More Evidence Of The FBI's Gestapo Ideology -- Its Threats Against Whistleblower Special Agent Bassem Youssef
In yet another instance of the FBI doing its imitation of a vicious Pit Bull that's gotten off its leash, the agency shows that it is not serving the interests of the American people, and even attacking its own agents when they attempt to expose the Bureau's rampant criminality.
Such attacks on FBI whistle blowers have now become common place, and many of them including Sibel Edmonds, have taken to the Internet to expose the FBI's treasonous crimes. In the case of Edmonds, her exposition also includes evidence that the FBI covered up certain politicians' complicity in selling U.S. nuclear secrets to other countries. Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert was also mentioned here. However, Edmonds' information was completely ignored by the FBI -- who was no doubt told by the White House, to get rid of the evidence. Of course the FBI claims that no such evidence exists.
Then again, if the FBI has destroyed these files, their statement is true. Except that they left out the fact they had the files, and then made certain that no one else would ever see them, in order to protect certain U.S politicians who are clearly in the commission of treasonous crimes.
And while we're on the subject, exactly where are the tapes that the FBI seized at the Pentagon on 9-11? It's been seven and a half years since the FBI took possession of the tapes. So why hasn't the FBI shown them to us? Did the Bureau destroy these tapes too, in efforts to cover up for the inside job that most Americans now believe 9-11 was? It sure seems that way.
As for tapes, it also seems that the FBI and NSA are having a hell of time videotaping many Americans within the privacy of their own homes, which is only going to hang further suspicions on the rampant criminality of this Americanized Gestapo, and the degenerate garbage that is operating within its midst.
Yes, that's right, Americans have finally got the FBI's number for a change. A situation which is only going to grow worse over time, as its treasonous crimes continue to be promulgated over the Internet. Crimes which include fabricating evidence, and the most egregious violations of the 4Th Amendment ever documented.
And that's just for starters. Many of us can testify to the FBI's collusion with other Intel agencies (in my case the NSA) in regard to decades of illegal spying, for use as targets for their classified weaponry -- as victims of non consensual human experimentation.
News From The Center
Retaliation and Censorship at the FBI
January 11, 2008, Washington, DC. Take Action! Click here to contact Attorney General Mukasey and tell him that he must not tolerate further retaliation against whistleblower Bassem Youssef by managers at the FBI. The Department of Justice is charged with overseeing the FBI, and it is time they begin doing just that.
As reported on NPR, in the Wall Street Journal, and on the Whistleblower Protection Blog on January 11, 2008, the FBI is threatening to retaliate against Special Agent Bassem Youssef...again.
Mr. Youssef, who has exposed misconduct and ineptitude in the War on Terror (more info here>>, is scheduled to give a presentation to the American Library Association on Saturday, January 12. The FBI was fully aware of this speaking engagement, and had already granted permission for Mr. Youssef to speak. Unfortunately, when certain individuals within the FBI hierarchy caught wind of the fact that Mr. Youssef's presentation might in some way critique the Bureau, Mr. Youssef was threatened, and was issued documentation detailing secret censorship requirements that he cannot share with anyone outside of the Bureau.
Due to this intimidation from higher-ups at the FBI, Mr. Youssef is unable to give his prepared speech. He will only appear to take questions from audience members. (For more information, see the blog post)
This format change will not stop the retaliation that Mr. Youssef faces every day at work. Being threatened for speaking in the public interest is wrong, and Mr. Mukasey should make that clear. Click here to Take Action Now!
FBI Agent Faults Counterterrorism Work
FBI Whistleblower's Court Award Tops $1.3 Million
January 4, 2008 Washington, D.C. - This morning Chief U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum issued a final order in the case of former FBI Agent Jane Turner, bringing her total court award, including attorney's fees, to nearly $1.4 Million. The judge's ruling dealt yet another blow to the FBI, which had filed an objection to Ms. Turner's request for reimbursement of her attorneys fees.
Turner was a highly regarded child crime agent working in the "Indian Counry" of North Dakota for thirteen years. She experienced retaliation from her managers after blowing the whistle on, among other issues, sex discrimination within the FBI. In January 2007, a Minneapolis jury awarded Turner over 500,000 for retaliation and backpay - which by law was capped at $360,000.
