Home Media Whistleblowing Will Be Helped by Tom Mueller’s Book

Whistleblowing Will Be Helped by Tom Mueller’s Book

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(L) Philip Hanley (C) Photo of fumigator (R) Mueller’s book

by Mary W Maxwell, LLB

News today about two whistleblowers:  Philip Hanley, co-author of See Something, Do Nothing, was found dead with a gunshot wound. And an unnamed Department of Homeland Security whistleblower has complained that US personnel handling evacuees from Wuhan China’s corona virus were not provided with protective clothing.

This article is not about either of those persons. It is about a 581-page book entitled

Crisis of Conscience: Whistleblowing in an Age of Fraud, by Tom Mueller.

A point that Tom does not explicitly make, but which is “screamingly implicit”  on every page, is that whistleblowing could become the done thing.  Consider the title — Crisis of Conscience — members of H sapiens actually do have consciences, y’know. So naturally there is a crisis, given that a whole society’s institutions are out of whack vis a vis its stated values.

The List of Torments for Your Basic Whistleblower

Chapter 2 of Mueller’s book, entitled “Question Authority” recounts the experience of Franz Gayl, starting in Camp Fallujah, Iraq. He had been a Marine and later, at the Pentagon, a civilian helping the Marines get the right weapons. In Fallujah they needed a vehicle called the MRAP. He had to oppose people to get it and was punished.

His Mom, of all people, found out that whistleblowers could get protection from three sources — Office of Special Counsel, POGO (Project on Government Oversight) and GAP (Government Accountability Project).

The Gayl story is helpful for the list of his torments. I suggest we use this list as a standard formula for what a whistle blower can expect to undergo. After Gayl told an online website what was going on in regard to the undersupply of MRAPs in Fallujah — and also after he went to Congressmen, which is a no-no in the military! — he underwent these punishments:

He suddenly got bad performance ratings on the job,

He was ordered to take a psychological exam to check his fitness for duty,

His boss called his actions “Cowardly, unethical, immoral,”

He was made the subject of an inquiry,

He lost his security clearance, and

He was (inaccurately) accused of unauthorized release of classified documents.

Another of Tom’s interviewees, Jesselyn Radack, tells of exactly those things happening to her, in her 2012 book Traitor. Plus she was smeared; Gayl seems to have been spared that standard punishment.

Disobey Illegal Orders, Anyone?

Importantly, the book’s author, Tom Mueller, starts a discussion of the prerogative of a lowly employee to disobey illegal orders. He brings up the official  right of any military person to go to a flag officer directly — skip the chain of command — to report wrongdoing. On page 52  we learn this valuable tidbit:

“The  military code of justice [that Gayl had learned in basic training] states that soldiers must not obey orders that they know are wrong or illegal. ‘ In fact you have a responsibility to reject bad instructions and to correct wrongs and that responsibility overrides everything else’.”

Before you say “Hey, nobody does that,” please note that the value of this book is that it both hits you with the facts of our ideals and hits you with their disappointing state of play.

A recap of 21st century muckraking is not the main contribution of the book. That appears in such chapters as “Bloody Ivory Tower,” and “Ministries of Truth.”  However, I observe Tom Mueller’s comment that “Trumps’ cabinet members and senior advisers have such glaring conflicts of interest that that conflicts appear to have been an important job qualification.”

The author bristles as follows, on page 526:

“Donald J Trump’s victory has revealed how hollow the edifice of American democracy has become, how insubstantial its checks and balances, after decades of self-interested chiseling, reaming, drilling and blasting by various experts and insiders — the lawyers, soldiers, scholars, financiers, think-tankers…”

Epilogue

The Epilogue of Crisis of Conscience is cogently entitled “The Banana Republic was Not Built in a Day.”

The author of the book at hand graduated from Harvard College — summa, mind you — in 1983, just in the nick of time to be “old school” before this nation went to the dogs. I wonder if later graduates even learned that there was once a John Adams (drafter of Massachusetts Bill of Rights). Mueller quotes him:

“’Nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud’, is the only maxim which can ever preserve the liberties of any people. When the people give way, their deceivers, betrayers, and destroyers press upon them so fast, that there is no resisting afterwards. The nature of the encroachment upon the American constitution is such, as to grow every day more and more encroaching…. The people grow less steady, spirited, and virtuous, the seekers more numerous and more corrupt, and every day increases the circles of their dependents and expectants, until virtue, integrity, public spirit, simplicity, and frugality, become the objects of ridicule and scorn, and vanity, … selfishness, meanness, and downright venality swallow up the whole society.”

