) ROBERT J. MACLEAN, ) DOCKET NUMBER Appellant, ) SF-0752-06-0611-I-2 v. ) ) ) ADMINISTRATIVE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, ) JUDGE: TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ) Honorable ADMINISTRATION ) Franklin M. Kang Agency, ) ) November 16, 2009
APPELLANTS NOVEMBER 5, 2006 HEARING CLOSING ARGUMENTS
I. Standards for liability At hearing, former Los Angeles Field Office Special Agent in Charge Frank Donzanti testified that in acting as Deciding Official, his standard of liability for agency discipline was only that the appellant should have known information was not Sensitive Security Information (SSI). Mr. Donzanti testified at hearing that he made no finding appellant did know he was releasing SSI. Intentional misconduct was not an element of the charge. He added that the appellant may have had good intentions, but was just misguided about his right to make the disclosure. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals premise and instructions for this proceeding reflects a different perspective from Mr. Donzanti. The court explained Pleading Number : 2009018770 Submission date : 2009-11-17 02:24:58 Confirmation Number: 1940561872 page 4 of 26 2 the issue is whether the agencys lack of clarity meant that the appellant had a good faith belief the information was not SSI: MacLean may still contest his termination before the MSPB, where he may contend that the lack of clarity of the TSAs 2003 sensitive security information regulations is evidence MacLean disseminated the text message under a good faith belief the information did not qualify as sensitive security information
Appellants Exhibit 3, at. 8. 1
Appellant contends he had a good faith belief, based on the agencys handling of the information, and by his own training. This conclusion is reinforced by his history of respect for secrecy, the absence of any analogous controversy about unauthorized releases, and his willingness to risk retaliation as a Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA) leader to publicly challenge secrecy breaches that undermine aviation security.
II. Lack of clarity, because the agency did not treat the text message like SSI
Initially, this message violated nearly every rule in the book for handling SSI. Both witnesses testified that agency policy requires SSI to be marked as such, and that the text message was not. Similarly, both testified that agency policy requires SSI to be sent to a restricted, controlled audience with explicit Limited Distribution instructions; and that it was not. Both testified that agency policy requires SSI to be password-protected when sent electronically outside a controlled environment such as inside an agency facility between agency employees. As both witnesses testified, this
1 Unless noted otherwise, all references are to Appellants exhibits. Pleading Number : 2009018770 Submission date : 2009-11-17 02:24:58 Confirmation Number: 1940561872 page 5 of 26 3 text message was not. Both witnesses testified that agency policy requires its storage in a secure, restricted area, and that this message was not. It is not disputed that agency policy requires a security plan for maintenance and earliest possible destruction of SSI. As Mr. MacLean testified and Mr. Donzanti did not disagree, there was none for the text message. As appellant testified and Mr. Donzanti did not dispute, the message was broadcast to common mobile cellular Nokia telephones, when mobile, cellular, password-protected, encrypted Palm Tungsten W Personal Data Assistants (PDA) were available. Indeed, the message was sent to every agency Federal Air Marshals (FAM) in the nation Nokia including any non-agency citizen who inherited a former FAMs Nokia telephone number. The message in question was sent from agencys @secureskies.net domain email account to a list of thousands of 10-digit numbers attached to this AT&T Wireless domain: @mobile.att.net. If a FAMs Nokia mobile number was 702-555-1234, the email sent from @secureskies.net was sent to 7025551234@mobile.att.net, so any AT&T Wireless customer and non-agency employee who was assigned a former agency employees Nokia number, received a copy of the late July 2003 text message. Appellant further testified that he understood SSI information may be disseminated from a controlled setting such as inside an agency field office. That is not what occurred here, however. Appellant added that the late July 2003 text message was broadcast like a person using a bullhorn in a public plaza. Pleading Number : 2009018770 Submission date : 2009-11-17 02:24:58 Confirmation Number: 1940561872 page 6 of 26 4 Despite all the inconsistencies, Mr. Donzanti testified that he did not consult with the agencys SSI experts before deciding to fire appellant for what he should have known. Appellant testified in detail how Agency SSI practice has been highly contradictory, illustrated by failure to secure schedules, and agency release of information appellant thought illegally undercut its air security missions. For