The FBI initially appealed the ruling, but the Solicitor General of the United States intervened and forced the FBI to drop their appeal.
Stephen Kohn, Ms. Turner's attorney and President of the National Whistleblower Center, called the Turner decision "vindication for an irrational attempt by the FBI to destroy one of its highly decorated veteran agents after she exposed highly discriminatory practices by her management."
In addition to disclosing discrimination, Ms. Turner also reported widespread theft by FBI agents at the 9/11 crimescene. A subsequent DOJ investigation found that scores of employees had stolen items belonging to the victims, including a crystal Tiffany globe and bloodstained clothing.
"FBI management at the highest levels must be held accountable for their crude attempt to cover up official misconduct. What the Bureau did to Jane Turner is unacceptable in modern law enforcement." Added Kohn.
FBI Whistleblower to Speak Out
December 28, 2007, Washington, D.C. - The American Library Association has announced that FBI whistleblower Bassem Youssef will speak at it's winter conference in Philadelphia on Saturday, January 12th. Mr. Youssef is the Chief of the FBI's Communications Analysis Unit (CAU), and he is responsible for administering two highly controversial warrantless search programs created under the provisions of the USA PATRIOT ACT, including the "National Security Letters" program which was reported widely earlier this year.
Mr. Youssef is expected to speak about failures in the FBI's Counterterrorism program, and his experiences as a whistleblower.
The ALA has long been a champion for civil liberties, privacy, and intellectual freedom.
For detailed information about the event, click here to see the ALA press release.
For more information on Mr. Youssef's case, click here to visit our "Inside the FBI's Counterterrorism Division" webpage.
Senate Passes Major Whistleblower Reforms
December 18, 2007, Washington, DC. Last evening the U.S. Senate, by unanimous consent, passed the Federal Employee Protection of Disclosures Act (S.274). This law enhances the protection for federal employee whistleblowers by expanding the scope of protected activity to cover complaints within an employees chain of command.
Passage of S.274 now sets the stage for a conference between the House and Senate to agree final legislative language. On March 14, 2007 the House enacted the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (H.R. 985), which expanded the scope of whistleblower protections to national security related agencies, permitted employees to obtain jury trials in federal court, provided enhanced protections for federal contractors and protected employees who exposed misconduct to their managers.
"The House and Senate whistleblower protections laws complement each other. They need to be melded together in conference and immediately enacted into law. Only by combining the best of both bills will federal employees obtain realistic protection. Until then, the taxpayers and citizens will remain the losers in this debate, as billions of dollars in waste remains unreported and government officials who violate the law and mislead the American people escape accountability," said Stephen M. Kohn, the President of the National Whistleblower Center.
"The Senate Action now sets the stage for the final passage of what will be one of the most important laws enacted by this Congress," added Kohn.
The House and Senate bills were strongly endorsed by a broad coalition of public groups, including the National Whistleblower Center, the Project on Government Oversight, the Government Accountability Project and Taxpayers Against Fraud, the No Fear Coalition, the Make it Safe Coalition, the National Employment Lawyers Association, OpentheGovernment.org, the Liberty Coalition, and the Bill of Rights Foundation, among numerous others.
For more information, visit the Whistleblower Protection Blog
Major Civil Rights Tax Case Filed With Supreme Court
December 13, 2007, Washington, D.C. – Today, The U.S. Supreme Court was asked to hear a key civil rights tax appeal which could affect thousands of past and future victims of civil rights offenses and whistleblower retaliation. In Murphy v. IRS, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed its own original ruling in deciding that court awards for damages such as emotional distress and loss of reputation are taxable as income.
The case was brought by Marrita Murphy, an environmental whistleblower who won her case before Department of Labor, and was awarded compensatory damages to vindicate her rights under six federal environmental whistleblower statutes. Murphy filed suit when the IRS demanded that she pay taxes on the “make-whole” award as if it were income. After having her case dismissed, Murphy filed an appeal.
After full briefing and oral argument, the Appeals court initially held that Murphy’s award was not income and the tax on her damages violated the U.S. Constitution. Then, under pressure from the Bush Administration, the judges decided to rehear the case. In this ruling, Murphy II, the D.C. Circuit reversed its own previous decision, declaring that non-physical compensatory damages are taxable as gross income.
