Mike Papantonio and Peter Mougey discuss whistleblower protections (or lack thereof) in America.
To learn more about this topic, click here: Whistleblower & Qui Tam Lawsuits
Transcript:
Mike Papantonio: This last story that we have time to talk about is a whistleblower. You and I always talk about how whistleblowers have become victimized. We’ve had two presidents. First of all, you had George Bush say, “I’m gonna take your whistleblowers,” and of course, just the opposite happened. Obama said, “I’m gonna make sure whistleblowers are safe.” It got worse, if you can imagine with Obama. Nothing happens to government sometimes or corrupt corporations unless somebody comes and tells a story because you can’t find out. It has to be somebody inside. What’s your take on this US intelligence where they’re actually trying to shut down whistleblowers by way of retaliation.
Peter Mougey: The whistleblowers are crazy important in our society because whistleblowers are usually internal folks in the know that can go to their superiors or an outside agency and point out wrongdoing and the Whistleblower Acts Group were created under Lincoln when people were selling integral parts for the war and filling them with sand.
Mike Papantonio: You’ve handed several of these cases.
Peter Mougey: Yeah.
Mike Papantonio: In each case, wouldn’t you agree, the ones that I’ve handled, I’ve seen … Well, actually, I’ve worked on with you. The ones I’ve seen, it’s like the person coming forward that’s saying, “You need to know something. The defense industry, this weapons manufacturer is stealing billions of dollars from tax payers and oh, by the way, I have the documents. Here they are. Here’s the information right here.” Now you take it to the government and what happens to that whistleblower? He becomes a victim, doesn’t he?
Peter Mougey: Well, it’s scary and the example in this story that just came out from the Daily Beast was that in the spy industry, the cloak and dagger industry, when you have the whistleblowers coming forth, that I think it was one out of 190 cases had ruled in favor of the whistleblower and that they were getting fired left and right. They weren’t protected and that’s one of the key pieces of these whistleblower cases is that the whistleblower is petrified. Can you imagine in this cloak and dagger industry how scared the whistleblower is to come forward, say what they know and then wants to be protected and they need to be protected. It promotes an efficiency within our government. But if we’re not taking care of them and it’s another coverup. They’re not finding any wrongdoing in case after case after case and they’re they’re taking years and years and years to come to conclusion.
Mike Papantonio: Yeah. They’re victimized.
