By Gary Dickson
In the United States there has been a long history of laws meant to protect people with the courage and willingness to step forward and expose fraud or corruption they have observed occurring within the organization they work for. Individuals who take the risk of speaking up about their employer are called whistle-blowers.
The first major legislation passed to shield them was in 1863. It was the False Claims Act. The act was prompted by the fact that many U.S. military suppliers during the Civil War were defrauding the government for the sake of greater financial gains. The original act provided an economic incentive to the whistle-blower by promising them a percentage of recovered funds or damages won in court. It also protected the whistle-blower sfrom being terminated from their job. The False Claims Act underwent a revision in 1986.
After the large corporate fraud schemes of the 1990s, like Enron and WorldCom, caused tremendous economic pain for thousands of workers, not to mention the government, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed in 2002. It strengthened protections for whistle-blowers, especially those working for publicly traded corporations. And, in 2010 the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was passed and added even more incentives and protection.
In addition to the three laws mentioned already, there is also the Whistle-blower Protection Act. It was put in place to provide “protections for certain national security, government contractor, and science-based agency whistle-blowers, and by enhancing the existing whistle-blower protections for all federal employees.” In 2007 it was amended to grant even stronger protection than in the past.
So, with all of this whistle-blower protection it begs the question as to why Vince Cefalu was recently fired from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) after a 24-year career with the federal agency. The reason is because he spoke out against a program that appears to have helped get one U.S. Border Patrol officer killed and illegally increased the number of guns in the hands of Mexican Drug Cartel thugs. He should have been protected.
On a televised news program last December Cefalu denounced the ATF”s Project Gunrunner. He said, “Simply put, we knowingly let hundreds of guns and dozens of identified bad guys go across the border (into Mexico).” One element of the collateral damage created by Project Gunrunner was the death of U.S. Border Patrol officer Brian Terry at Rio Rico, Ariz. Two AK-47 rifles that were traced to the ATF program were found at the murder scene, left by the Mexican Drug Cartel killers.
This was not the first time Cefalu had been a whistleblower on the ATF. In 2005, he spoke out about a case in which he considered the agency to have used illegal wiretapping. Cefalu recently said, “That was the beginning of the end.” I assume he meant that because of blowing the whistle on the ATF, he would not advance further in the agency and that, if possible, agency officials would get rid of him.
It will be interesting to see what happens after the Cefalu termination. We should see if the acts passed by Congress will work for this longtime federal employee. He often put his life at risk for the betterment of his country and was not afraid to inform the public when the aggressive federal agency he worked for acted illegally. ATF”s illegal techniques not only infringed upon the rights of U.S. and Mexican citizens, but also played a role in the death of a U.S. citizen and likely a large number of Mexican citizens killed in the cartel drug war by guns it sent into Mexico.
It isn”t easy to be a whistle-blower.
From the event on, the individual, unfortunately, becomes a marked and ostracized person. Instead, they should be classified as heroes and awarded a medal for their actions to expose corruption, fraud, and illegal activities that negatively impact many citizens.
Gary Dickson is the publisher of the Record-Bee. Call him at 263-5636, ext. 24. E-mail him at gdickson@record-bee.com.