example, some agency disclosures revealed where Federal Air Marshals were sitting on which specific flights. Although the agencys position is that any disclosure about deployment is SSI, on August 10, 2006, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) publicly announced the agency would increase FAM coverage on United Kingdom/U.S. flights. (Exhibit G; at 2) At hearing the Agency did not choose to dispute any of appellants testimony on the issue. Similarly, while Mr. Donzanti testified that as common knowledge all employees would have recognized that the text message was SSI, the Immigration & Customs Enforcement / Office of Professional Responsibilitys (ICE/OPR) -- the agency which carried out the investigation of the appellant -- Director of Intake in Washington DC Matthew L. Issmans public letter sent to Congress and to the Project On Government Oversight to post on their public website, stated that at no time did [appellant, Philip Black, Spencer Pickard, and Frank Terreri] disclose classified or critical-sensitive information. (Exhibit 5; at 2) Mr. Donzanti did not talk with anyone from ICE/OPR about the issue, although his action was based on their investigative conclusions. Agency FAMS headquarters Employee Relations Special Pleading Number : 2009018770 Submission date : 2009-11-17 02:24:58 Confirmation Number: 1940561872 page 7 of 26 5 Agent in Charge Maria del Carmen Perez also was unsure, due to timing and lack of specificity. (Exhibit QQ) It would be unreasonable and discriminatory to discipline appellant for not correcting the agencys mistake. Mr. Donzanti testified that when he has seen unmarked SSI such as schedules, but he does not recall correcting the error himself. Similarly, appellant testified that he did not recall any of his peers ever adding SSI markings. Overall, even from the agency perspective, the text message transmission sent contradictory signals that could confuse a reasonable person. It concerned deployment, which agency policy says is SSI for specific flights. But agency regulations also require that it be marked, sent through secure transmission means with restricted access. The text message transmission did not comply with any of those requirements. Despite his conclusion that the appellant should have known better, Mr. Donzanti testified that if he had received the unmarked information transmitted in an uncontrolled, unsecure manner, it would have raised questions with him as well.
III. Good faith mistake. Appellant testified in detail, and the agency did not dispute, that he has a history of respect throughout his law enforcement career for confidential treatment of information that could undercut government security and law enforcement missions, Pleading Number : 2009018770 Submission date : 2009-11-17 02:24:58 Confirmation Number: 1940561872 page 8 of 26 6 to the extent that he risked retaliation by blowing the whistle against irresponsible breaches of secrecy. Appellant testified that he did not intend to or think he was violating the law. Despite some speculative bravado during his deposition after baiting, his firm belief is that it is not acceptable to break the law in order to enforce it. He testified that he never has intentionally. Appellant testified how he worked within the Department of Homeland Securitys (DHS) system, trying a supervisor and three DHS Office of Inspector General representatives, who all told him nothing could be done before he accepted their conclusion within agency context and went public. None warned him that the information was SSI, and so needed to be handled in a restricted manner. Because of all the inconsistent agency judgments and practices, appellant testified that he gave up making his own judgments. To identify SSI he adopted the view that he is just a grunt who followed orders, and let the label be his guide for what was restricted and what was not. Based on his training and practice among FAMs, appellant testified that his personal view of the difference between SSI and unrestricted information centered on disclosure of particular information. He thought SSI would be a date and particular flight number or seating assignment. He viewed temporary cancellation of an entire program differently. In his disclosure to MSNBC Washington DC Bureau Chief Correspondent, Brock Meeks, the appellant testified that he tried to operate within those boundaries. Pleading Number : 2009018770 Submission date : 2009-11-17 02:24:58 Confirmation Number: 1940561872 page 9 of 26 7 He did not share the text message or read from it. He protested cancellation of all RON coverage two days after a terrorist suicide hijacking alert from the Saudi Arabia government (Exhibit 21), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) (Exhibits 16 & 17), the State Department (Exhibit 17), and the Department of Homeland Security (Exhibit 18 at Page 3), and just after he and his entire FAMS Las Vegas Field Office were mandated to attend unprecedented supervisory person-to-person emergency threat briefings inside a secure area