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Green Beret War Hero to Whistleblower Hero
Whistleblowers come in many forms, from civilians like Edward Snowden, to Green Berets like Lieutenant Colonel Jason Amerine.What all whistleblowers have in common is the same government that gives lip service to the ideas of transparency and free speech aggressively goes after each and every one of them.
Meet Lieutenant Colonel Jason AmerineWe all know Snowden; who is Lieutenant Colonel Jason Amerine?
Amerine was one of the first Green Berets to enter Afghanistan in 2001, leading a joint U.S.-Afghan team in firefights in the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. Yet in January the Army escorted Amerine out of his office at the Pentagon office, cut off his pay, refused to allow him to retire, and opened a criminal investigation after the FBI discovered he was sharing information with Congress on policies for freeing American hostages.
Guilty of what? Talking to Congress.
Failed Hostage Rescue PolicyAmerine grew increasingly concerned over the course of his work that the U.S. government process for freeing American hostages abroad was flawed.
Amerine worked behind the scenes with Representative Duncan Hunter to try an fix it. The congressman crafted a bill that would create a single office to coordinate hostage-freeing efforts; the current process is a bureaucratic tangle involving the FBI, the Pentagon, the State Department and the intelligence agencies. Amerine was particularly concerned about Caitlan Coleman, an American who was traveling in Afghanistan while pregnant when she was kidnapped in 2012.
Members of Congress have security clearances, and are charged with oversight roles. Amerine did not go to the media, put documents on the internet or otherwise come close to violating any secrecy laws. He just p*ssed off the wrong people.
Retaliation
As if cutting off his pay (Amerine claims retaliation, the Army has no comment) was not enough, Amerine wanted to retire but was kept on active duty against his will by Army Secretary John McHugh while the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command probes his activities. The active duty status is significant, as it allows the government to try Amerine through the military justice system, which does not afford a defendant the same rights and privileges the civil courts do. It also makes it easier for the government to keep the proceedings secret, as was done with whistleblower Chelsea Manning.
After staying silent and going through channels as whistleblowers are always told to do, Amerine is now fighting back. He has retained legal counsel, and filed a complaint with the Army’s Inspector General. The soldier’s Class of 1993 West Point colleagues created a White House “We the People” petition. Reaching 100,000 signatures would obligate the White House to respond to a request that it provide whistleblower protection and end the investigation. You can sign the petition yourself. Amerine also has a Facebook page where you can show support for him.
The Bureaucracy is Broken
“This bill helps to resolve the FBI’s impotence to help our hostages overseas as well as our government’s disorganized efforts across all agencies,” Amerine wrote. “The bureaucracy is broken… But the Army somehow thought it made sense to initiate a CID investigation into me executing both my duty and my right to speak to Congress.”
Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.
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bloodypitchfork said...
1quote “What all whistleblowers have in common is the same government that gives lip service to the ideas of transparency and free speech aggressively goes after each and every one of them.”unquote
“Government” does not go after whistleblowers. People do. Scumbag Authoritarian people. And THAT is who we need to find out about. WHO are these people who declare war on whistle blowers. SOMEONE has to make these decisions. In fact, it appears there is some kind of Executive branch policy of willful conspiracy of vengeful retaliation. This is where Congress needs to do something. Take this out of the hands of individuals who decide to retaliate out of hateful vengeance against someone who makes their superiors(a term I use loosely) look like criminals, fools, or halfwitted morons, and put the power in the hands of a “judicial” authority or something. Yes, I know there is a “whistle blowers” advocacy agency of some kind. Unfortunately, they are just as bad. Anyway, I hope this guy kicks their ass in court.
06/5/15 10:51 AM | Comment Link
Bruce said...
2It’s endemic since St. Ronnie started using the MSPB Special Counsel’s office to identify And INSTEAD SURREPTITIOUSLY NEUTRALIZE whistleblowers* rather dan PROTECT Them (*having been one)! Today, the OPPREϟϟORS are completely flagrant, beginning with the Buffalo Soldier-‘n-thief, BARBARACK
HEINOU卐 OBAMAϟϟAϟϟIN !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfmtUpd4id0
Prejudicial $on-of-a-Bush !!
06/5/15 1:21 PM | Comment Link
Kyzl Orda said...
3“SOMEONE has to make these decisions. In fact, it appears there is some kind of Executive branch policy of willful conspiracy of vengeful retaliation. This is where Congress needs to do something. Take this out of the hands of individuals who decide to retaliate out of hateful vengeance against someone who makes their superiors(a term I use loosely) look like criminals, fools, or halfwitted morons, and put the power in the hands of a “judicial” authority or something…”
“It’s endemic since St. Ronnie started using the MSPB Special Counsel’s office to identify And INSTEAD SURREPTITIOUSLY NEUTRALIZE whistleblowers* rather dan PROTECT Them (*having been one)!”
Thank you Peter and Pitch and Bruce. Spot on
It’s amazing how whistleblowers are actually told by the perps and the spineless HR officials who cover for them to go and file a claim at the same time these officials rebuff mediation efforts and will actually state they can no longer talk to the whistleblower.
Something is wrong when our courts are used as part of the retaliation process.
It’s pretty sad situation. These smug and arrogant bureaucrats actually rival the foreign terrorists. When resolving issues in your office becomes as hard or a harder process than fighting the other war on terror abroad, something is really broken
My favourite are the falsified claims that our bureaucrats then make up — they have to justify pulling clearances and giving one the door. There needs to be a penalty for higher ups, mostly middle managers, doing these this. Stop coddling bureaucrats who make false claims against whistle blowers
06/5/15 2:46 PM | Comment Link
Kyzl Orda said...
4Regarding Bruce’s comment on the MPSB, yeah no kidding. When my situation occurred at the tail end of the Cheney administation, the MPSB was STILL reported to be a broken institution and rarely were civil servants awarded justice. As of 2010, the MPSB was the place to AVOID actually
The civil service side is broken. It exists on paper; which is more than what the defense and intel employees have and contractors too. THe process for civil service is very dysfunctional
06/5/15 2:52 PM | Comment Link
jhoover said...
5Wemeantwell siad:
Not those Whistleblowers who were same government that gives lip service to the ideas of transparency and free speech aggressively goes after each and every one of them. also those guys who help same government like this A CIA Interrogator Said the Agency Punished Him For Cooperating With Torture Probe
06/5/15 5:01 PM | Comment Link
jhoover said...
6The Whistleblowers & the Church of Scientology
06/5/15 5:35 PM | Comment Link