ah, western capitals in their pliant corporate media continue to maintain the west is not at war with russia. however, the fact is, nato is a co belligerent, supplying financial support, arms and diplomatic cover for kids when the west claims, otherwise, it means it's losing ah ah

ah. 2 imagine this, it's immediately after the $911.00 attacks, you're an agent in the transportation security administration in the united states . you see something that could lead to another terrorist attack and you report to your supervisors, what happens next? they fire you. i'm john kerry aku and you're watching the whistleblowers. ah, today we're talking with t s a whistleblower robert mclean. bob is both typical and a typical of many national security whistleblowers. he's typical in the respect that he saw evidence of waste fraud abuse or illegality. and he said something about it without any regard for what it would do to his career. he blew the whistle because it was the right thing to do. he paid a very heavy price for it, which will tell you about in a moment. but he's

a typical in that he has proven time and time again that he's literally not afraid of anybody. he's taken on his immediate bosses and he's taken on senior u. s. government officials all the way up to the secretary of homeland security. he has had a list attorney's, defending him, and he's defended himself not just in federal district court, but at the appellate level and all the way up to the supreme court of the united states. more than once, the department of homeland security couldn't silence him. and when they tried, he sued, and when they were forced to take him back, they put him in dead end jobs. and he sued again. and when they failed to offer a plan to secure pilot doors on american aircraft to prevent another hijacking and another terrorist attack, he invented one himself. he was even given a patent for it by the us patent and trademark office. so where is bob now after

fighting homeland security for more than half of his career? he's in court again, and he's not giving up bob mclean. welcome to the shell. good beer, john. bob, you and i have known each other for more than a decade. i met you through one of washington's whistleblower groups while i was going through my own travails after blowing the whistle on the cia torture program . i still remember our 1st meeting. i was depressed and distraught and you were up beat and ready for a fight. you're still fighting a 10 years later, you began your career at t. s a. as a federal air marshal. and you took your job very seriously. tell us how this whole odyssey got started for you in the 1st place. well, after i left the air force, i became a ward patrol agent. and 6 years later, i was so hired by the federal aviation administration to be in the 1st class,

close $911.00 special agents. and a few weeks afterwards, we turned in to the t essay. and they made us all federal air marshals. and that's how it started you were, you are only on the job for about 18 months when you heard of a proposed t. s a plan to take federal air marshals off of long distance non stop flights in order to save money. this was a dangerous idea and you said so, but you were rebuffed, so you went to the media that actually worked and the plan was withdrawn by the department of homeland security. what made you go to the media rather than to say the inspector general or the congressional oversight committees? well, early in the year marshall program, there were several, or pre 911 year marshals that worst telling us that eventually

the u. s. is going to install a secondary barrier system between the cockpit and the main cabin, which was a 100 percent, eliminate hijackings. and the israelis had had this system for several decades. and a lot of his didn't really understand that concept of this secondary barrier. but once we started flying these missions, and we saw that the only thing between another hijacking and the in the rest of us on the plane was either a flight attendant standing in front of an unlock, cockpit or a flight attendant was spinning around a drink cart perpendicular into the eye and we were saying early in 2002

us air marshals. we can't react fast enough to somebody charging that. and often they would put us in positions on the aircraft, which would make is almost impossible to even try to jump and react to somebody charging and unlock cockpit. the worst of all we would be put in a, in a window or middle seat with passengers in between us and be unlock cockpit. so we were constantly what's going on here? how are we gonna stop this? and then in april of 2003, 4 months before my, my supreme court sided disclosure the pilots and went to the associated press and said, this is a disaster waiting to happen without secondary barriers. the chronology of what happened to you is very complicated in my view, t a se fired you in 2006 on the grounds that you had disclosed sensitive security

