Even when blackmailed into doing so? That was the case here: Fire Hatfill or you lose your federal grant money.
***Sigh***...the cease and desist order stated that Hatfill was not to be working on any research funded by the DOJ. It is a clear conflict of interest case, Hatfill cannot be paid with DOJ funds if he is being investigated by the DOJ. The DOJ did NOT say to fire Hatfill and the DOJ did NOT threaten to withold the grant money from the University, it plainly stated Hatfill was not allowed to work on DOJ projects. I wish people would quit reading things into this that simply are NOT there. Every article I have read clearly states that the DOJ cease and desist order was NOT the reason for termination, it did not surface until well AFTER Hatfill was placed on 30 days paid Admin Leave on Aug 02. Hatfill was terminated because LSU did not want the publicity (and some questions about whether his credentials are authentic) and his supervisor was terminated for not bringing the DOJ order to their attention sooner.