April 9, 2007

Dear Chairman Waxman and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform,

I am sending a copy of a letter I just wrote to DOT-OIG. I became aware of another situation which bears eerily, a resemblance to what ______________has been going through. Although the setting is just a bit different, the game appears to be the same on the part of the Boeing Company.

The Boeing Inspector who wrote of the FAA concerns, sent in complaints about how the FAA handled certification of airplane safety, when dealing with the Boeing Company. Upon hearing that the DOT OIG has sent word they were opening an investigation, I sent this letter of support.

Upon looking over the allegations and the apparent methods and practices used by the Boeing Company to "meddle" in the inspectors doing their jobs, I was struck by how similar this is to what my husband went through. Please add this to your file.

I anticipate the investigation that ______________________have been told has been launched, is successful in obtaining justice for the wrongdoings done both by The Boeing Company and any involved government agencies and/or representatives within those agencies.

Thank you,

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-----Original Message-----
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2007 2:20 PM
To: US Department of Transportation
Subject: RE:



Dear Ms. _________,

Thank you for your rapid response. I appreciate it. A previous complainant to your agency, who was a Boeing Inspector, has submitted all of the detailed documentation, which led to your agency telling him that an OIG investigation was being launched into his allegations of wrong doing at the FAA.

I wrote to you due to my concern and belief that what I had been reading about the harassment of inspectors at the Boeing Company who were trying to do their job ethically was most likely true as described.

I have observed many similar internal political things going on in Boeing, and snaking out into attempts (successful ones, in fact), to control the government oversight authority of Defense contracts. These incidents bear no small resemblance to what was being described by the Boeing Inspector who brought the allegations to you. I find his reported cases of wrong doing by both Boeing and FAA, a federal agency, indeed serious and believable and very troubling because it is apparent to me that the level of corruption both inside certain sections of our government and outside into industry is much bigger and much worse than I had believed.

My family member is currently struggling to bring to light a fraud issue involving Boeing and Federal defense contracts, which has some of the same players and some of the same issues, though his case’s main issues do not involve the safety issue of civilians and military on planes, a thoroughly alarming situation! An investigation was opened up recently by a different Agency recently for my relative’s case. I do not expect you to take any action on my family member’s case, as it is not directly related to DOT.

I would like to assure that the DOT OIG does complete a thorough investigation in a timely manner on the FAA allegations, rather than have them ignored and covered up, and then when that does not stop the pressure, slowed down, put off and attempts being made to have them “go away” as happened to my family member - now for a protracted amount of time. At each level, after initial shock Federal Investigators expressed dismay over the seriousness of the wrongdoing, and claims of intention to investigate and get it straightened out, people were apparently, intimidated, told to back off and then in some cases replaced, by someone higher up the food chain. Eventually, the case was passed off onto the next agency, a step up the ladder, and then the circus would start all over again.

After reading of the interference of Boeing with the inspectors, and the inappropriate influence and attempts to control the FAA, realizing this was so very similar to what was going on with Boeing and Defense, I felt I must write you to emphasize how important this is. The result of the corrupt behavior is a serious liability to anyone who travels by air, whether civilian or military. The causes, are symptomatic of a much bigger pattern of corruption and manipulation, by certain contractors and manufacturers within entire governmental system which is supposed to monitor the contractors and manufacturers work and inspect with integrity making the certification of airworthiness process genuine and meaningful, thereby ensuring the safety of all of us who must fly. Certainly, American citizens deserve better than to have this type of corruption risk their lives.

Again,______, I thank you for your reply. I urge you to lend support to making sure the necessary responsible action is taken. I will look forward to hearing that it has been done, and appropriate correction and remedies are applied.



Sincerely,

Dear

I have a concern regarding the safety of air travel, based on some information I have been reading in a variety of places. It appears that the FAA may have been very lax in the oversight of safety inspections with airplane manufacturers such as the Boeing Company. I understand an investigation has been opened up by the Department of Transportation, Office of the Inspector General to determine if there has been biased oversight, and/or lack of oversight on the part of the FAA, due to political or other influence from the manufacturer and potentially other forces in the current political arena.

