Dayton Daily News
NSA fires whistleblower
By REBECCA CARR
Cox News Service
Thursday, May 05, 2005
WASHINGTON—The National Security Agency fired a high level intelligence official just days after he publicly urged Congress to pass stronger protections for federal whistleblowers facing retaliation.
Russ Tice, 43, who was once nominated for an award by the agency for his intelligence work on Iraq, was informed Tuesday that his security clearances had been permanently revoked and that he could no longer work at the secretive intelligence agency known for its eavesdropping and code-breaking capabilities.
Tice has been at the odds with the agency since he reported suspicions that a female co-worker at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), was a spy for the People's Republic of China.
Tice, a 20-year veteran of the federal intelligence agencies, worked at DIA until 2002. He made his initial report about the suspected spy at DIA after noticing that a co-worker voiced sympathies for China, traveled extensively abroad and displayed affluence beyond her means.
Last week, Tice joined other federal employees from national security agencies on Capitol Hill to raise concerns that whistleblowers are being punished for stepping forward. The whistleblowers pointed out that the 1989 Whistleblower Protection Act does not cover federal employees who work in the nation's intelligence community.
" In a time of danger, literally brought to our very shores, abuses such as these, should not be tolerated," said Tice, speaking at a press conference following a meeting with congressional staffers.
Is there a connection between his public speech last week and his termination?
Sibel Edmonds, the leader of the newly formed National Security Whistleblowers Coalition, believes so.
"They try to use the fear factor: Don't go to the Congress. If you do, this is what will happen to you," said Edmonds, who was fired by the FBI in 2002 after reporting suspected espionage and misconduct. "By doing this they send a chilling message to anyone who wants to step forward."
Edmonds vowed to help find legal representation for Tice. The Defense Department's Inspector General's Civil Reprisal Investigations unit is also examining his claims of retaliation.
In June, 2003, the agency suspended his security clearances and ordered him to maintain the agency's vehicles by pumping gas and cleaning them. Last month, they ordered him to unload furniture at its warehouses.
Tice's firing raises concerns for all federal whistleblowers, said Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project On Government Oversight, a nonpartisan watchdog group based in Washington. "To receive this type of humiliation is a terrible message to anyone else who is handling the very important work that they do."
In response to requests for comment, the NSA sent an e-mail stating that the "NSA has no information to provide about personnel matters and does not comment on actual or alleged case facts regarding current or former affiliates."
In an interview, Tice said his statements last week, "hastened the process," but he had expected it for some time.
In April 2003, Tice sent an e-mail to the DIA agent handling his suspicions about a co-worker being a Chinese spy. He was prompted to do so by a news report about two FBI agents who were arrested for giving classified information to a Chinese double agent.
"At the time, I sent an e-mail to Mr. James (the person at DIA handling his complaint) questioning the competence of counterintelligence at FBI," Tice wrote in a document submitted to the Inspector General. In the e-mail, he mentioned that he suspected that he was the subject of electronic monitoring.
Shortly after sending the e-mail, an NSA security officer ordered him to report for "a psychological evaluation" even though he had just gone through one nine months earlier. Tice believes James called NSA to ask them "to go after him" on their behalf.
When Tice called Mr. James to confront him about calling the NSA security official, he told Tice that "there was reason to be concerned" about his suspicion about his former co-worker.
The Defense Department psychologist concluded that Tice suffered from psychotic paranoia, according to Tice. "He did this even though he admitted that I did not show any of the normal indications of someone suffering from paranoia," Tice wrote in a statement to the inspector general.
"I knew my from that day that my career was over," said Tice, who has worked in intelligence since he graduated from the University of Maryland in 1985. His job at NSA was so top secret that he could not even reveal his title.
In the summer of 2003, Tice told the NSA that he was considering talking to his congressional representatives about waste and abuse at NSA security. He was told that he would face retaliation if he did so, Tice wrote in his statement to the inspector general.
A few weeks after contacting Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., the retaliation intensified, he said. The NSA even sent an agent to his home to "threaten me in person with unspecified actions if I went to the press," Tice said.
In August 2004, the agency suspended Tice's clearance. They sent him to the "motor pool' for eight months where he was assigned to fill up NSA vehicles with gas, check fluids and drive around "the bigwigs," on occasion, Tice said in an interview.
He was then put on administrative leave for 14 months. Last month he was re-assigned to the NSA's warehouse where he was ordered to unload furniture from trucks.
"I reported my suspicion and got blown off," Tice said. "I pushed the issue and that ticked them off, the fact that I questioned their almighty wisdom."
On the Web:
Project on Government Oversight: www.pogo.org
Rebecca Carr's e-mail address is rcarr(at)coxnews.com
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