Whistleblower News From The Inside -- June 5, 2017
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
Former NSA Executive: Agency Used “Blanket” Surveillance During 2002 Olympics — Former National Security Agency senior executive and whistleblower Thomas Drake revealed himself this week as the source for a lawsuit alleging the NSA conducted “blanket, indiscriminate surveillance” of Salt Lake City during the 2002 Winter Olympics. In a declaration filed in discovery in the case in U.S. district court in Utah, Drake asserted the NSA, in coordination with the FBI, scooped up and stored the content of emails and text messages sent and received by anyone in the city and Olympic venues — including American citizens. “The mantra was ‘just take it all,’ ” said Drake, 60, in a Thursday evening phone interview. Drake’s assertions contradict declarations filed in the case in March by former NSA director Michael Hayden and current NSA operations manager Wayne Murphy. Washington Post
D.C. to Settle Whistleblower Case for $3.53 Million — The District of Columbia will pay $3.53 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit by a city contracting officer in a long-running dispute over his firing and the award of a lottery contract. The settlement should resolve the case brought by Eric W. Payne, the former contracting director in the office of then-D.C. Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi. Payne claimed he was terminated for refusing to yield to pressure to cancel a contract won by a joint venture of multinational lottery firm Intralot and a local partner co-owned by a friend of then-Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D). Payne said he was punished after Gandhi found out he had gone to two investigative agencies in the city government to report the pressure. Washington Post
Gov’t, BAE Resolve Army Truck FCA Suit for $3M — A BAE Systems Inc. unit will pay the U.S. government $3 million, and return “unallowable costs,” to resolve a Michigan federal court False Claims Act suit claiming it inflated parts and labor costs on a $3.6 billion U.S. Army truck contract. Federal prosecutors and Texas-based BAE Systems Tactical Vehicle Systems LP submitted a single-paragraph filing Thursday jointly asking for dismissal with prejudice. According to a settlement agreement dated May 24 and provided by the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday, BAE has five days from the deal’s effective date to pony up $3 million. Law360