inside the FAMS Las Vegas Field Offices Operations Branch concerning these alerts. (Exhibit 37) The July 26, 2003 DHS suicide hijacking warning titled, Potential AI-Qaeda Hijacking Plot in the U.S. and Abroad detailed a very specific plan. Attack venues may include the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia, or the East coast of the United States due to the relatively high concentration of government, military, and economic targets. Al-Qaeda is looking for new ways to circumvent enhancements in aviation security screening and tightening immigration requirements, in which five-man teams. . .would attempt to seize control of a commercial aircraft either shortly after take off or shortly before landing at a chosen airport. This type of operation would preclude the need for flight-trained hijackers[] (emphasis added) for suicide missions. The hijackers may attempt to use common items carried by travelers, such as cameras, modified as weapons. (Exhibit 18 at Page 3)
Pleading Number : 2009018770 Submission date : 2009-11-17 02:24:58 Confirmation Number: 1940561872 page 10 of 26 8 The appellant testified that he does not recall revealing specific dates. Since the beginning of these proceedings, the appellant testifies that he never divulged airline flight numbers and/or their airport origins and destinations. At hearing, he unequivocally denied that he told Meeks the flights without coverage were Las Vegas based, and the agency has not presented any contrary evidence. That is understandable, since appellant correctly understood and was protesting blanket national cancellation of coverage. Nor has the agency established that he did. Meeks July 29, 2003 article included specific dates for the cancellation. In Meeks July 30, 2003 article and an August 19, 2007 email to appellants former representative, Meeks had two other sources (Exhibits RRR & UUU) for his July 29, 2003 article. The 9 th Circuit has ruled that whatever the appellant said was SSI, but at the time he thought he was acting responsibly in good faith. While legally mistaken, in his mind he did not consider there was an issue of disclosing SSI. Appellant's good faith reflected his well-taken concerns on the security threat. The DHS Office of Intelligence & Analysis / Directorate for Preparedness / Homeland Infrastructure Threat & Risk Analysis Center issued a report on June 16, 2006 that confirmed the foiled hijack plot that resulted in the July 26, 2003 DHS Advisory. (Exhibit 26, at 5) ABC News obtained an un-redacted copy of this report. (Exhibit 25):
Pleading Number : 2009018770 Submission date : 2009-11-17 02:24:58 Confirmation Number: 1940561872 page 11 of 26 9 Al Qaeda terrorists were planning to use cameras to disguise bombs and flash attachments as stun guns in a disrupted hijack plot that targeted the U.S. east coast, Britain, Italy and Australia, U.S. officials say.
The plot using cameras and flash attachments was foiled in the summer of 2003, according to the report.
The officials says al Qaedas ingenuity was evident in its attempts to convert camera equipment and other non-threatening items into weapons that could be smuggled onto a plane. It warns such items could be used to bring down an aircraft or to gain access to an airliner flight deck.
The recently released Central Intelligence Agency / Office of Inspector General report also confirms the 2003 suicide airline hijacking plots (Exhibit VV; at 87-88): Riduan Hambali Isomuddin provided information that led to the arrest of previously unknown members of an Al-Qaida cell in Karachi. They were designated as pilots for an aircraft attack inside the United States, hijack and fly an airplane into the tallest building in California in a west coast version of the World Trade Center attack
Former Las Vegas Field Officer FAM (now Immigration & Customs Enforcement Special Agent) Michael Lums actually sent the text message at issue. In a June 28, 2009 letter to U.S. Senator, Harry Reid, Mr. Lum described the unprecedented, emergency suicidal hijacking threat briefings conducted inside the appellants field office just before the July 28, 2003 disclosure to Meeks: The pertinent information I have is in regards to the mission briefings which were specifically addressed by the MSPB, and available on their web site (Issued July 22, 2009). My knowledge of these incidents is first hand, as I was intimately involved in key aspects within the LASFO Operations Branch during late July 2003. I specifically remember these incidents since they were mandatory and individually given and never happened before or after. (emphasis added) (Exhibit 37)
Pleading Number : 2009018770 Submission date : 2009-11-17 02:24:58 Confirmation Number: 1940561872 page 12 of 26 10 Appellants reasonable, careful approach to secret information is consistent with the unprecedented nature of this controversy. Other than this incident, appellants un-contradicted testimony is that he never disclosed or was accused of making unauthorized SSI disclosures of any information with the SSI marking.
