With all of the important current events going on and being discussed on the site these days, it looks like this one little bit of good news has slipped through the cracks. Sometimes, whistleblowers fight the good fight and win....
Some of you may recall the name Teresa C. Chambers. She was the Chief of the United States Park Police from February 2002 to December 2003. In late 2003, she spoke to a Washington Post reporter and expressed concerns that her agency was underfunded and that policies being mandated by the Bush-era Dept of Interior were hampering her ability to do her job and putting her officers and the public at risk. Specifically, she objected to being ordered to post four uniformed officers at every monument in D.C. as opposed to using her scant manpower to place undercover officers in the crowds where she felt they could be more effective.
Remember 2003, everyone? Bush and Cheney were ramping up the War on Terror. The Statue of Liberty was still closed and you couldn't go to any public venue in D.C. without getting searched. The fear-mongering was in full swing, and Chief Chambers quickly found out that dissent of any kind was not to be tolerated--she was fired and 'escorted' from the building by armed officers (treatment usually reserved for officers accused of a crime).
For a while, Chief Chambers's name popped up in discussions of the Bush/Cheney policies of crushing any vestige of free speech or dissent and of their reprisals against whistleblowers. Then she faded out of the discussions here at DK, but she didn't do what her bosses wanted and quietly fade away. Her legal saga has been documented here for those who are interested. But on Tuesday, 1/11/11, she was reinstated to her job and awarded back pay and legal fees. In a brief interview in the Washington Post, Chief Chambers says she intends to go back to her old job.
The federal government still has an abysmal record when it comes to silencing whistleblowers, but perhaps Chief Chambers's story will help to change that as well. Congratulations to her!