For the first time the issue of whether compensatory damages for non-physical injuries are taxable income is squarely before the Supreme Court. This is a major issue impacting all cases in which any person obtains compensatory damages for a mental distress or illness, or for physical problems resulting from or associated with emotional distress.
David K. Colapinto, General Counsel for the National Whistleblower Center and attorney for Marrita Murphy said he is requesting that the Supreme Court review the issue because "The D.C. Circuit’s reversal stands reality on its head."
Colapinto went on to say that, "The D.C. Circuit’s decision in the Murphy case is the first time that any court has construed the tax code to imply an 'excise' tax on the 'privilege' of utilizing the 'legal system' to vindicate a federal statutory right."
“However, Congress did not pass a special tax demanding payment from people who use the legal system to prevent retaliation against whistleblowers or to vindicate civil rights. It was error for the D.C. Circuit to imply such a tax," he added.
Murphy Petition
For more information visit Murphy v. IRS
FBI Stonewalled Bullet-Lead Record Request
Washington, D.C. - November 19, 2007. The Washington Post and 60 Minutes reported that the convictions of hundreds of defendants have come into question because a bullet-lead analysis used for 40 years has been discredited and that the FBI and Justice Department has failed for more than 2 years to properly notify those convicted about these problems. Read The Article
This story has been over 10 years in the making, and is the direct product of work done by the National Whistleblower Center and its Forensic Justice Project, which is a special project of the Center.
Dr. Frederic Whitehurst, Executive Director of the Forensic Justice Project, has for years cited the need for outside oversight of the FBI Laboratory. "In 1997 the FJP was formed with the motto, ‘Stop It, Fix It, and Find Out Who Was Harmed,'" Dr. Whitehurst said.
Dr. Whitehurst and the FJP have worked extensively with scientists, defense lawyers, the news media and members of Congress to force the FBI to address the serious problems and misconduct in the FBI's misuse of bullet-lead analysis in criminal cases.
Additionally, documents obtained from the FBI by the FJP as the result of two separate lawsuits filed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) were shared with the Washington Post-60 Minutes investigation about the bullet-lead scandal. These FBI documents pertain to some of the hundreds of bullet-lead cases and provided important leads for discovery of other information from public court records, as reported in the Post-60 Minutes investigation. In addition, the FJP obtained under FOIA FBI emails and other internal FBI records referenced in the Post-60 Minutes investigation documenting the FBI's failure to properly address the bullet-lead issue and communicate the problems to criminal defendants and the courts.
However, "the FBI and Justice Department have strongly resisted efforts by the FJP to determine the names of those defendants who were treated unfairly as a result of bad forensic science," said Dr. Whitehurst.
The FJP and Dr. Whitehurst are currently suing the FBI and Justice Department in court over their refusal to process the FJP's FOIA request submitted in September 2005 seeking release of all bullet-lead case files from the FBI Lab. The FJP and Dr. Whitehurst requested these files so the FBI's bullet-lead cases can be independently reviewed by scientists and attorneys.
All of the FBI's bullet-lead information should have been disclosed to the courts as well as criminal defendants and their attorneys years ago," said David Colapinto, General Counsel of the National Whistleblower Center.
Instead, the FBI and Justice Department deliberately chose to operate in the dark, out of public view, and conceal the evidence that is scientifically flawed but which was still used in criminal cases," Colapinto said. "This has severely prejudiced people who have been hurt by the FBI Lab's misconduct," he added.
The FJP and the National Whistleblower Center congratulate the Washington Post and 60 Minutes for undertaking a joint journalistic investigation to publicly expose this scandal.
"Without this reporting by the Washington Post and 60 Minutes, the FBI and Justice Department would continue to delay release of the bullet-lead case files and notification of defendants and the courts about these problems," said Dr. Frederic Whitehurst.
"The last thing the Justice Department should do is what has been done, to aggressively stop parties from discovery of those citizens harmed," Dr. Whitehurst said.
You can visit the Whistleblower Protection Blog, at http://www.whistleblowersblog.org for further information on the bullet-lead issue. We will have original documents from the FOIA lawsuit, as well as blog posts from former FBI Crime Lab whistleblower (and Executive Director of the Forensic Justice Project) Dr. Frederic Whitehurst and the General Counsel for the National Whistleblower Center, David Colapinto.
