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Whistle-blowers share hopes for congressional hearing
by Diana Heil, October 27, 2004

POJOAQUE -- In biblical times, lepers were considered dead people. As they passed through the streets, they had to yell out, "Unclean!" so everyone knew their status.

Thousands of years later, Glenn Walp, a Los Alamos National Laboratory employee who was fired for speaking up about corruption, understands what it's like to be a leper.

"In parallel, when you become a whistle-blower, you likewise become among the unclean and people avoid you," he told a gathering Tuesday at the Cities of Gold Casino Hotel.

The lab fired him a few days before Thanksgiving in 2002. Walp, former head of the lab's Office of Security Inquiries, was later reinstated as a lab employee and won $930,000 in a settlement agreement, but the stigma lives on, he said.

Many gathered at the meeting are hoping for a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C., about retaliation against whistle-blowers at national laboratories, including LANL. Eight whistle-blowers were present at the meeting -- and three told their stories.

Other employees in attendance shared some of their experiences. One woman warned: "When you back down, it doesn't matter. The retaliation continues."

The meeting, which was open to the public, was sponsored by the union University Professional and Technical Employees and two national nonprofit watchdog groups, the Government Accountability Project and the Project on Government Oversight.

Staff from U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., voiced support for the protection of whistle-blowers. (U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., was not invited, according to union president Manny Trujillo, because Trujillo doubted Domenici would send someone from his office.)

Speaking up about safety, security, fraud and waste is risky at many work sites, not just nuclear-weapons labs. Pete Stockton of the Project On Government Oversight in Washington, D.C., said he encourages whistle-blowers to remain anonymous as long as they can while his group checks into problems. He recommended the book, The Art of Anonymous Activism: Serving the Public While Surviving Public Service, as mandatory reading for anyone who is thinking about raising concerns at work.

"You've got to keep your head down, and you simply can't tell people you're doing it," he said.

The Government Accountability Project tells people who are contemplating blowing the whistle, "Don't do this if you care about your career. You probably aren't going to survive this career-wise," said attorney Tom Carpenter, who has represented whistle-blowers at numerous laboratories across the country. "Most people decide to go forward anyway."

Some people don't lose their jobs. Instead, they might be given fewer and fewer assignments at work. Their security clearance might be yanked. They might be sent to a psychologist to have a fitness-for-duty evaluation.

Tommy Hook, another whistle-blower, and Walp said they tried to do their jobs with honesty and integrity, but they allege LANL did not value their efforts. Walp said managers told him, "Your No. 1 job is to protect the lab and the contract."

The contract refers to the University of California, which has a contract with the U.S. Department of Energy to manage LANL. The contract will go out for bid the first time ever late this year or early next year. Walp said LANL's "elite" know the top leaders of LANL will be let go if a new contractor wins.

Hook said he had a similar experience. When he alleged a division leader was covering up fraud, waste and abuse involving the University of California, he said he was told his job was to protect UC, not to damage it. The lab did not send a representative to attend Tuesday's meeting.

Despite all the anguish, Walp has no regrets about the stand he took. "Is it worth it? Yes, it's absolutely, unequivocally worth it, and I would do it again," he said. "I truly believe that some people have lives and others have destinies."

The state of California and the federal government offer whistle-blower-protection programs, but this set of LANL employees says neither approach works.

When a new contract to run the lab is given, they want the contract to include a mechanism, possibly an independent mediation council, to be in place, so people aren't afraid to point out problems.

It's a simple dynamic, Carpenter said. Work sites are not safe unless workers are free to raise concerns without retaliation. Conversely, if someone is fired for speaking up, it suppresses reporting among other employees, Carpenter noted.

Trujillo and Stockton said LANL would not be in its current state of affairs, having spent the months since July focusing on safety and security training at the expense of normal work if management had heeded the warnings of whistle-blowers in the past.

Originally published by The Santa Fe New Mexican

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