For Immediate Release Contact: Donald R. Soeken, Ph.D. Dec. 28, 2013 301-953-7353
donsoeken@gmail.com
Author Photos Available on Request
Author is Available for Interviews
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New Book by U.S. Expert on Whistle-Blowing
Details “Shocking Abuses” at NSA, FBI, DOD
Washington, D.C. – A newly published book by a former U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) officer who has spent more than 35 years counseling whistleblowers describes in startling detail how several American truth-tellers recently put their lives on the line in order to expose major abuses at several federal agencies . . . including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Security Agency and the Department of Defense.
The book to be available in January – Don’t Kill the Messenger! How America’s Valiant Whistleblowers Risk Everything in Order to Speak Out Against Waste, Fraud and Abuse in Business and Government – recounts the harrowing experiences of nine whistleblowers who found the courage to “go public” with reports of alleged lawbreaking at the highest levels of the U.S. Government.
Written by Donald Ray Soeken, Ph.D., whose long career as a counselor and expert witness for some of America’s most high-profile whistleblowers has been featured in the New York Times and Parade Magazine, on CBS 60 Minutes and in numerous other publications, Don’t Kill the Messenger! exhaustively details the personal struggles of whistleblowers who have recently alleged:
--That the massive National Security Agency routinely violated its own rules and the U.S. Constitution by spying on the electronic communications of American citizens, without obtaining legally mandated search warrants;
--That the U.S. Marine Corps, in spite of its long and proud tradition of service, failed to acquire easily obtainable armored vehicles which would have protected its own soldiers from explosive devices in the Iraq War . . . a failure that resulted in the needless death or maiming of hundreds of Marines, and which occurred because military requisitioning officers were more interested in preserving cushy contracting relationships than in identifying and obtaining the safest possible personnel carriers for their combat forces;
--That the FBI routinely violated the rights of accused lawbreakers by improperly operating its forensic laboratory and slanting its findings in order to help federal prosecutors obtain federal convictions, instead of analyzing evidence impartially and thus protecting the rights of suspects who were supposed to “presumed innocent until proven guilty.”
The new Soeken book, which also documents the stories of bold Americans who blew the whistle on alleged corporate malfeasance in the 1986 space shuttle disaster and continuing engineering and manufacturing failures in the production of nuclear-missile components for the Pentagon, is being praised as “starkly compelling” and full of “vivid, unforgettable detail” by such early reviewers as famed corporate whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand.
Wigand (whose own whistle-blowing story was documented in the 1999 blockbuster film The Insider), describes Don’t Shoot the Messenger! as “a highly suspenseful book that often reads like a contemporary political thriller” – but then goes on to tell readers: “Along with its chilling narratives, however, the book contains a vitally important warning for all of us – we must protect our truth-tellers if we hope to preserve our constitutional freedoms and the rule of law.”
Dr. Soeken, who was instrumental in the passage of landmark congressional legislation that ended the practice of forcing federal civil servants in the legislative branch to take “fitness for duty” psychiatric exams (he testified at length on Capitol Hill about his own experiences as a counselor to many of those victimized federal employees while reaching the rank of Captain in the USPHS), spent more than three years writing the new book.
“It was a long and arduous process,” he said, while noting that he had served at one time or another as a counselor to all nine of the whistleblowers whose stories are related in the book. “But I was convinced when I started – and I’m still convinced today – that we need to understand what whistleblowers go through in this country, en route to telling the world about abuses that threaten our liberties in the America we all love.
“I hope that Don’t Kill the Messenger! will open a much needed window on the often disastrous injuries that are so often inflicted on those brave citizens who decide to risk everything for the sake of the truth.”
To learn more about the book and how to get a copy: www.whistleblowing.us
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