Click here to visit the Whistleblower Protection Blog
Click here to see 60 Minutes' article about the show
Whistleblower Blog Launches
Washington D.C. - November 16, 2007. A new whistleblower-support blog was launched by the National Whistleblower Legal Defense and Education Fund (NWLDEF) to provide critical information on cutting edge whistleblower issues and breaking news stories related to whistleblower rights.
The new blog, entitled the Whistleblower Protection Blog, is located at http://www.whistleblowersblog.org.
Among its features are:
Legislative updates
Public forum for discussing whistleblower issues
News analysis
Information on how to protect yourself when exposing wrongdoing
Review of important new whistleblower legal decisions
News organizations, whistleblowers and whistleblower-advocates are encouraged to sign up for the Whistleblower Protection Blog RSS News Feeds to have the latest whistleblower issues downloaded right to your web browser.
The NWLDEF is a non-profit law firm associated with the National Whistleblower Center. Since 1988 both the Center and the NWLDEF have provided legal support and resources to whistleblowers. The Editor-in-Chief of the blog is Mr. Marshall Chriswell, who can be contacted at mc@whistleblowers.org.
FBI’s Office of General Counsel and ITOS Managers Knew of NSL Violations in 2005
Is the FBI doing its best to combat terrorism?
Highest-ranking Arab-American agent says no, sues for discrimination
FBI communications analysis unit chief sets forth facts related to the FBI’s conduct in response to a information request from Senator Charles Grassley
Washington, D.C., March 21, 2007. In response to a request for information filed by U.S. Senator Charles Grassley, the Unit Chief responsible for the Communications Analysis Unit of the FBI set forth a detailed explanation of who in the FBI learned of the problems with NSL letters, how the violations were first identified and steps taken by the Unit Chief to have the problem(s) resolved in 2005-06. Senator Grassley’s letter was sent to the attorney for the Unit Chief (Bassem Youssef) on March 16, 2007. The response from counsel for Mr. Youssef was dated March 17, 2007. Senator Grassley placed these letters onto the record of the hearing conducted today before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In a statement issued today, the President of the National Whistleblower Center (who also serves as Mr. Youssef’s lead attorney) issued the following statement:
The record is clear. In 2005, Mr. Youssef identified the problem(s) with the NSL letters and aggressively sought corrective action within the FBI. He made FBI managers fully aware of the problem well over one year before the Inspector General issued his report. One can only hope that the FBI will undertake the systemic corrective actions necessary to prevent further abuses.
E-mails exist which fully document the nature of the problems identified by Mr. Youssef, who was made aware of these problems, and the efforts undertaken to correct the problems. Mr. Youssef has formally requested that the FBI immediately make these e-mails public. Congress and the American public should have an opportunity to fully review these e-mails in order to understand how the FBI permitted violations of law to remain uncorrected for nearly two years.
March 16, 2007 letter from Charles Grassley to Stephen Kohn
March 19, 2007 letter from Stephen Kohn to Charles Grassley
March 21, 2007 Grassley Opening Statement (Senate Judiciary Committee)
March 27, 2007 Grassley Statement at the FBI Oversight Hearing
Background information on FBI Counter-terrorism Unit Chief Bassem Youssef:
Watch Stephen Kohn’s appearance on Hardball with Chris Matthews: FBI hurting the War on Terror?
Official Alerted F.B.I. to Rules Abuse 2 Years Ago
By Edmund L. Andrews
NY Times, March 19, 2007
Amid Concerns, FBI Lapses Went On
By R. Jeffrey Smith and John Solomon
Washington Post, March 18, 2007
A Review of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Use of National Security Letters,
DOJ OIG, March 9, 2007
FBI Report of Legat Riyadh: Youssef’s Four Years in Saudi Arabia
Director of Central Intelligence Award
Awarded to Mr. Youssef for his work in combating Middle Eastern Terrorism
Performance Appraisal Reports of Bassem Youssef
These are some of Mr. Youssef’s Performance Evaluations during the time he worked in operational counterterrorism.