information to the media. but sensitive security information is unclassified. you appealed the decision to the merit systems protection board, which is supposed to protect federal workers, but you lost their in 2008. then you appealed to the federal 9th circuit court of appeals and lost their although that court said that the merit systems protection board had jurisdiction over your case. the court added that you should have been protected under the whistleblower protection act in 2009 before the merits systems protection board you lost again and in 2010 and administrative law judge judge ordered that you be removed from tia se, but you kept fighting another appeal in 2011 confirmed your termination from t essay, but then in 2013 a supreme court decision resulted. and you being granted a new hearing and you were retroactively reinstated at

t essay with back pay and benefits. you were formally declared to be a whistleblower in november 2015. tell us what it was like going through an experience like that for 7 years. what was it like on you personally? how did your family deal with it? and what gave you the wherewithal to just keep fighting year after year after year was pretty simple. ah, a year after my 2003 disclosure, the 911 commission report confirmed exactly what we had been complaining about. the hijackers simply waited for the pilots to get food trays for to use the laboratory. it's right there on ages 5158 to 45 and the 911 commission report. the cockpit was not secure and it still wasn't

secure. and they fired me and said that essentially it's a big secret that a cockpit door opens throttle flight and this sensitive security information label. it's really damaging because, you know, it is unclassified in it. it has no controls over it. i mean, a, an airline janitor can essentially declare something as, as i sought. but it's really bad because as soon as the t s a puts an ss, i'm working on a document that, that is exempt from freedom of information act requests. so this, this was just all wrong all these years, but everybody was telling me that i endangered public safety. and what i did was egregious, that i told all the, all the terrorist in the world that, that, that,

that did the dip ard shut service are not secure. so i just kept fighting. my neighbors thought, i was crazy. my family thought i was, i was crazy, but it was just the obvious was the obvious, but unfortunately, the public doesn't see it even to this day because we still couldn't find it. tenants bodies and carts to protect a la carte. it's, you know, this is not going theme with national security whistleblowers to that. anytime you make a revelation, they accuse you of endangering the lives of americans, usually american soldiers. and all you have to do is say, name one name, one american soldier, that of i, i've endangered by trying to uphold the constitution. and they can never, they can never answer that bob ear troubles were not yet over in march of 2019 t. s a fired you yet again. they said that they were objecting to something that

you wrote on an air marshal message board. what happened and where do you stand now? yes, i on a, on a secret. facebook used to have secret groups where they were impossible to see. and it was sort of like i went on to a forum where air marshals would communicate. and i simply posted a g rated i photo and tax in video links and also media links with regards to the fact that an air marshall who repeatedly couldn't shoot a gun meeting. the air martial standards was repeatedly failed, was even fired or not for not being able to pass the air marshal firearms examinations. and the examination was actually dumb down

for her and others. and she came back, failed the same test again. but instead of firing her, like everybody else did, she ended up exchanging sexual favors with, with several of the bosses of the agency. wonderful, fired, meet the 1st time. and she recently into, in 2017, got another special special war, despite the fact that she was incompetent. if this was a fire marshal who didn't know how to shoot on an aircraft, it shouldn't, and was fired and should, and at the job. so it was a protected disclosure, but the that she has a believe that it was rude and had and it was sexual in nature. therefore that's the excuse that had fired before. even know the entire facebook

secret group had a racist and violet host by air marshals who the t as a use as test as well. witnesses to testify against me and my hearing. my goodness. gracious, we are speaking with t s a whistleblower bob mclean about his years long fight with the department of homeland security. we're going to take a short break and come right back $32.00. 2 2 2 2 2 ah. 2 2 ah, march the 112011. the largest earthquake ever recorded in japan is registered. a 14 meter tsunami devastates the fukushima nuclear power plant. a. this is the

nuclear reactors of flooded sparking and how rhythmic disaster with he'll get in the middle a little bunny. if as much of an italian jonah is living in japan, decided to go to the area of the nuclear meltdown from fukushima immediately about a job over. so i'd love to talk to somebody about the with a 4 year investigation starts watch on our t. oh

ah, welcome back to the whistle blowers. i'm john kerry. aku we're speaking with t. s a whistleblower bob mclean about his experience fighting the department of homeland security. good to have you back. bob. agreed to be here with you john. bob, we are now almost 20 years after your initial whistleblowers goes disclosure. that's a very long time, especially in government. but you have never given up despite daunting setbacks

