Posted on 01/05/2006 11:48:54 AM PST by angkor
WASHINGTON — Russell Tice was a senior intelligence analyst at the National Security Agency until he demanded to know in April 2003 what had happened to a report he had filed about a former colleague he suspected of spying for China. Two months later, he found himself checking coolant at the agency's motor pool.
Not only did Tice get demoted from the elite ranks of the intelligence community, but he was also deemed "paranoid" by one of the agency's psychologists, a death sentence in the intelligence field. Just nine months earlier, Tice had been found psychologically sound during a routine evaluation.
snip
The Defense Intelligence Agency, where Tice worked when he reported his concerns about his co-worker, and the National Security Agency, which he joined in November 2002, won't say whether there was any truth to Tice's allegations. But Tice says he was retaliated against for doing what he thought was his duty: unmasking someone he thought was a spy.
"You do the right thing, and then they take away your security clearance, your job, your life," said Tice, 44, who spent two decades working for federal intelligence agencies before being fired in May. "It's like committing suicide to come forward."
The National Security Agency and Defense Intelligence Agency both declined to comment on Tice's case, citing privacy concerns.
The Defense Department's inspector general issued an unclassified report in September that found "no evidence" to support Tice's claims.
I hadn't seen this anywhere in the current Tice coverage, thought it an important background piece.
Also, although the report in which Tice's former "spy" colleague was exonerated is unclassified, I couldn't find it anywhere on the DOD IG web site at www.dodig.mil.
Mods, if you don't think this is "breaking" news, please just leave it in News/Activism. Thanks.
Whistleblowers don't go to the press, they do it internally.
Holy moly! You have to really screw up to get fired from the Fed.
But he was deemed a nutcase by NSA nearly two years ago. Called his DIA colleague a "spy" for China. His colleague was exonerated.
The above article was published 5 days before the NYT hit piece about the NSA.
Firing a 20 year federal civil servant...damn near impossible. Sum ting wong here.
Nothing like calling someone else a spy and then running to the papers and disclosing secret information.
Good Move Tice.
Good Move Tice.
LOL. Good point. He still doesn't seem to understand protocol.
He does sound like a real paranoid nut case. He's afraid they're secretly tapping his phone for terrorist links. Now THAT'S paranoid!
Given the historical treatment of legitimate whistle blowers, I am inclined to believe Tice before the NSA.
ping on "whistleblower"/nutcase Tice.
this article was published 5 days *before* the NYT hit piece.
strange.
2006 not a good year for guys named Tice.
Perhaps NSA treated him shoddily, but his "China spy" colleague from DIA was fully exonerated.
Can't find the report on the web, even though it's unclassified.
It is curious about WHY this was published when it was...considering Tice had been "demoted" much earlier...
Also, the Whistleblower group that he helped form, or was a participant in...was formed in 2004...
Thanks for posting..
Given the way "whistle-blowers" are protected, while their accused tend to have no rights nor recourse against false accusations, I am inclined to take Tice's allegations with a rather skeptical eye.
You are either blind or naive as to what government officials will do to a whistleblower who attempts to expose wrongdoing by others.
And apparently you have never seen anyone use the "whistleblower" system to ruin the life and career of someone with false allegations. Or maybe you are just blind and naive to think that everytime someone claims to be a whistleblower they are just fine righteous citizens risking it all to do their civic duty.
Which comes first "whistle-blowing" to congress, press, The Pope, etc... or going through the chain-of-command?
That presents "special" problems, and obligations on the part of the potential whistleblower.
He should have considered this before hiring on with NSA.
The objective in both cases is to get you to quit.
The part that bothers me is that these methods can backfire on the United States of America and its national security interest if the target is mentally ill.
Since this Tice guy seems to have been considered unstable, the folks who applied these techniques knowing the risks of using them with such a person should probably be brought up on charges, tried, convicted, and stuffed away into a federal prison somewhere for any number of years lest others get the idea that this is a good way to do the business of protecting American secrets.
Alternatively they could just go hang themselves or something ~ same outcome either way. Whatever they do I don't think the fellows who mishandled Tice should continue in government employment, nor should they be allowed to wander about the countryside free of restraint.
Mr. Tice, once they'd found that he was "unstable" should have been assigned duty in a secure facility he couldn't leave. After all, the guy apparantly knew some very important secrets, it is wartime, and allowing him to wander about was very dangerous to all of us, and to me particularly, because my safety is the thing utmost in my mind ~ well, the safety of my family, of course, and I am very angry at the people who let Tice loose~!
We are talking about "control officers" here, and we don't know if Tice tried that route, and in any case NSA isn't going to tell you who Tice's control was, Fur Shur!
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