U.S. Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility
Report of Investigation of Whistleblower
Allegations by Federal Bureau of Investigation
Special Agent Bassem Youssef Finding Retaliation by the FBI
Additional information about Mr. Bassem Youssef can be found at
http://www.whistleblowers.org/html/bassem_ youssef.html
Jon Stewart’s Daily Show Report on Bassem Youssef
Also see Inside the FBI: Counterterrorism
Such attacks on FBI whistle blowers have now become common place, and many of them including Sibel Edmonds, have taken to the Internet to expose the FBI's treasonous crimes. In the case of Edmonds, her exposition also includes evidence that the FBI covered up certain politicians' complicity in selling U.S. nuclear secrets to other countries. Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert was also mentioned here. However, Edmonds' information was completely ignored by the FBI -- who was no doubt told by the White House, to get rid of the evidence. Of course the FBI claims that no such evidence exists.
Then again, if the FBI has destroyed these files, their statement is true. Except that they left out the fact they had the files, and then made certain that no one else would ever see them, in order to protect certain U.S politicians who are clearly in the commission of treasonous crimes.
And while we're on the subject, exactly where are the tapes that the FBI seized at the Pentagon on 9-11? It's been seven and a half years since the FBI took possession of the tapes. So why hasn't the FBI shown them to us? Did the Bureau destroy these tapes too, in efforts to cover up for the inside job that most Americans now believe 9-11 was? It sure seems that way.
As for tapes, it also seems that the FBI and NSA are having a hell of time videotaping many Americans within the privacy of their own homes, which is only going to hang further suspicions on the rampant criminality of this Americanized Gestapo, and the degenerate garbage that is operating within its midst.
Yes, that's right, Americans have finally got the FBI's number for a change. A situation which is only going to grow worse over time, as its treasonous crimes continue to be promulgated over the Internet. Crimes which include fabricating evidence, and the most egregious violations of the 4Th Amendment ever documented.
And that's just for starters. Many of us can testify to the FBI's collusion with other Intel agencies (in my case the NSA) in regard to decades of illegal spying, for use as targets for their classified weaponry -- as victims of non consensual human experimentation.
News From The Center
Retaliation and Censorship at the FBI
January 11, 2008, Washington, DC. Take Action! Click here to contact Attorney General Mukasey and tell him that he must not tolerate further retaliation against whistleblower Bassem Youssef by managers at the FBI. The Department of Justice is charged with overseeing the FBI, and it is time they begin doing just that.
As reported on NPR, in the Wall Street Journal, and on the Whistleblower Protection Blog on January 11, 2008, the FBI is threatening to retaliate against Special Agent Bassem Youssef...again.
Mr. Youssef, who has exposed misconduct and ineptitude in the War on Terror (more info here>>, is scheduled to give a presentation to the American Library Association on Saturday, January 12. The FBI was fully aware of this speaking engagement, and had already granted permission for Mr. Youssef to speak. Unfortunately, when certain individuals within the FBI hierarchy caught wind of the fact that Mr. Youssef's presentation might in some way critique the Bureau, Mr. Youssef was threatened, and was issued documentation detailing secret censorship requirements that he cannot share with anyone outside of the Bureau.
Due to this intimidation from higher-ups at the FBI, Mr. Youssef is unable to give his prepared speech. He will only appear to take questions from audience members. (For more information, see the blog post)
This format change will not stop the retaliation that Mr. Youssef faces every day at work. Being threatened for speaking in the public interest is wrong, and Mr. Mukasey should make that clear. Click here to Take Action Now!
FBI Agent Faults Counterterrorism Work
FBI Whistleblower's Court Award Tops $1.3 Million
January 4, 2008 Washington, D.C. - This morning Chief U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum issued a final order in the case of former FBI Agent Jane Turner, bringing her total court award, including attorney's fees, to nearly $1.4 Million. The judge's ruling dealt yet another blow to the FBI, which had filed an objection to Ms. Turner's request for reimbursement of her attorneys fees.
Turner was a highly regarded child crime agent working in the "Indian Counry" of North Dakota for thirteen years. She experienced retaliation from her managers after blowing the whistle on, among other issues, sex discrimination within the FBI. In January 2007, a Minneapolis jury awarded Turner over 500,000 for retaliation and backpay - which by law was capped at $360,000.
The FBI initially appealed the ruling, but the Solicitor General of the United States intervened and forced the FBI to drop their appeal.
Stephen Kohn, Ms. Turner's attorney and President of the National Whistleblower Center, called the Turner decision "vindication for an irrational attempt by the FBI to destroy one of its highly decorated veteran agents after she exposed highly discriminatory practices by her management."
