had really planned to do.
Look how outraged Republican Senator Sam Brownback is about Libby’s perjury:
“Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) was aghast. He was indignant as hell about how having a high public official involved in something like perjury and obstruction of justice can damage the very foundation on which our nation was built — and he had the harsh words to show for it.”
“By his words and deeds he chose to place himself above the law. By his words and deeds he has undermined the rule of law in America to the great harm of this nation,” the Kansas Republican said. “By his own words and deeds, he has undermined the truth-finding function of the judiciary, at great harm to that branch of our government. By his words and deeds, he had done great harm to the notions of honesty and integrity that form the underpinnings of this great republic.”
OOPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THAT WAS REPUBLICAN SENATOR BROWNBACK ON CLINTON’S PERJURY WITH “THE BLOWJOB”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SORRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Brownback has “no comment” on LIBBY’S PERJURY!!!
Let’s get all the Republican 2008 presidential candidates on record, on their opinion on Libby’s PARDON! (it’s a pardon)
What does Giuliani, McCain, and Romney think of Libby’s “pardon”? Are there any CMSM asking them this? Will Wolf Blitzer ask them at the next debate?
I don’t give a flying F where the Rethuglicans stand on the Libby commutation.
All I care about (and will use against them) is whether they vote to convict Cheney after H. Res 333 is passed.
THAT is the vote that counts!
Where does YOUR Congressional Rep stand on H. Res 333 ? Find out, and pressure them to co-sign.
#12 dunno about candidates
But for Feinstein in California. I can tell ya that she has NO PLAN to impeach. Feinstein == SCUM OF THE EARTH…
The words from their rotten mouths is only perceived diligence, that’s their plan and they’re sticking to it, They don’t represent us.
“Kau na hehena mikini’s a na Moana!”
Big Dan #11-13
Alarmists … those who say our democracy is in peril are risking being called “alarmists”:
(Professor Lazarus, emphasis added).
THREE YEARS AGO, I wrote and emailed vastly:
Know Bush Fact #30 – In Celebration of Independence Day
The Declaration of Independence we honor today was written to “LET FACTS BE SUBMITTED TO A CANDID WORLD.” (All quotes in caps herein are from The Declaration of Independence, 1776)
Amidst the “LONG TRAIN OF ABUSES AND USURPATIONS” which caused the signers to be “ABSOLVED FROM ALL ALLEGIANCE” to their King George, were the following:
“HE HAS REFUSED TO ASSENT TO LAWS, THE MOST WHOLESOME AND NECESSARY FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD.”
Our George has rolled back environmental regulations, ergonomic laws, created a federal deficit that makes the U.S. vulnerable to those who loan the money, created a tax credit that only benefits the already extremely wealthy; engaged the United States in its first pre-emptive strike, and sought to overstep the rules of the Geneva Convention, thus making the United States and its citizens a greater target internationally – and more. (Google: “Bush +[any of the above words/phrases]”)
Our George has ignored scientific evidence and reports, causing more than 60 leading scientists — including Nobel laureates, leading medical experts, former federal agency directors and university chairs and presidents — to issue a statement and report on February 18, 2004 calling for regulatory and legislative action to restore scientific integrity to federal policymaking. Dr. Neal Lane, a former director of the National Science Foundation and a former Presidential Science Advisor, stated, “In case after case, scientific input to policymaking is being censored and distorted. This will have serious consequences for public health.” (Google: “Bush +scientists”)
“HE HAS FORBIDDEN HIS GOVERNORS TO PASS LAWS OF IMMEDIATE AND PRESSING IMPORTANCE, UNLESS SUSPENDED IN THEIR OPERATION TILL HIS ASSENT SHOULD BE OBTAINED; AND WHEN SO SUSPENDED, HE HAS UTTERLY NEGLECTED TO ATTEND TO THEM.”
Our George neglected the warnings in 2001 from his experienced anti-terrorism advisor, Richard Clarke, from President Clinton, from the Hart-Rudman Commission’s Roadmap for National Security, from the Gore Commission on Aviation Safety & Security, from the CIA, from Jordan Intelligence, from Israeli Intelligence, from Russian Intelligence, from Morrocan Intelligence, and from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, all regarding an imminent Al-Qaeda attack. (Google: “Bush +ignored +warnings”)
“HE HAS CALLED TOGETHER LEGISLATIVE BODIES AT PLACES UNUSUAL, UNCOMFORTABLE, AND DISTANT FROM THE DEPOSITORY OF THEIR PUBLIC RECORDS, FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF FATIGUING THEM INTO COMPLAINCE WITH HIS MEASURES.”