John Adams never lets you down.  Neither does Tom Mueller. Tom adds, on page 597,

“Most of us had missed what whistleblowers were saying — that believing ourselves immune to tyranny we had surrendered, one by one, the laws, norms, customs, and habits that shielded us from the tyrant. …”

So, go get the book now: Crisis of Conscience: Whistleblowing in an Age of Fraud. Today’s price at abebooks.com: 12.50 USD plus shipping. Can’t afford the price? Go without dinner for it.  Don’t have time to read it?  Call in sick to work. Busy studying for exams? Chuck your college education, and come aboard this truly inspiring philosophical account of our times.

Amazon Reviews

Here are eight slightly abridged reviews of Mueller’s book. All gave it a rating of 5 stars.

Zach Hebron

No book is more timely in our age. Crisis of Conscience is a thorough investigation of whistleblowing told thru story and fact, and it makes you think (a lot) about what might or should happen in our large institutions with respect to whistleblowing. On the “meta” level, the book speaks to the decline and decadence of our society, … and the integrity of the men and women who “used” to make America work as an honest society. The future doesn’t look good; fish, they say, rot from the top down. So what you are seeing today in Washington is a prequel to what you’ll probably see in a government bureaucracy near you soon. Banana Republic – here we come!

Christopher M. Schroeder

This meticulously researched, beautifully written, book is both an accounting of the brave souls who are willing to stand up to injustice — in politics, business and life — and a cautionary tale. We have been sleepwalking for years in America, slowly accepting the drip drip of corruption and malpractice in so many parts of society. At the same time, it is a distinctly American thing to stand up as a lone voice in the name of justice and win. In this way, Mueller’s book is actually astoundingly hopeful.

Kyle Welch

This book is a great read and will leave you shocked about organizations and leaders responding to people doing what is right. The stories are needed to help leaders understand the experience and outcomes of whistleblowing. …This book helps me see a bit more into this world. This work, and others that document fraud, mostly documents what goes wrong as problems that are solved from people speaking up don’t make it into the public. …

Schwab

From an Iraqi citizen after the devastation of his country: “we have 1,000 Saddam Husseins and still no liberation”. After reading this book I realized we have probably more than “1,000 Saddam Husseins” in this country! … From the jungles of Vietnam to the corporate boards, heads of government agencies, health care, finance, and our military, we have “leaders” demanding blind allegiance not in the form of blood oaths, but in the guise of being a “team player”….

Possibly even more dangerous than all the little dictators you will meet, will be the ‘flexians’: more subtle con-men and women. At their core they seem to hold no real loyalty to any ideology or political party.   Thank God we still have male and female Davids willing to take on these Goliaths! ….

Cynthia Hass

Great Book. Thought provoking. I could not escape the sinking feeling that it is going to take a crisis of catastrophic proportion to pull us out of cemented corners to come together and realize that our survival relies on what unites us, not what divides us.

Robert Selby Bateman

There is a wealth of historical information to establish the context of whistleblowing in U.S. history. But driving the narrative of this book are the rich human stories of whistleblowers who have stepped forward—usually risking reputations, livelihoods, and personal relationships. As the book’s subtitle states, we live in “an age of fraud.” Reading this book will help you appreciate the parameters of that fraud and the often intense human drama behind a whistleblower’s actions.

B. Bennett

… Mueller’s latest book is a wonderful education into the origins of whistleblower laws, the perils and risks of being a whistleblower, and the vital role whistleblowers play in our complex modern world …. As an attorney who represents whistleblowers and who heavily relies on ordinary people to help victims of harassment and discrimination by simply telling the truth, I appreciate Mueller’s thorough and thoughtful approach to this important topic. I’ve already purchased multiple copies for friends and colleagues (from a local bookstore–sorry, not sorry, Amazon).

Alicia

This is a big — and hugely important — book….The issues that necessitate whistleblowing didn’t just arise out of nowhere, and most of us continuing to do nothing is not going to fix them. It may sometimes feel easier to just ignore or normalize fraud and corruption in government or politics or even big business, but this book tells us why we shouldn’t…. This author explains why the brave few put their livelihoods and even their lives on the line to shine light in dark corners. The book is incredibly thoroughly reported, and … each chapter breaks complex problems down into compelling individual human stories. Much to admire here.

Conclusion — Mary Maxwell

I wish to say again that this book is stunning. I learned heaps about what’s going in in academia, in the financial sector, in “healthcare,” etc. I have no idea how the author managed to cover so much research, express it in perfect language, and connect so many dots about the fate of morality in the Great Republic.

This review has not conveyed what is happening at the coal face.  A subsequent Gumshoe article will do that.