IV. Excessive penalty -- progressive discipline and compliance with Douglas Mr. Donzanti testified that he was committed to the agencys progressive discipline policy, whose principle is to try least oppressive actions first to see if they work. He added that in approximately a year of active duty on Mr. Donzantis watch, the appellant was an employee who did good work, got along well with co-workers, did not cause problems and did not release any SSI intentionally or inadvertently while under Mr. Donzantis supervision. Before terminating appellant, however, Mr. Donzanti testified that he did not talk with any of his past supervisors to see if there had been a pattern of any other instances of unauthorized SSI releases, or any other confidentiality breaches. In fact, he did not even ask appellant whether he knew the text message was SSI. Similarly, Mr. Donzanti testified that he did not check to see how termination compared to punishment of other employees who made unauthorized SSI releases. To illustrate the disparate treatment, Atlanta Field Office FAM Anthony Rine publicly disclosed on August 18, 2006 that there were imminently no Federal Air Marshals (FAMs) on any United Kingdom/Atlanta flights after DHS Secretary Michael Pleading Number : 2009018770 Submission date : 2009-11-17 02:24:58 Confirmation Number: 1940561872 page 13 of 26 11 Chertoffs August 10, 2006 announcement of the United Kingdom liquid Improvised Explosives Devices (IED) plot that federal air marshals are being sent to the United Kingdom to provide expanded mission coverage for flights between the United Kingdom and the United States. (Exhibit G; at 2) After an initial proposal to remove, the punishment was reduced to 14-day suspension. Mr. Rine is now a federal law enforcement Immigration Enforcement Agent with Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE). The agencys Office of Inspection confirmed Mr. Rines disclosure that the agency was unable to deploy FAMs on United Kingdom/Atlanta flights for eight days after the suicide terrorist plot. When being pressed by agency counsel during the hearing about being reckless for potentially endangering nonstop, long distance flights six days before the plan went into effect, the appellant explained that he believes someone would have eventually disclosed the operation sometime during the 60 days after it went into effect like Mr. Rine did in 2006. (Exhibit 6) The May 25, 2006 House Committee on the Judiciary report included multiple exhibits of FAMs trying to internally convey their safety and security concerns to their managers, as early as July 2002 -- a year before the appellants late July 2003 disclosure -- that the agencys policy of requiring FAMs to wear suits and ties on all missions, the requirement to bypass airport security checkpoints in plain view of the general public, and the exposure of FAMs being forced to board aircraft in front of passengers with small children and the handicapped, was exposing FAMs identities and positions routinely. (Exhibit Z; at 98-109) The appellant testified that the general Pleading Number : 2009018770 Submission date : 2009-11-17 02:24:58 Confirmation Number: 1940561872 page 14 of 26 12 public, flight crews, FAMs significant others, and frequent fliers would have easily noticed FAMs missing from nonstop, long distance flights between August 3, 2003 and September 30, 2003. With respect to potential for rehabilitation, Mr. Donzanti testified that he did not warn the appellant about recurrence, order or offer additional training, or exercise his authority to order the appellant to cease any future unauthorized releases of SSI. Mr. Donzanti in part based his decision on lack of remorse, which would have been inappropriate if MacLean did not realize he was acting illegally. Appellant testified that he did not. In fact, however, appellant felt deep remorse about the consequences incurred for his family from all the subsequent retaliation, and for tarnishing the agencys public image. The appellant testified that he cringed when he watched President George W. Bush explain the July 26, 2003 suicide hijacking alert the day after the July 29, 2003 MSNBC Meeks story: Q[uestion from unnamed journalist] Thank you, sir. [the Department of] Homeland Security is warning against possible hijackings this summer. How serious is this threat, and what can you do about it? How can Americans feel safe?