Our George began making phone calls to Congressmen from Air Force One at 3:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, November 22, 2003, when his Medicare Prescription Drug Bill was rejected in a roll call vote by a margin of 218-216. Though such roll call votes are only supposed to stay open for 15 minutes, Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader Tom DeLay refused to close the voting, stretching it to 2 hours and 51 minutes. That’s when the Bush phone calls, the Karl Rove phone calls, and the in-person pressure from Health & Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson finally resulted in the vote Bush wanted, just before 6:00 a.m. with just two votes to spare. Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts said, “I don’t mean to be alarmist, but this is the end of parliamentary democracy as we know it.” (Google: “Medicare +vote +November 2003”)
“HE HAS ERECTED A MULTITUDE OF NEW OFFICES, AND SENT HITHER SWARMS OF OFFICERS TO HARRASS OUR PEOPLE, AND EAT OUT THEIR SUBSTANCE.”
Our George, before a Joint Session of Congress and the American People on September 20, 2001, announced, “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.” On October 25, 2001, with no time for the bill to be properly studied, the U.S. Patriot Act was passed. Aside from the abuses that have become obvious in the news of late, the Patriot Act has allowed the government to demand lists of individuals’ reading materials from librarians and booksellers, while forbidding them from uttering a word about such requisitions to anyone. Our ability to be informed, which is the substance of a democracy, is being eaten away. (Goggle: “Bush +Patriot +books”)
“HE HAS AFFECTED TO RENDER THE MILITARY INDEPENDENT OF AND SUPERIOR TO THE CIVIL POWER.”
and,
“HE IS AT THIS TIME TRANSPORTING LARGE ARMIES OF FOREIGN MERCENARIES TO COMPLEAT THE WORKS OF DEATH, DESOLATION AND TYRANNY, ALREADY BEGUN WITH CIRCUMSTANCES OF CRUELTY AND PERFIDY SCARECELY PARALLELED IN THE MOST BARBAROUS AGES, AND TOTALLY UNWORTHY OF THE HEAD OF A CIVILIZED NATION.”
Our George has contracted dozens of private security firms, manned by highly-paid former U.S. military (such as Special Forces, Seals, etc.), foreign mercenaries and Iraqis to carry out military work in Iraq. This would have stayed more secretive had not pictures been taken at Abu Ghraib, where “Military Intelligence” ordered actual U.S. military to soften up prisoners. Hired as interrogators, these employees of Titan and CACI International, Inc., as well as others, have been paid to pursue top secret information, while they have no more loyalty to the U.S. than their next employer. (Google: “Iraq +private security”)
Our George created the Coalition Provisional Authority, which has granted immunity to Private Security Contractors (not normally resident in Iraq) from Iraqi legal process. Such contractors are also not subject to U.S. military law; though the U.S. Department of Defense hires the contractors, maintaining discipline of contractor employees is the responsibility of the contractor’s management structure, not the military chain of command.
Our George had L. Paul Bremer, Pro Consul of the Coalition Provisional Authority sign several edicts on Saturday June 26, 2004, two days before leaving Iraq, which enforce future control by the United States. The edicts specifically include ongoing immunity for U.S. contractors. “If they know they have full immunity, they will do anything they want because they know no one can do anything about it,” stated Interim Iraqi Minister of State Mahmud Farhad Othman. (Google: “Iraq +contractors +immunity”)
Concluding his list, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “A PRINCE WHOSE CHARACTER IS THUS MARKED BY EVERY ACT WHICH MAY DEFINE A TYRANT, IS UNFIT TO BE THE RULER OF A FREE PEOPLE.” (Google: “Declaration of Independence”)
Happy Fourth of July. Let us make sure our leader is upholding our highest ideals for our democracy — that we pay attention.
* * * * * * *
THREE YEARS AGO.
AND HE’S STILL THE TYRANT IN CHARGE. HMMMMMMMM.
Give me an “I”!
Give me an “M”!
Give me a “P”!
Give me an “E”!