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20 COMMENTS

  2. Philip Haney Gunshot Death Update: Friends Say Had Marriage Planned, Had Praised God This Week; NEW: Weapon Found at Scene:
    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/02/philip-haney-gunshot-death-update-friends-say-had-marriage-planned-had-praised-god-this-week-no-weapon-found-at-scene-reports/

    Former New York City police officer John Cardillo reported his sources as saying no weapon was found at the scene:
    “I’ve spoken with LE sources familiar with the Phil Haney (Obama admin DHS whistleblower) death investigation. Right now, evidence suggests one round to chest, no weapon found nearby, indicating, for now anyway, that it was not suicide. But it’s ongoing”

  3. Another magical trick by the MSM. Philip Haney found dead with gunshot wound to chest, police say no weapon at scene, yet the first report from media stated suicide. Amazing!

    Perhaps the ever alert journalists could tell us who transported the weapon away or who transported Mr Haney’s dead body to the scene where he was found.

    • Whistleblowing becomes the done thing is a little disconcerting for me – leads to a “space” of common state and someone else is doing it.
      The current reality of the high moral ground of typical overnight news flash messenger is a needed show of hope for me. Smart people knowing they will personally lose most likely everything. Awesome people but quite rare and getting rarer n the hives of modern governance ‘(need to know, mums the word, basis ).
      The beauty is they do it, off their own bat, not giving into fear or requiring any pay or praise.
      Salute from me anyway.

  4. I know this seems off topic, but Tulsi Gabbard is kind of a whistleblower and it is very topical. (And great to see you back, Terry – I thought I was going to have start posting SOTT articles on your behalf.)

    Here, Alex Mercouris from the Duran features Tulsi Gabbard’s speech she posted on twitter (whatever that is) calling out Erdogan as well as the entire US Congress for their support of terrorists.

    Tulsi BLASTS Erdogan, calls him “expansionist dictator of Turkey” – The Duran (Alexander Mercouris)

    From the into by Alex Mercouris from 1:16

    “Great video by Tulsi Gabbard. She also calls out the fake news of moderate rebels and how the US and the Obama administration and Clinton and Kerry use that word of moderate rebels which was really just a farce – just clever marketing to give money to Isis and al-Qaeda and she calls out the previous administrations for doing that and she tells President Trump don’t buy into the moderate rebel BS; call it for what it is – the US, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey, Qatar – all these countries were funding Isis and al Qaeda to destabilize the Assad government in Syria.”

    Tulsi Gabbard from 02:27. I thought it was worth typing out in full from the transcript.

    “Russia is sending warships to Syria right now to protect it from Turkey’s invasion in northern Syria which is being carried out in alliance with al Qaeda. President Trump needs to make it very clear to NATO and Turkey’s Erdogan that the United States will not be dragged into a war with Russia by the aggressive Islamist expansionist dictator of Turkey via NATO. The corporate media needs to stop referring to al Qaeda and their affiliated groups in Idlib as “rebels” in a deceptive effort to make them seem like freedom fighters. I and thousands of Americans enlisted after al Qaeda’s attack on 9/11 [sic] and the media and the Trump administration’s continued labeling of these terrorists as rebels is a disgrace and dishonors all of our men and women in uniform and our entire country. [I wish I could emphasise that last phrase more.]

    Turkey has been supporting Isis and al Qaeda terrorists from behind the scenes for years but now Turkey is being forced to come out from behind the curtain and expose the role that they’ve been playing in the years long effort to overthrow the Syrian government. Turkey’s Erdogan wants to create an Islamist Caliphate in Syria, re-establish the Islamist Ottoman Empire and is working with al Qaeda and other terrorists to achieve his goal. He wants to be the caliph in the new Islamist Caliphate of his creation. Turkey’s Erdogan is not our friend – he’s one of the most dangerous dictators in the world and the United States government and media have no business helping this Islamist megalomaniac and his al Qaeda partners. It is long past time for Congress to pass my stop arming terrorists Act which would prevent our government from assisting countries like Turkey who are aiding our enemy al Qaeda, and every presidential candidate needs to tell the American people where they stand – will they support passage of my stop arming terrorist acts?“

    • Thank you, Fish. So I goes to “Thomas.gov” to check the status of Tulsi’s proposed legislation in he House (and its twin, Rand Paul’s proposed legislation in the Senate). It looks like the bill died when the 2017-2018 Congress ended, so she will have to introduce it again:

      H.R.608 — 115th Congress (2017-2018) Stop Arming Terrorists Act. Sponsor: Rep. Gabbard, Tulsi [D-HI] (Introduced 01/23/2017) Cosponsors: (14) ) Latest Action: House – 01/23/2017 Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Intelligence (Permanent Select)…
      S.532 — 115th Congress (2017-2018) Stop Arming Terrorists Act. Sponsor: Sen. Paul, Rand [R-KY] (Introduced 03/06/2017) Cosponsors: (0). Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.