In addition to disclosing discrimination, Ms. Turner also reported widespread theft by FBI agents at the 9/11 crimescene. A subsequent DOJ investigation found that scores of employees had stolen items belonging to the victims, including a crystal Tiffany globe and bloodstained clothing.
"FBI management at the highest levels must be held accountable for their crude attempt to cover up official misconduct. What the Bureau did to Jane Turner is unacceptable in modern law enforcement." Added Kohn.
FBI Whistleblower to Speak Out
December 28, 2007, Washington, D.C. - The American Library Association has announced that FBI whistleblower Bassem Youssef will speak at it's winter conference in Philadelphia on Saturday, January 12th. Mr. Youssef is the Chief of the FBI's Communications Analysis Unit (CAU), and he is responsible for administering two highly controversial warrantless search programs created under the provisions of the USA PATRIOT ACT, including the "National Security Letters" program which was reported widely earlier this year.
Mr. Youssef is expected to speak about failures in the FBI's Counterterrorism program, and his experiences as a whistleblower.
The ALA has long been a champion for civil liberties, privacy, and intellectual freedom.
For detailed information about the event, click here to see the ALA press release.
For more information on Mr. Youssef's case, click here to visit our "Inside the FBI's Counterterrorism Division" webpage.
Senate Passes Major Whistleblower Reforms
December 18, 2007, Washington, DC. Last evening the U.S. Senate, by unanimous consent, passed the Federal Employee Protection of Disclosures Act (S.274). This law enhances the protection for federal employee whistleblowers by expanding the scope of protected activity to cover complaints within an employees chain of command.
Passage of S.274 now sets the stage for a conference between the House and Senate to agree final legislative language. On March 14, 2007 the House enacted the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (H.R. 985), which expanded the scope of whistleblower protections to national security related agencies, permitted employees to obtain jury trials in federal court, provided enhanced protections for federal contractors and protected employees who exposed misconduct to their managers.
"The House and Senate whistleblower protections laws complement each other. They need to be melded together in conference and immediately enacted into law. Only by combining the best of both bills will federal employees obtain realistic protection. Until then, the taxpayers and citizens will remain the losers in this debate, as billions of dollars in waste remains unreported and government officials who violate the law and mislead the American people escape accountability," said Stephen M. Kohn, the President of the National Whistleblower Center.
"The Senate Action now sets the stage for the final passage of what will be one of the most important laws enacted by this Congress," added Kohn.
The House and Senate bills were strongly endorsed by a broad coalition of public groups, including the National Whistleblower Center, the Project on Government Oversight, the Government Accountability Project and Taxpayers Against Fraud, the No Fear Coalition, the Make it Safe Coalition, the National Employment Lawyers Association, OpentheGovernment.org, the Liberty Coalition, and the Bill of Rights Foundation, among numerous others.
For more information, visit the Whistleblower Protection Blog
Major Civil Rights Tax Case Filed With Supreme Court
December 13, 2007, Washington, D.C. – Today, The U.S. Supreme Court was asked to hear a key civil rights tax appeal which could affect thousands of past and future victims of civil rights offenses and whistleblower retaliation. In Murphy v. IRS, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed its own original ruling in deciding that court awards for damages such as emotional distress and loss of reputation are taxable as income.
The case was brought by Marrita Murphy, an environmental whistleblower who won her case before Department of Labor, and was awarded compensatory damages to vindicate her rights under six federal environmental whistleblower statutes. Murphy filed suit when the IRS demanded that she pay taxes on the “make-whole” award as if it were income. After having her case dismissed, Murphy filed an appeal.
After full briefing and oral argument, the Appeals court initially held that Murphy’s award was not income and the tax on her damages violated the U.S. Constitution. Then, under pressure from the Bush Administration, the judges decided to rehear the case. In this ruling, Murphy II, the D.C. Circuit reversed its own previous decision, declaring that non-physical compensatory damages are taxable as gross income.
For the first time the issue of whether compensatory damages for non-physical injuries are taxable income is squarely before the Supreme Court. This is a major issue impacting all cases in which any person obtains compensatory damages for a mental distress or illness, or for physical problems resulting from or associated with emotional distress.
David K. Colapinto, General Counsel for the National Whistleblower Center and attorney for Marrita Murphy said he is requesting that the Supreme Court review the issue because "The D.C. Circuit’s reversal stands reality on its head."