Give me an “A”!
Give me a “C”!
Give me an “H”!
What’s that spell?! What’s that spell?! What’s that spell?!
Lets declare our independence from SICK.INC.
SICK.INC is the industry, according to SICKO and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), that leads in numbers dead and wounded by “friendly fire” (a.k.a. “iatrogenic causes”):
(JAMA Vol. 284, emphasis added). So the grand total from friendly fire in the medical realm is (225,000 + 199,000) 424,000 deaths each year.
So where is the code yellow, orange, or red in the homeland security coloring book? Americans are dying by the hundreds of thousands by friendly fire.
Terrorists don’t come close to killing that many people in all the world, much less that many americans.
Something is fishy. We need to declare independence from this darkness.
{Ed Note: Since this on this particular post and since it’s not googling as written elsewhere, I did not delete it, but it’s WAY too long for a blog comment. Don’t do it again. –99)
Federal Contracting Corruption and Mr. Foofighter
It is a good time to consider which freedoms we still do have and which ones are being taken away from us one step at a time!
How One Federal Security Specialist Unexpectedly Became A Whistleblower and What Is Wrong With The Federal System That Caused This To Happen
The majority of whistleblowers are dedicated and ethical employees, who work hard and try to do their jobs responsibly and competently. So, the question is, how can this happen? How can the employees suddenly find themselves being labeled a whistleblower and treated like a case of leprosy? Most often, in the course of doing the job they were hired to do, they came across something that should not be, something unethical or illegal. Being the kind of person they are, they really face no other option than to do their job and report it, and as is often the case, include the incriminating evidence that “outs†the wrongdoers, in the routine report they must submit as a part of doing their job. The inclusion of the incriminating evidence in the required report understandably may aggravate the wrong doer(s), who may even be a supervisor at some level above the employee, or someone with connections to a supervisor. At the point that the wrongdoer begins to assert pressure on the employee to change their report, or make the accurate and truthful report go away, the employee then faces the choice of whether to stand up or be compromised. And if they choose to take the high road, they become a whistleblower in the eyes of those to whom they now present a threat..
What is not understandable is how these whistleblowers are treated, not only by the corrupted supervisors, but the whole federal system, and sometimes our society as a whole. There is a tendency to try to kill the messenger, and to blame the whistleblower for the problem. The incidents that employees report, which happen because of wrongdoing by their co-workers or supervisors appear to happen primarily because of ambition, greed, and lack of ethics of the wrongdoers. And in the response to being “outed†the wrongdoers and anyone they can influence, exact some pretty grim retribution on the whistleblower. This is not what should happen, and is a pretty sad reflection of our society. But in spite of this, ethical people still stand up and do the right thing at great personal risk, and personal and professional consequence.
When decisions need to be made under duress, everyone has choices, but choices are open or closed by one’s character and level of ethics. One researcher called this the “choiceless choice†that whistleblowers have to face. Whistleblowers are the employees who choose to do the honest and ethical thing, and in doing that become a whistleblower. The whistleblower’s other option is to look the other way as ordered, or even actively become involved in the cover-up for the wrongdoers. An employee who does this risks losing their own security clearance, job, and reputation if this is discovered or be further manipulated through threats of exposure by the corrupted supervisors later for continued nefarious purposes. This choice, for ethical people, is not really a choice.
In return for their integrity, whistleblowers may face harassment, discrimination, and other assorted types of retribution for just doing their job as required by law. If doing their job gets in the way of unethical people, either in their agency or in a defense contractor their agency has oversight of, then things become very ugly. This is particularly because of the revolving door between industry and the federal government, and the management personnel who seem to move back and forth serving their own and certain corporate goals which are often not in the best interest of the U.S. citizens. Federal whistleblowers may have their working conditions turned into a nightmare, lose promotion capability, be rated unfairly, be set up for failure by their corrupt managers, even lose their job. They can be “black listed†and find it difficult or impossible to get a job in their field of expertise again, and in some cases not be able to get new employment at all. And if these types of things begin to happen, due to the secrecy held by members of the defense arena, it is not easy to discover what is being done to hurt you and specifically who is doing it. It has become even worse in recent years, as many federal employees can attest to, due to the increased secrecy practices of the current administration. This could happen to anyone, and most often it happens to honest, competent and responsible people of character, because they refuse to be compromised or corrupted; they stand up.
