http://www.buzzflash.com/alerts/06/04/ale06045.html
26 April 2006 A Buzzflash News Alert
On 22 December 2005, the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition
(NSWBC)
made public the request by a former NSA intelligence analyst and action
officer to re****t to Congress probable unlawful and unconstitutional acts
conducted while he was an intelligence officer with the National Security
Agency (NSA) and with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). NSWBC urged
the
congress to hold hearings and let Mr. Tice testify. Today, more than four
months after Mr. Tice's letters were sent to the chairs of the Senate and
House Intelligence Committees and publicized in the media, he has yet to
receive a response and be given an op****tunity to lawfully disclose his
first-hand account of criminal acts conducted by the National Security
Agency.
"Here you have a responsible veteran intelligence officer who has been
trying to reach out to the so-called appropriate channels, including the
United States Congress, to appropriately and lawfully make disclosure of
government wrongdoing; yet, as we have seen time and time again, these
attempts prove to be futile. Amazingly enough, congressional
representatives
such as Senator Pat Roberts, the Chairman of the Senate Select Committee
on
Intelligence (SSCI) continue to mislead the public by making false
statements regarding the availability of appropriate channels for
whistleblowers to disclose government waste, fraud, abuse and/or criminal
activities. We would like for Senator Roberts to come out, in light of all
these do***ented cases of whistleblowers'attempts to re****t to congress
cases of agency wrongdoing, and explain to the public what he means by the
'availability of appropriate channels for Intelligence whistleblowers to
re****t other than the media', and when will the system be fixed so we do
not
have to throw out the best in government to expose the misdeeds of the
worst," stated Sibel Edmonds, the director of National Security
Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC).
On December 16, 2005, Russ Tice wrote to the chairs of the Senate and
House
Intelligence Committees requesting a classified briefing to re****t to
Congress probable unlawful and unconstitutional acts conducted while he
was
an intelligence officer with the National Security Agency (NSA) and with
the
Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). In his letter, Mr. Tice stated that
these
acts involved the Director of the National Security Agency, the Deputies
Chief of Staff for Air and Space Operations, and the U.S. Secretary of
Defense, and were conducted via very highly sensitive intelligence
programs
and operations known as Special Access Programs (SAP). SAP programs and
operations are more commonly referred to as "black world" programs and
operations (To read Mr. Tice's Letter to Congress Click Here)
On January 09, 2006, NSA sent a letter addressed to Mr. Tice and asserted
that no senators, congressmen or staff on the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence (SSCI) or the House Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence
(HPSCI) possessed high enough security clearance to be briefed by Mr.
Tice.
(To read a PDF of NSA's letter to Mr. Tice Click Here)
Today, in a letter sent by Mr. Tice to the Chairman of the Senate
Intelligence Committee, Senator Pat Roberts, he states: "To this date I
have
not received a response from you or the SSCI addressing my request to
testify about these SAP programs." Further the letter reads, "As the
responsible committee for intelligence in the Senate, I have been waiting
for your directions on this matter. If another committee is the proper
place
for me to testify, I believe it is your responsibility to forward my
request
to that committee and keep me informed of the process." (To read the
entire
letter Click Here)
Professor William Weaver, NSWBC Senior Advisor stated: "In our system of
government the People are the fail-safe mechanism of accountability. When
no
other avenue works, when no one in political power will listen, when the
government colludes to deceive the citizens, it is the People who
represent
the final court of accountability for those acts and failures.
Whistleblowers in national security agencies have no safe way to re****t
illegal governmental activity; their careers, and even their safety, are
put
in danger by utilizing official channels of re****ting. They become
whistleblowers outside the system as a last resort, after they have been
failed by agencies, inspectors general, Congress, and oversight
organizations. They give the decision to the People in a last and
desperate
act to make sure that right is done. They also know that by giving the
power
of knowledge to the public they are sacrificing whatever is left of
themselves and their careers."
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
About National Security Whistleblowers Coalition
National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC), founded in August
2004,
is an independent and nonpartisan alliance of whistleblowers who have come
forward to address our nation's security weaknesses; to inform authorities
of security vulnerabilities in our intelligence agencies, at nuclear power
plants and weapon facilities, in air****ts, and at our nation's borders and
****ts; to uncover government waste, fraud, abuse, and in some cases
criminal
conduct. The NSWBC is dedicated to aiding national security whistleblowers
through a variety of methods, including advocacy of governmental and legal
reform, educating the public concerning whistleblowing activity, provision
of comfort and fellow****p to national security whistleblowers suffering
retaliation and other harms, and working with other public interest
organizations to affect goals defined in the NSWBC mission statement. For
more on NSWBC visit www.nswbc.org
http://www.buzzflash.com/alerts/06/04/ale06045.html
Fight Ignorance : Read BuzzFlash.com
and Spread Democracy
|