Colapinto went on to say that, "The D.C. Circuit’s decision in the Murphy case is the first time that any court has construed the tax code to imply an 'excise' tax on the 'privilege' of utilizing the 'legal system' to vindicate a federal statutory right."
“However, Congress did not pass a special tax demanding payment from people who use the legal system to prevent retaliation against whistleblowers or to vindicate civil rights. It was error for the D.C. Circuit to imply such a tax," he added.
Murphy Petition
For more information visit Murphy v. IRS
FBI Stonewalled Bullet-Lead Record Request
Washington, D.C. - November 19, 2007. The Washington Post and 60 Minutes reported that the convictions of hundreds of defendants have come into question because a bullet-lead analysis used for 40 years has been discredited and that the FBI and Justice Department has failed for more than 2 years to properly notify those convicted about these problems. Read The Article
This story has been over 10 years in the making, and is the direct product of work done by the National Whistleblower Center and its Forensic Justice Project, which is a special project of the Center.
Dr. Frederic Whitehurst, Executive Director of the Forensic Justice Project, has for years cited the need for outside oversight of the FBI Laboratory. "In 1997 the FJP was formed with the motto, ‘Stop It, Fix It, and Find Out Who Was Harmed,'" Dr. Whitehurst said.
Dr. Whitehurst and the FJP have worked extensively with scientists, defense lawyers, the news media and members of Congress to force the FBI to address the serious problems and misconduct in the FBI's misuse of bullet-lead analysis in criminal cases.
Additionally, documents obtained from the FBI by the FJP as the result of two separate lawsuits filed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) were shared with the Washington Post-60 Minutes investigation about the bullet-lead scandal. These FBI documents pertain to some of the hundreds of bullet-lead cases and provided important leads for discovery of other information from public court records, as reported in the Post-60 Minutes investigation. In addition, the FJP obtained under FOIA FBI emails and other internal FBI records referenced in the Post-60 Minutes investigation documenting the FBI's failure to properly address the bullet-lead issue and communicate the problems to criminal defendants and the courts.
However, "the FBI and Justice Department have strongly resisted efforts by the FJP to determine the names of those defendants who were treated unfairly as a result of bad forensic science," said Dr. Whitehurst.
The FJP and Dr. Whitehurst are currently suing the FBI and Justice Department in court over their refusal to process the FJP's FOIA request submitted in September 2005 seeking release of all bullet-lead case files from the FBI Lab. The FJP and Dr. Whitehurst requested these files so the FBI's bullet-lead cases can be independently reviewed by scientists and attorneys.
All of the FBI's bullet-lead information should have been disclosed to the courts as well as criminal defendants and their attorneys years ago," said David Colapinto, General Counsel of the National Whistleblower Center.
Instead, the FBI and Justice Department deliberately chose to operate in the dark, out of public view, and conceal the evidence that is scientifically flawed but which was still used in criminal cases," Colapinto said. "This has severely prejudiced people who have been hurt by the FBI Lab's misconduct," he added.
The FJP and the National Whistleblower Center congratulate the Washington Post and 60 Minutes for undertaking a joint journalistic investigation to publicly expose this scandal.
"Without this reporting by the Washington Post and 60 Minutes, the FBI and Justice Department would continue to delay release of the bullet-lead case files and notification of defendants and the courts about these problems," said Dr. Frederic Whitehurst.
"The last thing the Justice Department should do is what has been done, to aggressively stop parties from discovery of those citizens harmed," Dr. Whitehurst said.
You can visit the Whistleblower Protection Blog, at http://www.whistleblowersblog.org for further information on the bullet-lead issue. We will have original documents from the FOIA lawsuit, as well as blog posts from former FBI Crime Lab whistleblower (and Executive Director of the Forensic Justice Project) Dr. Frederic Whitehurst and the General Counsel for the National Whistleblower Center, David Colapinto.
Click here to visit the Whistleblower Protection Blog
Click here to see 60 Minutes' article about the show
Whistleblower Blog Launches
Washington D.C. - November 16, 2007. A new whistleblower-support blog was launched by the National Whistleblower Legal Defense and Education Fund (NWLDEF) to provide critical information on cutting edge whistleblower issues and breaking news stories related to whistleblower rights.
