Breaking: FBI Raids Office of Special Counsel

The FBI raided the headquarters of the Office of Special Counsel today, and agents from the Office of Personnel Management siezed boxes of evidence from the Director's home. The OSC is responsible for protecting federal whistleblowers from retaliation.

According to the Washington Post, the FBI served 17 subpoenas and sequestered the agency Director, Scott J. Bloch, for questioning. Bloch has been under scrutiny for his handling of the department, and his understanding of whistleblowing in general, since he took the position in 2003.

It is unclear at this time what specifically the Bureau was looking for; the warrant was apparently extremely broad. More news when we get it.

More After the Jump...

Current Employment Goes (Pale) Green!

The guys were going to join in the Blog Action Day festivities by writing a big post on qui-tam actions under the Federal Claims Act and their viability as stop-gaps in environmental protection. Then the Saints won last night and now all I've got is this list of resources for environmental whistleblowers, which they think is still realy responsible:

Workplace Fairness Env. Whistleblower FAQ
Bush Administration Ruling Throws Cold Water on Environmental Whistleblowers
Government Whistleblower Pages:
- OSHA
- EPA (scroll down)

Finally, a website we HIGHLY reccommend: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (or, PEER to their buddies). This group is a service organization that, among other things, lets public employees speak out with the benefit of anonymity. To see why such an organization is needed, go to the "campaigns" section and take your pick.

We'll be back tomorrow with less socially-conscious posts. Maybe we'll focus on union busting or ESOPs or something.

More After the Jump...