I POST IT BECAUSE WE HOPE IT DOESN'T HAPPEN TO THAT TROOP WHO SPOKE OUT, BECAUSE HE NOW BECOMES A WHISTLE BLOWER.
BUT IF THE PENTAGON PUNISHES THAT KID THEY MAKE HIM A MARTYR - GOD BLESS HIM THIS CHRISTMAS SEASON.
SHE BLEW THE WHISTLE ON HOW INSECURE WASHINGTON, DC TOURISTS WERE. SHE WAS FIRED BY THE BUSH ADMIN FOR IDENTIFYING SECURITY BREACHES AT NATIONAL PARKS AND MONUMENTS IN THE DC AREA AND ASKING FOR ADDITONAL FUNDING TO PLUG THEM.
AS WOMANIZER RUDOLPH GIULIANI'S BODYGUARD TAKES THE HELM OF HOMELAND SECURITY THIS CHRISTMAS SEASON REMEMBER THE "HONEST" CHIEF IS TERESA CHAMBERS. SHE WOULD BE MORE QUALIFIED AND RESPECTED TO HEAD HOMELAND SECURITY, BUT WHAT CAN WE "EXPECT" FROM THE BOY FROM CRAWFORD, TEXAS WHO IS CARED FOR BY DONALD RUMSFELD AND DICK CHENEY.
"Teresa Chambers"
Subject: Interview Link -- Teresa Chambers
Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 23:30:02 -0500
Thanks to the MANY of you who forwarded and/or posted my Op-Ed that I sent you last week. Some had suggested that, in lieu of an attachment, I should simply copy and paste the document in an email. I've taken that advice and, for those of you who hesitate opening attachments, the original Op-Ed is pasted below. I hope you will take advantage, if you haven't already done so, of passing it on to media outlets, friends, and family, and posting it on websites, blogs, or news groups in which you participate.
Soon after Independent Media TV printed the Op-Ed on their website, WTOP News Radio and its affiliate, Federal News Radio, as well as WUSA TV 9 (CBS) and WJLA 7 (ABC) became the first Washington, D.C., news programs that reported on the one-year "anniversary" and the Op-Ed. Before long, WVEC in Norfolk, Virginia, had picked up the story as well. Both the Maryland and Virginia Journal newspapers also ran an edited version of the Op-Ed as a letter to the editor. Environment News Service published the Op-Ed in its entirety.
An audio link of the five-minute WTOP interview, as rebroadcast on Federal News Radio, is available on the homepage of HonestChief. Please take a minute to listen to the interview and to pass on the link to others. The HonestChief webmaster is attempting to get a link to WUSA TV 9's on-set interview they conducted with me earlier this week. I'll be sure to let you know if that becomes available.
Our appeal is coming along nicely, and we'll be able to give you an update within the next few days.
Thanks for your steadfast support!
Teresa Chambers
www.honestchief.com
Op-Ed
The plight of whistleblowers – those employees who sound the alarm about anything from dangerous conditions in the workplace to missed or ignored intelligence regarding our nation’s security – is a story that seems to grow stronger and with more frequency every day. My guess is that those stories have always been there; I suspect I am just paying closer attention to them now.
You see, I joined the “ranks” of whistleblowers one year ago when, on December 2, 2003, a major newspaper printed a story in which I confirmed for them what many of us already knew – we, the members of the United States Park Police, could no longer provide the level of service that citizens and visitors had grown to expect in our parks and on our parkways in Washington, D.C., New York City, and San Francisco. The world changed for all of us on September 11, 2001, and the expectations of police agencies across the country grew exponentially overnight. As the Chief of the United States Park Police, an organization responsible for some of America’s most valued and recognizable symbols of freedom, I knew it was my duty, as chiefs of police across the country do every day, to inform the community of the realities of the situation.
For being candid -- for being "honest" -- while still being supportive of my superiors, I was, without warning, stripped of my law enforcement authority, badge, and firearm, and escorted from the Department of the Interior by armed special agents of another Federal law enforcement entity last December (2003). Seven months later, the Department of the Interior terminated me.
Frighteningly, the issues I brought to light about our citizens' and visitors' safety and security and the future of these American icons have not been addressed -- other than to silence me. In fact, there are fewer United States Park Police Officers today than there were one year ago when I was sent home for daring to say that we weren't able to properly meet our commitments with existing resources. Other security concerns I raised internally have also gone un-addressed.
Imagine the outcry if I had previously stayed silent and if one of those symbolic monuments or memorials had been destroyed or the loss of life had occurred to someone visiting one of those locations. I did not want to be standing with my superiors among the ruins of one of these icons or in front of a Congressional committee trying to explain why we hadn't asked for help.
Despite the serious First Amendment and security implications of my case for each American, there has been no Congressional intervention, no Congressional hearings, no demand of accountability by elected officials for those who took action to silence me and who have ignored all warnings about the perils to which I alerted them. Following my termination and the publicity that accompanied it, it is unlikely that any current Federal employee will be willing to speak up with straightforward, accurate information about the realities of any danger we face.
Our legal appeals continue, and some of the administrative charges placed against me have already been thrown out. Through it all, it is becoming clear that Federal employees have little protection for simply telling the truth.
My story is told on a website, www.honestchief.com, established nearly one year ago and maintained by my husband so that the American people could “witness” the issues in this case. The website has provided transparency to my situation by making key documents available for viewing, including the transcripts of depositions of top officials and their testimony during a recent administrative hearing.
Suppression of information is spreading – gag orders, non disclosures agreements, and the government’s refusal to turn over documents. In agencies that span Federal service, conscientious public servants are struggling to communicate vital concerns to their true employers – you, the American public. Is anyone listening?
Teresa C. Chambers
I POST THIS HERE ONLY TO SHOW THAT "THIS ADMINISTRATION" LIKE THE EVIL NIXON ADMINISTRATION THAT PROCEEDED IT SO MANY DECADE BEFORE IS AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN. IT IS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THIS HOUSE OF CARDS COMES TUMBLING DOWN. THE QUESTION ONLY REMAINS = WHICH CARD WILL BRING IT DOWN?