http://capwiz.com/whistleblowers/issues/alert/?alertid=14019041

Coleen Rowley: Action Needed Now
Dear Friends,

Today is the 8th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. There are many ways that we can honor the lives lost and one of them is preventing it from happening again. Strong whistleblower protections for national security whistleblowers are the key.

I blew the whistle on the failure of the government to approve a search warrant for Zacarias Moussaoui, an al Qaeda operative who was attending flight school just weeks before the tragic attack. The flight school instructors had numerous concerns which matched up with intelligence from abroad.

Unfortunately as an FBI whistleblower, I learned the hard way what exposing this and other post 9-11 mistakes means to your career and your entire life.

Although I was honored by Time magazine in being named a Person of the Year for having blown the whistle on this terrible security lapse, I know of so many other national security whistleblowers that lost their jobs and livelihood simply by doing the right thing.

They need legal protection! They need it now!

We need your help! We need it now!

It has been eight years since that heartbreaking attack. Hundreds of national security whistleblowers have been drummed out of their jobs or had their careers destroyed.

But there is hope!

The General Accounting Office released a report concluding that national security whistleblowers can be provided with full court access without risking disclosure of national security secrets.

President Obama, during his campaign, promised to support full due process and court access rights for all federal employees.

Most important, the House of Representatives has TWICE passed strong whistleblower protection laws that protect national security whistleblowers!

This legislation is being actively considered in the House, Senate and by the White House. There are strong commitments by House and Senate leaders to have a federal employee whistleblower law passed this term!

We must ACT NOW. We must make sure that the President and every Member of the House and Senate hear our voice and know that we need strong whistleblower protections for national security employees that include the right of court access and trial by jury for national security whistleblowers.

Please Take Action Now before it is too late to prevent the next major terrorist attack.

Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Coleen Rowley
(retired FBI agent and former Minneapolis Division legal counsel)

P.S. Please pass this on to friends, co-workers, and family.