Here is one story, about a former federal employee, whom I will call Mr. Smythe, which will help illustrate this problem. (I have changed all names of persons herein included to protect both the innocent and the guilty at this point in time, as I believe investigations are still ongoing.)
Mr. Smythe is a veteran federal employee. He worked in an agency, (I will refer to as “The Agencyâ€), responsible for security involving defense contractors and defense contracts. Mr. Smythe is an intelligent, articulate, well educated professional, very knowledgeable about his job and very good at what he did in his work for The Agency. This job required a security clearance indicating a high level of credibility and trust of the federal government. He had received many performance awards over the years for exemplary work in The Agency. Then, THE investigation and the ensuing case report happened that changed all of that.
Mr. Smythe found evidence of criminal behavior on the part of a defense contractor,(The Defense Contractor from here on out), and also involving certain managers within several oversight agencies of the federal government, including nearly a dozen government agencies of the 3 or 4 letter acronym variety, including some who have television shows about them, and some who’ve been in the news lately for having credibility and corruption problems.
This was really serious stuff. It is the type of thing that would make the “Boeing Tanker Deal†look like small potatoes. Mr. Smythe had to complete the investigation and write up the report as a required part of his job. The final report was the culmination of many months of investigation and work. It was thorough and competently done. The report was submitted up the command chain, as is the normal procedure. And then it hit the fan.
The DC office supervisor, (several levels above Mr. Smythe in The Agency), began trying to get Mr. Smythe to change his report. What he wanted was to minimize what was in the report, and especially to remove incriminating evidence, which would make it possible to prosecute the criminal activity. It seems likely that the DC supervisor was receiving quite a bit of pressure from his former supervisor, Mr. Coole, who had left the agency and directly taken a lucrative job as FSO (Facility Security Officer) for The Defense Contractor. (There have been prohibitions as a matter of federal policy for a long time against employees of defense oversight agencies leaving their agencies and directly taking jobs with defense contractors, particularly defense contractors they had oversight of personally, and for whom they may have had decision making authority about. This is the same kind of mess Darlene Drunyun was convicted of not long ago. It was held up in the courts that this was a conflict of interest and criminal.)
Mr. Smythe was harassed and harangued repeatedly by DC supervisor and through Mr. Duke, Mr. Smythe’s immediate supervisor. When Mr. Smythe repeatedly refused to change (i.e. whitewash) his original report, his management began to do its own dirty work. Mr. Smythe received direction from higher managers through Mr. Duke exactly what he was to change his report to say. Mr. Smythe refused to do this as doing so would have caused him to lie and commit fraud against the federal government.
The management, (without the permission of Mr. Smythe) took Mr. Smythe’s legitimate report, and rewrote it themselves, taking out most of the information, and in particular removing all of the documented factual material which would make the case prosecutable, thereby protecting The Defense Contractor from the logical consequences of their alleged criminal behavior, and the incriminated federal managers. They then directed Mr. Smythe to sign the falsified report. He again refused to lie and commit fraud.
Since these managers were unsuccessful in trying to intimidate Mr. Smythe into signing the falsified report, DC Supervisor turned in the falsified report himself, making sure Mr. Smythe’s report never progressed any further in The Agency chain of command and personally briefed the user agency with his own version of the report. Fortunately, Mr. Ford, the government program security officer, had a copy of Mr. Smythe’s original report. Apparently, thinking they had their problem contained, then the managers began escalating retribution against Mr. Smythe.
Lots of bad things happened. These managers played games with the local office work to personnel ratio, cutting back on the number of personnel as the actual work load increased; overloading and understaffing the “Big City†office, with the worst load being on the plate of Mr. Smythe, who was carrying about four times the amount of work than any other person assigned the same job description in the entire region. The Agency managers ignored complaints from “Big City†office employees, and continued to stick it to Mr. Smythe and to a lesser extent some of his co-workers.
