Intelligence Whistleblower Fired After Speaking At Event: at least 24 NSA employees who are also in the same access denial status

Intelligence Whistleblower Fired After Speaking At Event: "May 4, 2005 | BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT |

News from Project On Government Oversight:

After speaking on Capitol Hill at an event for national security whistleblowers last week, Intelligence Analyst Russ Tice has been notified by the National Security Agency (NSA) that his security clearance is permanently being taken away and that he will be fired as of May 16, 2005. Tice is a member of the newly formed National Security Whistleblowers Coalition being led by Sibel Edmonds (see http://www.justacitizen.com for more about the Coalition)."

In the past two years, Tice has endured unusually abusive retaliation from his agency. In April, after being put on administrative leave for 14 months, Tice was assigned to unload furniture from trucks at a warehouse, an obvious attempt to force him to resign. That assignment led to a back injury. Tice has since been on administrative leave. Tice also did a tour of eight months duty in the motor pool, where he was assigned to maintain agency vehicles (for example, filling them with gas, checking fluids, vacuuming and cleaning) and to chauffeur NSA officials, along with five other employees who were also being punished.

Tice's treatment led the Pentagon Inspector General's Civil Reprisal Investigations unit to take up an investigation into his case. Depending on the result, the Inspector General can recommend to Secretary Rumsfeld that Tice's security clearance and position be reinstated.
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Tice has identified at least 24 NSA employees who are also in the same access denial status, many of them for false or unsubstantiated charges. In August 2004, Tice sent a letter to Congress saying that others in the intelligence community were similarly being punished with security clearance revocations: "After talking to others that have suffered a similar fate, I believe that such cases are pervasive. I have encouraged others to contact their congressional representatives and file a complaint with the DOD IG [Department of Defense Inspector General], but fear keeps them from doing so."

Tice's story was first reported by investigative reporter Bill Gertz at the Washington Times (see http://www.washtimes.com/national/2004... and http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/2005...).