      Zero sponsors in the Senate. Would somebody please sack the Senate? Thank you.

      (I mean, come on, what Congressperson could not go along with a bill to STOP ARMING Isis etc.)

  6. From Crikey Worm

    A GLORIOUS DAY IN PARLIAMENT
    Day one of Senate estimates delivered on multiple government scandals.
    • Labor criticised Scott Morrison‘s position as the sole permanent member of the cabinet office policy committee, meaning, as The Guardian explains, he can call meetings protected by cabinet confidentiality without other cabinet members.
    • AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw justified why neither Angus Taylornor Clover Moore were interviewed over doctored emissions data, insisting the matter is “closed”. Taylor later described the investigation on 7.30 as “pretty thorough”.
    • There was a back and forth between Greens senator Nick McKim and Home Affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo over whether information released to The Courier-Mail relating to a refugee’s medical costs were declassified before or after release.
    • Labor accused the Coalition’s $2 billion bushfire recovery fund of not existing. As The Australian ($) reports, only five farmers and small businesses have received loans under the scheme — which is now due for a shake-up, according to the ABC.
    • It was revealed PM&C secretary Philip Gaetjens neither interviewed anyone at the Prime Minister’s office nor, as SBS reports, discovered the 136 emails between Bridget McKenzie and Morrison’s staff.
    • Turns out Sports Australia received several different versions of McKenzie’s colour-coded spreadsheets on the day the 2019 election was called, with projects added and subtracted following those 136 emails, The Australian ($) reports.
    Coincidentally, Labor senator Murray Watt was at one point censured for using the word “rorts” to describe the day’s events.
    CORONAVIRUS HITS ‘ESCALATING FASCISM’ STAGE OF DISASTER FILM
    As Australia records its first two person-to-person cases of coronavirus, the ABC reports South Australia has proposed new laws to make it easier to detain or quarantine people exposed to the virus, while The Conversationnotes Attorney-General Christian Porter has detailed existing powers at the federal level.
    The Sydney Morning Herald has three pressing reports out: an investigation into Australian branches of the “secretive cult” Shincheonji behind South Korea’s outbreak; news the University of Technology Sydney is preparing to close its campus if an emergency is declared; and — while less worrying — that packaging shortages from China could affect local chocolate stocks.

    GLOBAL CORONAVIRUS UPDATES
    An advisor to Iran’s supreme leader has died after contracting the virus, The New Daily reports, and Indonesia has officially recorded its first two coronavirus cases, amid concerns over the country’s quarantine and screening processes, the ABC reports.
    Closer to home, despite pleas from global medical experts for the public to stop “panic buying” face masks, which are not effective against the virus but are crucial for other health care providers, Australian pharmacies are selling out.
    THE COALITION KICK THE ABC (OUT) WHILE THEY’RE DOWN
    Federal Communications Minister Paul Fletcher has “strongly encouraged” the ABC to consider selling capital city offices, notably in Sydney’s Ultimo and Melbourne’s Southbank, as the broadcaster grapples with a funding freeze set to take $84 million from its annual budget and result in up to 200 redundancies, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
    TALKING POINT: The ABC might be in even more financial strife, with Racing NSW boss Peter V’landys launching defamation proceedings over the 7.30 investigation into cruelty against former racehorses. And as Crikeydetailed last month, there’s also all that pricey, life-saving bushfire coverage they’ve been up to lately.

    • “South Australia has proposed new laws to make it easier to detain or quarantine people exposed to the virus, while The Conversation notes Attorney-General Christian Porter has detailed existing powers at the federal level.”

      Wouldn’t you know it.

  7. Over the years I’ve read many things about intravenous vitamin C. I figured it would eventually be mentioned in regards to this coronavirus pandemic, about time.

    https://www.sott.net/article/430059-Three-intravenous-vitamin-C-research-studies-approved-for-treating-COVID-19

    I note from the list at the end of the article that there is only one doctor in Australia that appears to be familiar with the treatment. Crikey, that’s not good news! Maybe we can find an article from him to circulate…

    As an alternative, I purchased three boxes of liposomal vitamin C. It allows a higher level of vit. C in your bloodstream without the gastric upset caused by large dose oral vit. C. I’ve got the three boxes sitting in the back of the fridge awaiting any possible need.

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