Later, Mr. Smythe was called back from out of state travel and facility/program inspection in another state, remote from his home state, and ordered to report directly to yet a third state, where he was stood up on a stage in front of his peers at a quickly pulled together regional The Agency meeting, and stripped of his assigned Special Access Programs, and in other words, beaten and humiliated in public. Every possible ugly thing was done to try to humiliate him and destroy his professional reputation. He returned from that trip absolutely in shock at the viciousness of their attack. It appeared to Mr. Smythe’s family members and some of his also severely shocked co-workers that these supervisors in the agency were either trying to kill him off, or chase him out of the agency, destroying his career and with the slanderous and libelous activities they continued and destroying his honorable reputation in the process. The amount of intimidation and fear reached record levels among the employees not only in “Big City†office, but regionally.
Through out a lot of this time, another issue was fermenting. “Big City†office had been downgraded from a Field office to a Resident office and the last “Big City†Industrial Security Office Chief had been forced out, (he went to a job at The Defense Contractor), and the office had been handed over to be managed for a time by Mr. Davidson , the Agent in Charge of the “security clearance side of the house.†Over a period of several years, (while turf wars and fights for control of the monies went on at the highest levels of the agency and at the local levels between those who were Security Clearance Investigators and those who were Industrial Security Specialists) there was a confusion of chain of command with the Security Clearance Investigation mission co-opting control of the operating funds of the Industrial Security mission accomplished by Mr. Davidson of the “Big City†office, and some of his cronies nationwide. This period also brought along a lot of mismanagement and noted, and in some cases outrageous, unethical activities by Mr. Davidson and his cronies, but that is another story. Suffice it to say, that the Industrial Security mission was severely handicapped and damaged during this time period.
Eventually, it became apparent that an office chief for the Industrial Security side of the house was necessary again, due primarily to the fact that after years of struggling and competition between factions within The Agency, the Security Clearance Investigations mission was being moved to OPM and OPM oversight, and the Industrial Security mission was being separated out on its own again. In any case, the office chief position in the Industrial Security office was coming open and finally was to be filled.
Much talk ensued about the need to fill the Big City office chief position. Mr. Smythe was the highest skilled and qualified senior employee and was viewed by the other employees in the office as the natural next office chief. This was particularly the case, since Mr. Smythe was doing a lot of it anyway because there was no official office chief, (yet things needed to get done), and someone local had to show the leadership ability to help be sure they did. Also, junior Security Specialists needed some help, assistance and training as a normal course. As the agency cut back on training for the new employees it became more important for Senior Security Specialists to help, advise and assist the junior ones, so they could learn their jobs and fulfill the mission of the agency. Mr. Smythe, when needed, willingly did this in order to help the office keep functioning.
The bad actors, Mr. Foofighter, (West Region Deputy Director), DC office supervisor, (Chief, Special Programs Division), and Mr. Harley, (West Region Director ), no doubt suspecting they would have to consider and possibly appoint Mr. Smythe to the position, because in fact he was the most qualified candidate, backed away and refused to post the announcement for the office chief position. While “Big City†office employees were scratching their heads in frustration, these upper agency managers eventually assigned an office chief in another state, remote to Mr. Smythe’s “Big City†agency office, to act as the Chief of the “Big City†office in addition to his own “Much Warmer†local office. All the while, Mr. Smythe, being the most senior employee in the “Big City†office, by default had to perform many of the related duties on the work site, working closely with the acting chief who was trying to manage long distance from another state, to help be sure the office could function and the rest of the less senior employees got the help and support they needed to do their jobs. Time went by and things continued on awkwardly with increasing frustration to both the “Big City†office Industrial Security Specialists as well as the acting Chief, Mr. Duke, who was trying to do the job on top of his other full time assignment as Chief of the “Much Warmer†office in another state.
Then, when it seemed that The Agency could not avoid posting the position any longer, they listed it again. And when the logical and best qualified candidate was Mr. Smythe, (whom everyone in the local office expected would be awarded the job on merit), the posting was withdrawn without being filled. This went on for some time and was a frustrating situation for the assigned chief in absentia, as well as the local chief-less “Big City†office. There was a lot of pressure to legitimately fill the position with a local office chief, not a phone-in chief, due to the growing workloads and complexity of work in the office, but the agency continued to assign staff from other regional offices to manage it long distance.