U.S. President George W. Bush: the [suicide hijacking] threat is a real threat...we obviously dont have specific data... al-Qaeda tends to use the methodologies that worked in the past... we're focusing on the airline industry right now and weve got reason to do so. (emphasis added) (Exhibit 20, at 4)
Pleading Number : 2009018770 Submission date : 2009-11-17 02:24:58 Confirmation Number: 1940561872 page 15 of 26 13 Mr. Donzanti and the agency did not treat the appellant like a hopelessly dangerously untrustworthy employee during some three months between learning that appellant had disclosed the text message, and his September 13, 2005 departure from the workplace after the proposed termination. In fact appellant was kept on flying active duty between May 4, 2005 -- the day he admitted to ICE/OPR that he was a source of the July 29, 2003 MSNBC article, and September 13, 2005, when he was finally removed from flying active duty. After appellant had his weapon, badge, and credentials revoked, and was place on administrative leave on September 13, 2005, there was no action to restrict him from agencys secure Internet portal, ( www.secureskies.net ), which gave him access to all of his Los Angeles Field Office squads FAMs SSI-marked mission schedules. (Exhibit AA) He had this access, although schedules indicated exact seating assignments which are classified as SECRET by the agency. (Exhibit Z; Pg. 45) There was never any action to suspend or remove appellants security clearance. Mr. Donzanti said administrative leave would have taken too long to establish, but when pressed, he conceded the process could be completed in days to a week, and was carried out in less than a week with another Los Angeles FAM and the FLEOA FAMS Agency Chapter President, Frank Terreri, who also was investigated for the release of sensitive, secure, or classified information, (EXHIBIT Z at Appendix 13, Report # 005 at Page 4; Report # 007 at Page 2) MacLean received satisfactory marks on his performance appraisal for security-related issues during this period. Pleading Number : 2009018770 Submission date : 2009-11-17 02:24:58 Confirmation Number: 1940561872 page 16 of 26 14 With respect to clarity, despite repeating that everyone knew what SSI is, Mr. Donzanti testified that he did not know what training the appellant personally had received, agreed with his deposition testimony that current training is inadequate, and did not make any efforts to counsel and train the appellant so he would know better the next time. The appellant testified he did not receive any specific training on how to recognize SSI. Mr. Donzanti testified that FAMs get SSI training at their academy, but appellant testified that he was in the first class of 35 FAMs to graduate after the September 11, 2001 attacks, and received no SSI training during his three weeks of training because his inaugural group of highly experienced federal law enforcement trainers was tasked with developing training syllabuses for the subsequent thousands of FAMs who would be processing behind him. Mr. Donzanti testified in his August 2, 2006 deposition that he joined the FAMS on July 28, 2002, nine months after the appellant joined the FAMS on October 14, 2001. Donzanti would not have been familiar with appellants background on this matter, and he did not testify about making any effort to check. Appellant testified that the only SSI-related training he received at the academy and post-academy orientation was that airline company names and their flight numbers was never to be disseminated to non-agency employees or sent via personal email accounts. It was not until months later, the appellant was required -- as a condition of continued employment -- to sign affidavits declaring that he understood the voluminous and confusing SSI policy and regulations. Pleading Number : 2009018770 Submission date : 2009-11-17 02:24:58 Confirmation Number: 1940561872 page 17 of 26 15 Mr. Donzanti only considered discipline as a penalty, other than immediately rejecting reassignment. Without any evidence that the misconduct was a mistaken aberration, due to the one unauthorized disclosure Mr. Donzanti concluded that appellant was not trustworthy for any other job in the agency. This approach cannot co-exist with the principles he testified that he was enforcing. In the agencys September 13, 2005 proposal to remove the appellant, the agency official writes that the appellants unauthorized media appearance and unauthorized release of information to the media raise serious doubts about [his] honesty, fitness for employment, reliability, and trustworthiness. As Mr. Donzanti agreed at hearing, it is inaccurate that the agency accused appellant of being dishonest when he was fully forthright with the ICE/OPR investigators on May 4, 2005, in his August 2, 2006 deposition, and during the November 5, 2009 hearing about his disclosure to Meeks. Appellant did not try to conceal to ICE/OPR his dismay that about the text message that meant nonstop, long distance flights would be defenseless during a terrorist alert. But he did not disclose specifics, or mean to disclose SSI. Indeed, without the appellants honesty and the existence Meeks other sources, the agency would have no case to remove him.
V. Affirmative Defenses (Off-duty conduct discrimination for FLEOA leadership [(b)(10)]; and First Amendment violation for retaliation against freedom of association, including speech issued as a FLEOA FAMs VP [(b)(11)]. .