I am extremely disappointed if the allegations of FAA wrongdoing are true, as described. I am aware due to experiences of friends and family of other cases where the Boeing Company applied inappropriate influence to shortcut required safety or security measures in contracts with the Federal Government, and seemed also to have way too much influence, or apparent control over the very Government Agencies who by law had oversight over it. If this corruption extends into the safety of the actual airplanes civilians and military fly in, then it is even worse than I thought.

I urge you to support a full and thorough investigation of this so it may be truthfully and ethically resolved. I do believe it will be a challenging task, but it is critical that it be done.

Sincerely,

Dear Senator Cantwell:

I have been monitoring a number of things quite closely, due to a struggle ____________________, has been having in obtaining justice to some wrongs done both to our government and to him by his previous employer. He wrote to you originally early in 2006. You asked for more information, which he sent. In August of 2006, you sent him a copy of the response DOD IG sent you and you told him you would keep him posted as the investigation progressed. It does not appear that has happened.

Senator Cantwell, _________ has been struggling for nearly five years now with this situation, along with a colleague who was deeply involved in trying to get the original case _________ developed resolved responsibly and thoroughly. Each level this documented case has been referred to, at first has elicited shock from the criminal investigators by the seriousness of the wrongdoing.

______________________ reported all of this in a case he had to handle as a part of his job. He was legally obligated and duty bound to handle this in a legal and ethical manner. In response to he and his colleague continuing to ask it be confronted and resolved, a flurry of activity takes place for a short period of time at each new level and then mysteriously, it slows to a pace reminiscent of slogging through cyber-mud.

People who should be interviewed never get interviewed and in fact are not even contacted, yet certain Federal investigators tell others that "no one will talk to me." Each time, it then gets kicked up to the next level and a new criminal investigative entity. Sometimes one of the people seems truly motivated to do something, but then they get "replaced" and disappear and won't answer phone calls. I truly believe that the level of graft and corruption in certain segments of our government and in the current administration (Executive) are totally out of control.

It would appear that someone may be trying to totally prevent anything from happening at all. I suspect that other investigators may have been the recipient of acts of intimidation or have been threatened the way my husband has been. Understandably, but not acceptable to me, many people are afraid for their jobs and will not stand up to wrongdoing, even when they took an oath to do so. It also appears that the bad actors in this feel that people like my husband and his colleague are acceptable collateral damage to protecting their own self interests and covering up the growing corruption and criminal behavior. It is very important that this get properly investigated and resolved, not only for my husband and my family, but also for out nation.

Please do not "go gently into the good night" on this one. We need your help in getting this confronted and resolved.

Sincerely,

Jason Leopold conducts a fine interview with former U.S. Attorney John McKay at www.truthout.org.

Available to see online as a video or a written article. Amazing. Things are really out of control if what he is saying is accurate.

Yes, I am still working on this Whistleblower stuff. Until the situation gets resolved involving a family member who has been more or less "drug through a knothole backwards" as someone investigating his case told him, I will be keeping this up at least part of the time. Honestly, after seeing what my family member has been going through for over five years now, I may commit myself to helping others in any way I can, as I can! One thing needed by people dealing with the challenges of being a Whistleblower is a support group.

Recently, I tried to make known a concern I had about something going on with airplane inspections by a contractor with oversight of FAA. My concerns developed as I studied a website called The Last Inspector (www.thelastinspector.com/id19.html.) I have recently met this gentleman and he has some very legitimate concerns.