As time went on, the pressure and stress on Mr. Smythe continued to be quite horrific. Finally, The Agency managers not only drove Mr. Smythe out of the agency, and the job he enjoyed, but also the other Senior Security Specialist and eventually, other employees, some whom Mr. Smythe had helped train. One of those employees had been assigned The Defense Contractor (after agency managers punitively debriefed Mr. Smythe from all of his Special Access Programs, which were housed at The Defense Contractor), and was starting to receive a lot of pressure and harassment himself as he was trying to hold The Defense Contractor accountable for their lack of responsibility in how they handled the government defense contracts and security. Mr. Smythe accepted another Security position with another federal government agency. The position was and is primarily commercial in nature and exercises very little of Mr. Smythe’s specialized expertise. Effectively Mr. Smythe’s career path was ended.
There is some evidence that Mr. Coole, (formerly The Agency Deputy Director, Industrial Security, who moved to The Defense Contractor) was trying to slander, libel and undermine Mr. Smythe in both his current job area, and in another potential specialty area as well, as he was quoted as saying Mr. Smythe did not know anything about Counter Intelligence, even though Mr. Smythe had been successfully fulfilling requirements in that area for the agency for years as a part of his Security Specialist assignment, and had been encouraged to move into that branch of The Agency, by colleagues working there. Mr Smythe had been told several times over several years, that an opening was going to be posted for CI in the “Big City†office of The Agency, but somehow, it always got stopped from being posted. Coole, it appears was actively trying to undermine Mr. Smythe’s efforts to be promoted into that area of the agency’s mission and the same managers were preventing any more jobs Mr. Smythe was qualified for from being posted.
The attempts by these managers to purge the “Big City†office of The Agency continued. In fact, they not only drove out the people who were experienced, well trained, and knew how to do the job and had some knowledge of the corporate history, they began hiring very young people, and then stopped offering them the comprehensive training that had always been customary in The Agency in the past. The new employees did not receive (and are still not receiving) the help, assistance, and training they need in order to competently do their jobs. They were pretty much out there on their own, and in fact sometimes called Mr. Smythe at his new agency to ask for assistance, as they didn’t really have anywhere else to turn. This situation in fact, made The Agency Industrial Security Specialists entirely too dependent on asking the very defense contractor they were supposed to be policing, for help in managing their inspections. This was a major conflict of interest and gave certain elements at The Defense Contractor entirely too much influence and control over the whole inspection and reporting process.
In fact, during a part of this period of time, as Mr. Smythe was investigating and dealing with the repercussions of his report, the Office chief of the “Much Warmer†Agency office, Mr. Duke, who was a part of the management hierarchy and was serving as Mr. Smythe’s direct supervisor, understood the wrong doing, and tried to stand up and support Mr. Smythe, but was pretty well trashed by the upper management himself.
In fact, about the time Mr. Smythe left the agency to take a different job, Mr. Duke had decided to also leave in disgust, and had accepted a job overseas in order to finish his career, out of this mess. Unfortunately, his wife became ill right before they were supposed to leave, which caused him to have to go back to The Agency so she could stay and undergo medical treatment in the United States. After Mr. Duke had announced he was leaving, and Mr. Smythe was leaving, there was some grumbling and questions being asked about the number of employees leaving “Big City†office and The Agency in general, particularly since it was the most knowledgeable employees leaving. It created some pressure for the upper management of The Agency. In response, it seems the bad actors began a disinformation campaign blaming the ills and misfortunes of the agency on those that were no longer going to be around to defend themselves, in order to prevent from being held accountable themselves for the mess. The agency allowed Mr. Duke to return to a job, but not his old office chief job. So when Mr. Duke came back, he was treated as though he’d been responsible for all the problems, was very publicly busted back to a field personnel position and was kept out of sight, while he continued to deal with his wife’s illness.
It has become quite evident to this observer that there are some very corrupted people in The Agency and that current managers intend to keep the employees from having the knowledge and skills to hold any of the defense contractors, particularly The Defense Contractor, accountable for not following federal requirements, policy or law. And that they have changed the policies and protocols enough to assure that the new Industrial Security Specialists replacing the ones The Agency had driven out, will not be able to report wrongdoing, even if they do find it, without pretty much destructing their own careers and probably losing their jobs. (No doubt the influence here comes at least in part from Mr. Coole, the former Agency manager, who jumped ship to work as a highly paid FSO of The Defense Contractor, which had in fact committed the wrong doing that Mr. Smythe discovered and reported. It is believed that Coole continued to tap the federal managers he used to supervise at The Agency, now lobbying, manipulating, and intimidating them from his industry position into further damaging the agency’s oversight authority over The Defense Contractor, where he, Mr. Coole, was now employed.
