| The plight of whistleblowers - those employees who | | | | resources. Other security concerns I raised internally |
| sound the alarm about anything from dangerous | | | | have also gone un-addressed. |
| conditions in the workplace to missed or ignored | | | | Imagine the outcry if I had previously stayed silent |
| intelligence regarding our nation's security - is a story | | | | and if one of those symbolic monuments or |
| that seems to grow stronger and with more | | | | memorials had been destroyed or the loss of life had |
| frequency every day. My guess is that those stories | | | | occurred to someone visiting one of those locations. I |
| have always been there; I suspect I am just paying | | | | did not want to be standing with my superiors |
| closer attention to them now. | | | | among the ruins of one of these icons or in front of |
| You see, I joined the "ranks" of whistleblowers more | | | | a Congressional committee trying to explain why we |
| than one year ago when, on December 2, 2003, a | | | | hadn't asked for help. |
| major newspaper printed a story in which I | | | | Despite the serious First Amendment and security |
| confirmed for them what many of us already knew - | | | | implications of my case for each American, there has |
| we, the members of the United States Park Police, | | | | been no Congressional intervention, no Congressional |
| could no longer provide the level of service that | | | | hearings, no demand of accountability by elected |
| citizens and visitors had grown to expect in our parks | | | | officials for those who took action to silence me and |
| and on our parkways in Washington, D.C., New York | | | | who have ignored all warnings about the perils to |
| City, and San Francisco. The world changed for all of | | | | which I alerted them. Following my termination and |
| us on September 11, 2001, and the expectations of | | | | the publicity that accompanied it, it is unlikely that any |
| police agencies across the country grew exponentially | | | | current Federal employee will be willing to speak up |
| overnight. As the Chief of the United States Park | | | | with straightforward, accurate information about the |
| Police, an organization responsible for some of | | | | realities of any danger we face. |
| America's most valued and recognizable symbols of | | | | Our legal appeals continue, and some of the |
| freedom, I knew it was my duty, as chiefs of police | | | | administrative charges placed against me have |
| across the country do every day, to inform the | | | | already been thrown out. Through it all, it is becoming |
| community of the realities of the situation. | | | | clear that Federal employees have little protection for |
| For being candid -- for being "honest" -- while still | | | | simply telling the truth. |
| being supportive of my superiors, I was, without | | | | My story is told on a website, established by my |
| warning, stripped of my law enforcement authority, | | | | husband in December 2003 and maintained by him so |
| badge, and firearm, and escorted from the | | | | that the American people could "witness" the issues |
| Department of the Interior by armed special agents | | | | in this case. The website has provided transparency |
| of another Federal law enforcement entity in | | | | to my situation by making key documents available |
| December of 2003. Seven months later, the | | | | for viewing, including the transcripts of depositions of |
| Department of the Interior terminated me. | | | | top officials and their testimony during a key |
| Frighteningly, the issues I brought to light about our | | | | administrative hearing. |
| citizens' and visitors' safety and security and the | | | | Suppression of information is spreading - gag orders, |
| future of these American icons have not been | | | | non disclosures agreements, and the government's |
| addressed -- other than to silence me. In fact, there | | | | refusal to turn over documents. In agencies that |
| are fewer United States Park Police Officers today | | | | span Federal service, conscientious public servants |
| than there were more than one year ago when I | | | | are struggling to communicate vital concerns to their |
| was sent home for daring to say that we weren't | | | | true employers - you, the American public. Is anyone |
| able to properly meet our commitments with existing | | | | listening? |