A) Protected activity. Pleading Number : 2009018770 Submission date : 2009-11-17 02:24:58 Confirmation Number: 1940561872 page 18 of 26 16 Appellant testified that FLEOA was established in 1977 to uphold integrity and professional standards for federal law enforcement personnel, including giving federal law enforcement officers a collective and credible voice before congress. FAMs are not allowed to form unions or collective bargaining units. Appellant served as Executive Vice President of the FAMS agency chapter within FLEOA. In that post, he began a series of intensive series of disclosures protected by the First Amendment and the Whistleblower Protection Act. As he testified, these occurred steadily until the agency placed him under investigation for the SSI disclosure on May 4, 2005 Appellants communications were protected by the First Amendment from the start, including the text message. He believed the agencys actions to cancel Remain Over Night (RON) coverage were illegal and seriously threatened Americas national security by leaving the highest risk airplanes unguarded against another 9/11 style hijacking -- a view shared by former extreme[ly] concern[ed] U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton of New York (Exhibit 23, at 3), a furious U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey (Exhibit J), U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (Exhibit K, at 1; Exhibit Q), U.S. Senator John Kerry (Exhibit M, at 1), U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney of New York (Exhibit L), and U.S. Congressman Hal Rogers of Kentucky (Exhibit M, at 2). All expressed outrage and forced the Agency to reverse its shocking, incredible, foolish, boneheaded, nonsensical, sorry episode of a operational plan to remove FAMs from nonstop, long distance flights, with the obvious immigration, visa screening, and airport security loophole. As stated in the Pleading Number : 2009018770 Submission date : 2009-11-17 02:24:58 Confirmation Number: 1940561872 page 19 of 26 17 Aviation and Transportation Security Act (Public Law 10771), Title 49 of the United States Code Section 44917: deployment of Federal air marshals on every such flight determined by the Secretary to present high security risks [and on] nonstop, long distance flights, such as those targeted on September 11, 2001, should be a priority. In a press conference, U.S. Senator Boxer when even so far as thanking the appellant and the other sources of the July 29, 2003 Meeks article: I want to thank the air marshals who came forward and told the truth about what was going on within their agency and bringing this issue into the spotlight, said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., during a news conference, because I believe that cutting air marshals was clearly in the mix of budgetary cuts being considered. (emphasis added) (EXHIBIT Q, Par. 10)
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) documented in a March 31, 2004 report on the agencys cancellation of the August 3, 2003 plan to remove FAMs from nonstop, long distance flights for two months, that this plan would have endangered the same aircraft used for the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, so any flight three hours or longer would have been unprotected. (Exhibit 33, at 7-8). As discussed above in detail, appellants subsequent FLEOA disclosures about secrecy breaches properly earned similar expressions of congressional support and confirmation.
B) Balancing test. Pleading Number : 2009018770 Submission date : 2009-11-17 02:24:58 Confirmation Number: 1940561872 page 20 of 26 18 It is undisputed both from Mr. Donzantis and appellants testimony that the disclosure about cancellation of RON coverage addressed a vulnerability to aviation security on nonstop, long distance flights. The threats to public security by alerting potential hijackers were all speculative. Even if the policy had not been reversed, the threat would have been minimized by the advance nature of the disclosure six days before the policy was scheduled to take effect. The only actual damage claimed by the agency at hearing was indirect -- administrative disruption from reversing the agencys decision to eliminate coverage. As seen from Mr. Donzantis testimony, appellants July 28, 2003 disclosure made a difference by resulting in continued air marshal coverage of the highest risk flights. The reporter promised to and followed through on getting the information to key members of Congress, whose outraged protests the next morning led to reversal the following day. 2
C) Nexus Agency headquarters displayed unrestrained hostility toward the FAMs FLEOA chapter and leadership, to the extent of chain investigations, involuntary administrative leave and public humiliation of FAMS Chapter President Frank Terreri. Instead of ordering Mr. Terreri to surrender his service weapon, badge, and credentials at a secure, discreet law enforcement facility, Mr. Donzanti ordered two