On top of this, another low level manager, Mr. Snoopy, (office chief of another The Agency office in another state), sometime after Mr. Smythe’s departure, visited the “Big City†office and made a point of taking the junior employees aside, and very brazenly boasted to them of having “gotten rid of” Mr. Smythe, and insinuating that if they did not shut up and do what they were told to do, they too would end up like he had – personally and professionally destroyed. Although they were not pleased with the intimidation and threats, many were too new to know better or what to do about it. They were actually quite intimidated and afraid. The most experienced one, that Mr. Smythe had helped train, was chased out because he was not willing to back off holding a certain defense contractor (yes, the same one Mr. Coole was now employed by) accountable for their continued unacceptable actions on defense contracts.
Recently in June 2007, the “Big City†office chief position was scheduled to be posted, and then finally filled. Mr. Smythe was contacted by people he used to work with in the Big City agency office. They said it was going to be posted shortly and would be an open announcement that Mr. Smythe could apply for. They reported that they had taken a vote, and wanted Mr. Smythe to apply for the office chief position. They also said that there was a new director of the agency, and that they had been promised that the hiring was going to be done at the headquarters level, circumventing the local and regional management. These same mid managers were referred to as “the polyester layer” by a previous short-term agency director, General Stote, who when he started to interfere in their empire building and other nefarious schemes, was axed just like several others before him.
Then the announcement came out, but interestingly, instead of being an open announcement, it was posted as an internal announcement only open to current employees within The Agency, effectively blocking Mr. Smythe once again from being able to apply and attain the position, as Mr. Smythe now worked for a different federal agency. This posting was a real surprise to the employees in the “Big City†Agency office, as they had been told it was going to be an open announcement and had been assured it would be handled in a professional and non-incestuous manner. One of them wrote to say that he had been told, “it would be open to all sources by order of the director,” and he commented in disgust, “so much for following the director’s orders”. It appeared the “polyester layer†was once again doing as it wished, rather than as directed.
Another person, shortly after that news came, also shared that “internal instructions circulated link Security Specialist performance ratings to facility review ratings. Obviously, if a facility review results in a rating of unsatisfactory, then the Security Specialist must not be administering adequate oversight. Therefore the Security Specialist annual performance rating would be unsatisfactory.†So to the chagrin of current The Agency Security Specialists, agency management is proposing to set it up so that if an agency Security Specialist uncovers problems, corruption or wrongdoing, and reports it, the Security Specialist will be blamed for the wrongdoing committed by The Defense Contractor and it will trash the Security Specialist’s performance rating, ruining their career standing and perhaps make it possible for Agency supervisors to fire the employee who dares to report any problems, corruption, or wrong doing.
So, it is obvious that the control of the oversight agency and the work of their Security Specialists are still being inappropriately influenced by the very Defense Contractor that The Agency is supposed to be overseeing and keeping in line. The “revolving door†which facilitated a previous upper manager, Mr. Coole, from The Agency to move directly to The Defense Contractor and to continue apparent “Quid Pro Quo†dealings is still open, and no one seems to be monitoring or enforcing violations of even the current federal prohibitions of these practices, let alone stop the door from revolving.
All of this appears to be a long term plan by some The Agency and The Defense Contractor Managers, working together, to successfully attempt to prevent the employees of The Agency, from being able to even dream of doing their jobs freely. They work in fear of being set up and harassed for doing the job they are supposed to be doing – real oversight of government contracts and of the defense contractors who are given those contracts.
From all of this it appears there is no improvement in reducing the level of corruption between federal oversight agencies and defense contractors. One can only draw the conclusion that the fox is still aggressively in charge of the henhouse and corruption still abounds both in the defense contractor ranks as well as within the federal government. Federal employees (there are many) who have run up against the corrupt players are still being abused in record numbers and have very few places to get help. It is imperative that elected officials and those in oversight who are not compromised and corrupted, must stand up and help to clean house, or the future for these whistleblowers and their families, and for our country as a whole look bleak indeed.
{Ed Note: Since this on this particular post and since it’s not googling as written elsewhere, I did not delete it, but it’s WAY too long for a blog comment. Don’t do it again. –99)