Wampum

This comes from the Indian Trust list. I wish I could write that all the fecal matter is Bushian in origin, but the fact of the matter is that there was just as much fecal matter under the last legal (elected) American government. See also the punative firing of the Chief of the National Parks Police, covered here earlier.

WASHINGTON -- The chief information officer for the Bureau of Land Management has told a federal judge that Interior Department officials retaliated against her after she testified about her efforts to decertify some of her agency's computer systems as unsafe from hackers.

Ronnie Levine said she was told she had lost her job and was pressured not to move against the department's computer problems. Her statements came earlier this month during a sealed session of a hearing into computer security at the department.

Citing her statements, lawyers for Indians who are suing the department over their government-run trust accounts Tuesday asked U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth to hold Interior Secretary Gale Norton in civil contempt and five other Interior officials in civil and criminal contempt over their efforts "to influence and chill" Levine's testimony.

The lawyers have asked Lamberth hold Lawrence Benna, a BLM deputy director, W. Hord Tipton, Interior's chief information officer, Kathleen Clarke, director of the BLM, Selma Sierra, BLM chief of staff, and Joel Hurford, Interior's Information Technology security manager, in civil and criminal contempt.

"These vindictive retaliatory actions against employees who dare to do their jobs because it was "the right thing to do" go to the very heart of this litigation and this court's ability to render justice in this case," the lawyers said in a petition filed with the court.

The petition states that Interior's case over the security of its computers was going so badly that it sought to pressure Levine to give an untruthful view of its efforts to protect Indian Trust data held on the computers. "What is clear is that this is the practice in the Orwellian world of the 'dinosaur' Interior Department," it said. "Tell the truth -- get punished. Tell a lie -- win a promotion, receive accolades and lucrative bonuses."

Levine testified earlier this month that Interior officials attempted to pressure her into signing a statement for the court asserting that the department's systems were secure. The information officer said she refused to sign such a statement without highlighting the problems she believed the computer systems had.

Her statement prompted charges by lawyers for a group of Indians probing Interior's computer security that Interior officials were attempting to send a message to other Interior workers not to testify candidly about computer problems at the department.

"...What is disturbing to us, your honor, is we think it was a calculated effort to send a message to others," William S. Dorris, an attorney for the Indian plaintiffs, told Lamberth, according to a recently unsealed transcript.

"It think that this was a calculated effort with the next witness to send a message out, a clear and strong message out and we concerned with that," Dorris told the judge during a July 6 session.

Government lawyers attempted to downplay the incident. One told the judge is was "a side issue at best," an explanation that Lamberth did not accept.

He initially ordered Levine's testimony sealed for several days. He also assigned a private lawyer to help Levine, noting she may have grounds for legal action against the officials who moved against her.

In testimony that Levine gave June 28, Levine testified that she was given an "unacceptable" rating as the chief information officer on April 29 when Benna assumed that she had completed her testimony in the Indians' lawsuit. The rating came from Benna, deputy director of operations at BLM, and an individual that Levine said had not previously commented on her work.

In the petition, the lawyers note that Benna first told Levine she was being removed from her technology job and being given a non-technology position. After the judge learned of what had happened, Levine said Benna told her that the transfer was being deferred.

Levine's previous evaluations rated her job performance high and qualified her for bonuses, she said.

The computer specialist said Benna was unhappy that computer hackers hired by the department's inspector general had been able to penetrate BLM's machines and that she had attempted to decertify the machines.

Levine testified she had challenged the evaluation. In response to questions, she said she believed the Interior officials were unhappy with her because of her efforts to decertify the computer systems

Judge Lamberth said that he considered the actions taken against Levine a serious issue and would address them later.

The contempt motion is located at http://www.indiantrust.com/_pdfs/mot3.pdf

End of Indian Trust list content.