This was my first experience with trying to use an Office of Inspector General hotline, supposedly made available to offer good service to people with the country's best interests at heart. It was not a good experience to say the least. I thought I would share the letter I sent to my elected politicians, Senate and House, so you may see from the description of what happened at DOT OIG what citizens with concerns or potential Whistleblowers are up against. (I have removed some names in order not to attract unwanted legal attention.)
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April 12, 2007

Dear Senator ____________

I decided to go to the Dept. of Transportation OIG and make a complaint on behalf of someone who is fighting to bring to light corruption within FAA which is apparently causing FAA not to ethically inspect planes and certify according to policy and law. (You may read about this at the following website: www.thelastinspector.com)

In any case, I visited DOT OIG and found their hotline for reporting fraud, waste, abuse etc. Upon sending in my concerns, I was answered via email by a person named A__________.

She asked some questions which I answered. Emails went back and forth a couple of times and then I noticed her email was coming from: “A__________ (***********@hotlines.com) On Behalf Of US Department of Transportation.” This is most irregular. Government offices as I understand it, are required to use a .gov address, unless they are DoD; they would use a .mil address. I became very suspicious and somewhat alarmed about whom I was really speaking to and where they really were located.

Upon visiting www.hotlines.com, I found that the DOT OIG has contracted out their reporting crimes and fraud hotline to a contractor. There is a news announcement article bragging about it at the hotlines.com site.

I find that Ms. __________, young person who appears to be a recent college graduate, holds a BA in Anthropology, and has been made the supervisor of this site.

Now, I for the life of me cannot understand how the DOT OIG can see that it is proper to turn over sorting and prioritizing reports of criminal and other improper actions to a non-governmental or un-qualified person. First there is the security issue, both to the reporter and to the government programs involved. Also, putting Ms. _______ and the contractor hotlines in the position of filtering out what is and what is not of real concern to the "professional investigators" at DOT OIG is letting the non-government contractor decide which issues are going to be investigated by the DOT OIG. Also, what good is one more layer of bureaucracy that could be corrupted and used nefariously?

I questioned someone who works for the government and knows the law and policy well. The response I got back was this:

“As you can see from the policy letter, (OMB Policy Letter 92-1, September 23, 1992), the policy reads "the direct conduct of criminal investigations." I am sure that the DOT contracting officer that awarded this contract considered that the contractor was only gathering information. However, in this case the contracting authority for the DOT has placed a contractor in the even more powerful position of actually determining/deciding what information is going to go forward to the DOT for consideration for opening a criminal investigation.

Minimally, the actions of the DOT contracting authority need to be reviewed for appropriateness, and need close scrutiny as to whether, in this case, they have placed a contractor in an inherently governmental position by the nature of the way the contract has been implemented.

Why should a contractor decide whether potentially serious (and possibly at times life threatening to the individual(s) providing the information) information is provided to the DOT for potential criminal investigation?” (End of expert opinion)

This is ridiculous. I have a copy of the full OMB Policy Letter 92-1 (Sept. 23, 1992), which states what role contractors may play and what duties are inherently governmental in function, and cannot be handed over to non-governmental contractors. Not only do I believe this is against policy and illegal it is one more case of disaster within our government to the detriment of U.S. Citizens who may be trying to make the system work right in solving some serious problems!

I would be happy to send the above-mentioned policy and copies of the emails I described above it they are of help in allowing you to tackle this problem. Let me know how to send them to you. I do not think the Policy will paste into one of these boxes.

Thank you.

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One of my state Senators opened an investigation for me. I received a phonecall from one of her aides, who sent me some forms which I filled out and sent back with detailed documentation, including the policy mentioned. A few weeks later, I received a letter from DOT OIG saying they were looking into the matter and would get back to me. That has been more than a month ago.

This I am afraid is pretty typical of what people face, whether they are citizens, or Federal employees, or Corporate employees when they try to report wrongdoing or questionable activities to the prescribed government sites.

Does anyone know if it has always been this way? Or has it been worse this past 6-7 years? (It seems like it has intensified for more people, and it seems to me there are more people who are whistleblowers, or should be with what they are experiencing.)