The new blog, entitled the Whistleblower Protection Blog, is located at http://www.whistleblowersblog.org.
Among its features are:
Legislative updates
Public forum for discussing whistleblower issues
News analysis
Information on how to protect yourself when exposing wrongdoing
Review of important new whistleblower legal decisions
News organizations, whistleblowers and whistleblower-advocates are encouraged to sign up for the Whistleblower Protection Blog RSS News Feeds to have the latest whistleblower issues downloaded right to your web browser.
The NWLDEF is a non-profit law firm associated with the National Whistleblower Center. Since 1988 both the Center and the NWLDEF have provided legal support and resources to whistleblowers. The Editor-in-Chief of the blog is Mr. Marshall Chriswell, who can be contacted at mc@whistleblowers.org.
FBI’s Office of General Counsel and ITOS Managers Knew of NSL Violations in 2005
Is the FBI doing its best to combat terrorism?
Highest-ranking Arab-American agent says no, sues for discrimination
FBI communications analysis unit chief sets forth facts related to the FBI’s conduct in response to a information request from Senator Charles Grassley
Washington, D.C., March 21, 2007. In response to a request for information filed by U.S. Senator Charles Grassley, the Unit Chief responsible for the Communications Analysis Unit of the FBI set forth a detailed explanation of who in the FBI learned of the problems with NSL letters, how the violations were first identified and steps taken by the Unit Chief to have the problem(s) resolved in 2005-06. Senator Grassley’s letter was sent to the attorney for the Unit Chief (Bassem Youssef) on March 16, 2007. The response from counsel for Mr. Youssef was dated March 17, 2007. Senator Grassley placed these letters onto the record of the hearing conducted today before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In a statement issued today, the President of the National Whistleblower Center (who also serves as Mr. Youssef’s lead attorney) issued the following statement:
The record is clear. In 2005, Mr. Youssef identified the problem(s) with the NSL letters and aggressively sought corrective action within the FBI. He made FBI managers fully aware of the problem well over one year before the Inspector General issued his report. One can only hope that the FBI will undertake the systemic corrective actions necessary to prevent further abuses.
E-mails exist which fully document the nature of the problems identified by Mr. Youssef, who was made aware of these problems, and the efforts undertaken to correct the problems. Mr. Youssef has formally requested that the FBI immediately make these e-mails public. Congress and the American public should have an opportunity to fully review these e-mails in order to understand how the FBI permitted violations of law to remain uncorrected for nearly two years.
March 16, 2007 letter from Charles Grassley to Stephen Kohn
March 19, 2007 letter from Stephen Kohn to Charles Grassley
March 21, 2007 Grassley Opening Statement (Senate Judiciary Committee)
March 27, 2007 Grassley Statement at the FBI Oversight Hearing
Background information on FBI Counter-terrorism Unit Chief Bassem Youssef:
Watch Stephen Kohn’s appearance on Hardball with Chris Matthews: FBI hurting the War on Terror?
Official Alerted F.B.I. to Rules Abuse 2 Years Ago
By Edmund L. Andrews
NY Times, March 19, 2007
Amid Concerns, FBI Lapses Went On
By R. Jeffrey Smith and John Solomon
Washington Post, March 18, 2007
A Review of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Use of National Security Letters,
DOJ OIG, March 9, 2007
FBI Report of Legat Riyadh: Youssef’s Four Years in Saudi Arabia
Director of Central Intelligence Award
Awarded to Mr. Youssef for his work in combating Middle Eastern Terrorism
Performance Appraisal Reports of Bassem Youssef
These are some of Mr. Youssef’s Performance Evaluations during the time he worked in operational counterterrorism.
U.S. Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility
Report of Investigation of Whistleblower
Allegations by Federal Bureau of Investigation
Special Agent Bassem Youssef Finding Retaliation by the FBI
Additional information about Mr. Bassem Youssef can be found at
http://www.whistleblowers.org/html/bassem_ youssef.html
Jon Stewart’s Daily Show Report on Bassem Youssef
Also see Inside the FBI: Counterterrorism
posted by James F. Marino at 4:28 PM
See: John St. Clair Akwei VS NSA 
NSA Remote Neural Monitoring Of The American People's Brains And The Concept Of Punishing People For Their Thoughts Has Become A Reality In The United States
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