along the way. like most other whistleblowers, the price you've paid has been very high. your finances are ruined. you face the possibility of losing your home. your family has been under terrible pressure, but you're back in court again. tell us about that. what's the latest on your case? it's gotten insane. we had, i discovered, after my marriage systems protection board hearing closed, that my administrative judge was a headquarters g s 15, which is generally a grade for a, a senior mid level manager. and was a attorney representing the department of homeland security, federal air marshal service during the same years that i was blowing the whistle on

the agency which was confirmed by the supreme court. so i filed a complaint with the u. s. office of special counsel about the judge being silent about working for the federal air marshal service. and also the fact that the federal air marshal service failed to notify me that the judge had worked for them. so not only this violated numerous ethical standards, but clear violation of several laws and regulations. so now there is a nother merit system protection more proceeding that's happening in philadelphia. it had to go to philadelphia because my other judge is in the washington regional office. and i am currently appealing a decision by the the philadelphia marriott systems protection award to a federal appeals court in washington dc that she improperly failed to give

me a hearing on injunctive release on the fact that both the department homeland security and my judge were silent. about their past history during my disclosures, while this is an ongoing theme in your case, isn't it? it's that you, you repeatedly have to go to the merits systems protection board. you repeatedly appear before administrative law judges, not necessarily and courts so much as, as judges from the department of homeland security and m s p b and they don't disclose their conflicts of interest. how do they get away with it and how, how, how have they gotten away with it all these years? i don't know whether it will happen recently in chicago. case of another federal whistle war and the new for board in,

in washington dc. there's a 3 member board that's pointed in confirmed by the senate pointing by the president confirmed by the senate, where they said, absolutely not. you cannot judge, have any potential call flicks of interest. so there is hope, but my case is just dragging on forever job. i was fired, it's going to be in march. it'll be 4 years that i've been fired again. and something that also happened is that the under the trump homeland security, they waited to fire me days after the marriage systems protection more full board. the one that i just mention of remembers when empty adds a month after the the, or went empty. the,

the department homeland security in writing agreed to reinstate me voluntarily with the u. s. officer, special council. and later react on that, that agreement. and since then, john, i discovered some agree just actions due to the pilot discovery. yeah. the big criminal investigators actually altered documents and then yeah, absolutely. yeah, that's a criminal act. you know, you've, you've been at every, literally, every level of the legal community, in this case you've been at the administrative level, you've gone to the, the federal district court, the federal appellate court. you've been to the supreme court. what has the reception been to your case in the legal community in washington? it's been my own experience that most attorneys won't touch whistleblower cases because they're hard to win. and the whistleblower rarely has the money to pay for

attorneys. so what has your experience been? will thankfully mean right out of the right out of the gate after the supreme court ruled in my favor, they were coming asked the in indirect and direct ways. so i was just methodically, every day, almost every hour. just memorializing all these crazy things are there were trying to set me up for it with regards to the legal community. they see me as like a pain in the st. right. can she just that will and go away. we're tired of hearing the about the mclean case. don't come on and it's funny as it, as administration's change, they want you to subtle more in a near administration than another. so there's politics it boy,

people are just so sick. oh, here comes the maclaine whistleblower case. again, but you know what, the cockpit is still totally unsecure. while that, and that's why i said in the, in the intro to the show that one of the things that striking about you is that you're not afraid of anybody. you have fought the bush administration, the obama administration, the trumpet administration, and now the biden administration. and you're going to keep fighting until you have satisfaction. we've said here on this show previously that washington is full of whistleblowers support groups like the government accountability project, the whistleblower and source protection network, the national whistleblower center, the project on government oversight and so on. have any of these groups been helpful to you? had they been able to help advance your case in the courts are they served a different purpose the government accountability project has been, has been definitely assisting me legally. and then i get