2 The agencys position has been contradictory, since in other contexts it claimed that the whole text message was a mistake. (Exhibit 3, at 3) If that was the case, there was no net disruption from appellants disclosure that led to its correction. Pleading Number : 2009018770 Submission date : 2009-11-17 02:24:58 Confirmation Number: 1940561872 page 21 of 26 19 supervisors to his front yard, humiliating him in front of family and neighbors before placing him on administrative leave. 3 This occurred within days of the FLEOA Executive Board issuing an unprecedented vote of no confidence in current FAMS Director Thomas D. Quinn. (Exhibit 29) As discussed above, FAMS opened an investigation of the 2003 incident only appellants repeated disclosures on secrecy breaches as a FLEOA leader. On balance, the actions against appellant are grounded in First Amendment retaliation from every angle. Agency headquarters controlled this personnel action. Mr. Donzanti testified that he did not draft the final decision letter; headquarters did. In fact, he did not change a word, or make any contribution besides signing it. His liaison throughout the process was FAMS headquarters Policy & Compliance Unit Special Agent in Charge Robert Bond who was part of Mr. Quinns shop. Mr. Donzanti and Bond did not discuss any other option besides termination. The appellants last name was even spelled incorrectly on his April 10, 2006 notice of removal. There can be no serious question about FAMS Director Quinns animus toward the FLEOA leaders. He wrote in a February 11, 2005 memorandum to the DHS Inspector General Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) Assistant
3
As indicated in the U.S. House of Representatives House Judiciary Chairman F. James Sensenbrenners May 25, 2006 report titled, In Plane [sic] Sight: Lack Of Anonymity At The Federal Air Marshal Service Compromises Aviation & National Security, after the ICE/OPR investigated and cleared (ICE/OPRs complete Report of Investigation of Mr. Terreri is Appendix 13 of the May 25, 2006 House Judiciary Committee report (Exhibit Z)
) Mr. Terreri of multiple allegations -- including the unauthorized release of sensitive, secure, or classified information, (Exhibit Z, Appendix 13, Report # 007 at Page 2)
it took six weeks for Mr. Donzanti to inform Frank Terreri and place him back on flying active duty. (Exhibit Z; at 22) (Exhibit Z, Appendix 13, Report # 005 at Page 4)
Pleading Number : 2009018770 Submission date : 2009-11-17 02:24:58 Confirmation Number: 1940561872 page 22 of 26 20 Secretary Michael J. Garcia that the appellant and his fellow FLEOA FAMS Agency Executive Board Officers were disgruntled, malicious, obscene, irresponsible, abusive, and part of a de facto labor organization. He accused the appellant and his fellow FLEOA FAMS Agency Executive Board Officers of being disgruntled amateurs, insurgents, terrorists in a February 9, 2007 Wall Street Journal (Exhibit JJ, at 4, Par. 4-5) Mr. Quinns Policy Compliance Unit even went so far as to obtain the military records of the appellants father. (Exhibit 4)
D) Independent justification. The agency did not offer any alternative grounds for termination besides the late July 2003 disclosure. There is a vacuum of any evidence in the record about agency problems or gripers with the appellant on performance or misconduct grounds. It is virtually not in dispute that the only matter that counted for the agency was protected activity. In his August 2, 2006 deposition, Mr. Donzanti stated that even if the late July 2003 disclosure was officially legal, because it occurred at all he still could not trust Mr. MacLean enough to work with him. (D) In his hearing testimony, Mr. Donzanti reluctantly conceded his deposition testimony that the appellant would not be trustworthy to work with, even if he had a legal right to make the July 2003 disclosure. Pleading Number : 2009018770 Submission date : 2009-11-17 02:24:58 Confirmation Number: 1940561872 page 23 of 26 Certificate Of Service e-Appeal has handled service of the assembled pleading to MSPB and the following Parties. Name & Address Documents Method of Service MSPB: Western Regional Office Appellant Closing Arguments e-Appeal / e-Mail Eileen Dizon Calaguas, Esq. Agency Representative Appellant Closing Arguments e-Appeal / e-Mail I agree to send a printed copy of the electronic pleading with attachments to non-efilers by the end of next business day, as follows: Name & Address Documents Method of Service Thomas Devine, Esq. Appellant Representative Government Accountability Appellant Closing Arguments Fax Pleading Number : 2009018770 Submission date : 2009-11-17 02:24:58 Confirmation Number: 1940561872 page 25 of 26 Project 1612 K Street, NW, Suite 1100 Washington, DC 20006 USA Larry A. Berger, Esq. Appellant Representative Mahon and Berger 21 Glen Street, Suite D Glen Cove, NY 11542 Appellant Closing Arguments Fax Pleading Number : 2009018770 Submission date : 2009-11-17 02:24:58 Confirmation Number: 1940561872 page 26 of 26