The Christian Scientist Monitor and "Whistle Blower" non-protection...

So, they're just figuring out that whistle blowers get shafted in spite of "protective laws". I read a statement that "whistle blowers would be safe from prosecution" back in 1986 and remember thinking this was hilarious! After all, what is a "whistle blower" doing but committing person treason against his/her boss? (Treason is defined as betrayal of a benefactor and a boss is a benefactor since the boss sees that you are:

paid

receive your benefits

usually get requested time off (unless the boss screws up and grants leave to other folks and cancelled your leave request two days before your leave was to start...)

get appropriate training (if they can't come up with a reason not to...)

are not fired -er- permantly laid off just before retirement...

Making your boss look bad makes your boss' bosses look bad because they

aren't properly supervising your boss,

don't have better ideas of running things and

may be guilty of the same lapses of judgement them selves. (Of course, you boss would never blow the whistle on his/her bosses just because you've blown the whistle on him/her!)

"Blowing the whistle" may be the morally proper and in fact, the morally superior thing to do. It is usually career suicide and not only results in a person being unemployed but in that person being unemployable!!!

Here is an example from the Christian Scientist Monitor article:

Richard Levernier is one who went public with his security concerns - and feels he's paid a heavy price. He first reported security breaches at the Department of Energy's nuclear weapons sites to management. Seeing no changes, he released an unclassified report to the media. While government investigators found his concerns credible, he lost his security clearance. Four years later, he's unemployed and, he says, unemployable.

"Whistleblowing" is career suicide; quietly briefing your boss about problems and telling said boss "I'll leave this in your hands to fix and will help you if you wish. I won't go over your head or public or bother you about this in the future" gives your boss a face saving way to do nothing. It allows your boss to be a coward and not try fixing problems. (I have done this!) But, God Help You should the news media find out or your boss' bosses investigate or some Congress Critter get a but up his/her ass and want to investigate!

Having written all this, I'd like to point out that I strongly approve of folks having the balls to try to fix serious problems. However, they should realize they're cutting their throats. Just look at Linda Trippe{sp}: she was transferred to a different office, her co-workers would not work with her (I wouldn't trust her either!) and ended up losing her security clearance (this practice is discussed in the SCM article) and ended up on the street. Now, I think she was shafted. Having said that, I also think she was a frigging busybody who should have minded her own business and not tried to fuck over President Clinton! But, that is editorizing in an editorial and...