INS won’t punish whistleblowers for speaking out after Sept. 11

The Immigration and Naturalization Service has reversed its decision to punish two senior employees for speaking out about lax border security after the Sept. 11 attacks, according to a statement issued by the agency Thursday.

Last fall, the INS suspended and demoted Border Patrol agents Mark Hall and Robert Lindemann, who work in the agency's Detroit office, for speaking to the news media after Sept. 11 about alleged security breaches on the nation's northern border. The agency put the disciplinary procedures on hold when the Justice Department inspector general began investigating the matter in November.

The agency decided not to discipline the agents after reviewing reports from the Office of Special Counsel and the IG, according to the statement. An INS policy that restricted employees from talking to the media after Sept. 11 also factored into the agency's decision not to pursue the matter. The agents, who serve on Local 2499 of the National Border Patrol Council, talked to the press in their capacity as union leaders when they were off duty.

The decision came a week after Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, sent a letter to INS Commissioner James Ziglar expressing concern that the agency would go ahead with its plans to discipline the two agents, despite recommendations to the contrary from the special counsel and the Justice Department. In February the special counsel, which investigates allegations of whistleblower retaliation, concluded that the INS had retaliated against Hall and Lindemann for speaking to the news media. The Justice Department questioned the INS decision to discipline Hall and Lindemann and said the punishment would not hold up in court.

According to Grassley, the INS will compensate both agents for lost pay, including interest, and will expunge the disciplinary proposals from their records. The INS would not confirm Grassley's statement. "The INS does not comment on the specifics of internal personnel matters," said spokeswoman Amy Otten.

"This is obviously the right thing for the INS to do," Grassley said. "Any federal employee who knows about homeland security problems that aren't being addressed and brings them up is providing an invaluable service to the public."

The INS said it supported the efforts of the Detroit office's Border Patrol chief "to prevent the disclosure of information adversely affecting border security or the safety of INS employees." The agency said it believed that some of the statements made by Hall and Lindemann "included sensitive information about the northern border in a time of national crisis."

But the INS also acknowledged that there was no clear evidence indicating that Hall and Lindemann were formally notified of agency policies on employee contact with the press after Sept. 11. The INS is now drafting an interim policy for employees on talking to the media, according to the statement.