Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and other politicians have called on the administration to review the cases of Robert MacLean and Spencer Pickard, according to a story in today’s Las Vegas Review-Journal. Both MacLean and Pickard were fired by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) after going public about shortcomings in TSA’s security plans. Robert MacLean criticized TSA for grounding all the air marshals, nationwide, during a security alert, to meet a budget goal. Spencer Pickard criticized TSA for requiring air marshals to meet wardrobe requirements that made them stick out like sore thumbs. Both cases well demonstrate why we cannot rely on administrative procedures where all the decision makers are appointed by the administration that is being criticized. Both cases show how public safety will be enhanced if Congress passes the House version of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA), HR 1507, and allows jury trials for federal employee whistleblowers.
The Review-Journal article notes how the new administration promised last June that it would review whistleblower cases from the prior administration. We are still waiting for the outcome of that review.