a good publicity from the national whistleblower center and also the project on government oversight. but john, i think the best thing, the one thing that has saved me and is just just destroying the government's case and why in this whole vendetta against me is i just keep telling the truth and don't deviate from it because they lie, they, she, they all her documents, they intimidate witnesses, it never ends. so if you just stick to the truth and maintain your integrity, it doesn't matter how many dirty tricks they can, boy, and they don't stop. and the problem is, john, as you know, there's no accountability for their, for their dirty trips. and you've made an important observation here. this is not a partisan issue. it doesn't matter if the democrats are in the white house or the

republicans are in the white house. they're always going to work to cover for themselves. and if that means sacrificing the whistleblower, they're willing to sacrifice the whistleblower. that's why you have to keep fighting, and i know you, i've known you for a long time. that's why you have kept fighting. before we wrap things up, i've got to ask you about your invention. this is a legitimate airline security invention for which you've received a patent from the us patent and trademark office. i think that's remarkable. in fact, that makes some people very wealthy, but that's not been the case with you. why is your airline security door not on every passenger plane in america right now? well, that's because a french company called saffron as a app orient. they sort of have an anomaly on anything having to deal with the

cockpit. so, and of course, nobody thought of inventing a modular cockpit secondary barrier system, but i did and saffron in there because most of the airline engineers have no concept in counter terrorism. counter personnel measures. so no, none of these people ever thought of developing a modular system, just about everything on a ship, on an aircraft as to be modular because of because, i mean, this is a, this is a movie facility. so i am the only owner of, of, of, of, of a modular system. and right now it's the large on, in 2018. it mandated that aircraft now have to have secondary barrier systems, but i'm the only owner of a modular system. so the, so the corporations such as saffron, are basically buying out the f a in your lives and to,

to muzzle my invention. finally, bob, what advice would you give others who are considering becoming whistleblowers in light of your own experience? you've not had an easy time. what would you say to others? don't do. so worth it. now worth. now worth what happened to my family? i have no regrets myself. that's just, that's just my dna. that's all i'm wired. i. i can't stand bullies. i can't stand it justice, but you know, 90 percent of the public isn't like that. so i wouldn't want to wish this on anybody's, on my worst enemy, especially somebody who has a family with, with small kids that unit john. now it's, it's just, it's not worth it. the american, the american politics,

the judicial system just doesn't care about you. you're just a wire to them. and a lot of judges don't like whistleblower cases and because they get so complex because her so much cover up in concealment. and in illegalities that go to covering up disclosures of public safety because this is really embarrassing stuff . so what happens is these cases start to just grow legs and become 20 headed monsters. so judges really, really can't stand us. because once we open up this pandora's box of wrong doing it, it just, it, it spills eternally. so that's why there's a disdain for us. i think you're right bob, this is not a decision to be taken lightly. it takes some believe somebody with real wherewithal to be able to, to take on

a government to take on organizations that have unlimited funds and can bury you in legal proceedings. well, i'd like to thank our guest, the fearless t, a se whistleblower robert mclean. and thanks to our viewers for tuning in yet again, in mid november, the greek orthodox, archbishop of cyprus, passed away and at his funeral, one of the church hierarchy said something that is apropos of all whistleblowers. i believe that it's something we should all aspire to. he said, quote, he left behind a body of work before which time itself will bow and he has taught us that humans justify their fleeting passing through this world struggling for the common good, unquote. that's exactly what whistleblowers do. they struggle for the common good thanks again for tuning in. we'll see you next time. 2 2 2 2 2 with

the surgery roster. motion is that all if you care to watch, i should to long will close with the list which is a long, long, long no. just a question. and so for you to he is snoo was the millennium, which spectrum i didn't ask about fearfulness about yet, 3rd grade or a new or so say i took those of decision. ah, for a no show for sure. mm. oscar. sure, sure. so, but our new choice is jewish,

federal shops to move it to bear with ah, after months of intense battles, russia takes control over the eastern part of the city of the almost also known as bach mood. that's according to the head of the wagner. private military company ah, processors in georgia attempt to storm the countries parliament amid clashes with the police as they raleigh against the drop law that would brand some media outlets foreign agents. and.