Army Corps whistleblower says he has no regrets

An Army Corps of Engineers whistleblower who accused agency officials of rigging the data in a major navigation project doesn't regret speaking out, he said Thursday. "I don't regret it at all; it had to be done," Donald C. Sweeney, an economist with the Corps and the original technical manager of the Upper Mississippi River project, told GovExec.com. "I didn't know the level of personal commitment it would require of me. But even knowing that now, I would do it again in a situation where commanders directly ordered analysts to arrive at a predetermined conclusion," Sweeney said. In February 2000, Sweeney alleged that top Corps officials changed data in a cost-benefit analysis studying navigation improvements to the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. The Army inspector general substantiated Sweeney's allegations last November and a March report from the National Academy of Sciences concluded the project's data was flawed. While the report condemned the study's data results, it praised the project's economic model, which Sweeney developed. Sweeney received the National Environmental Quality Award from the Natural Resources Council of America Thursday in Washington. Sweeney, who is a 23-year veteran of the Corps, said he thinks most Corps employees would step forward and speak out against wrongdoing. "The Corps has some of the most talented federal employees I have ever worked with," he said. "They routinely rise above and beyond the call of duty." Sweeney said it was sad that employees were "let down" by senior commanders and that he hoped it would never happen again. Lt. Gen. Robert B. Flowers, the head of the Corps, has defended the integrity of the officials involved in the controversial study. "It is not in the character of any of those officers to do anything for personal gain," Flowers said in February during a hearing before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee. The Corps resumed the project last month; it was halted earlier because of the controversy over the faulty data and public criticism. The agency plans to release an interim report on the study next August that includes recommendations for continued navigation and environmental planning. The agency is currently using economic models from previous projects, including one used for studies of the Ohio River, while it continues to refine Sweeney's model for future use. In an August 2 memo to Brig. Gen. Ed Arnold, commander of the Corps' Mississippi Valley Division, Brig. Gen. Robert H. Griffin, director of civil works at the Corps, emphasized the integrity of the project by ensuring that the results of the study's economic and environmental analyses will be compatible with one another. The Mississippi Valley Division is overseeing the project. Sweeney criticized the Corps for relying on an old economic model to produce results for the study rather than using the model he created. "There is a discordant note between where the rubber meets the road and the wonderful words in the Corps' press release which concerns me," Sweeney said, referring to the Corps' pledge to protect the environment while building an effective navigation system. Sweeney said he thinks the Corps has made an effort to include stakeholders with "narrowly defined interests," such as environmental groups and navigation groups, since the controversy over the Upper Mississippi project erupted, but has yet to embrace the interests of taxpayers. Sweeney, who still works for the Corps, is currently a visiting scholar at the University of Missouri at St. Louis. Sweeney's job at the university is made possible through the Intergovernmental Personnel Act, which allows the government to loan federal specialists to states, universities and nonprofit organizations.