Employment disputes are all too common inside and outside of government, including at the CIA. In one pending lawsuit, a former CIA employee claimed that the Agency improperly terminated his employment and communicated negative information about him to another prospective employer, thereby violating his rights.
In this case, however, the name of the aggrieved employee is a national security secret.
“As plaintiff’s true name is classified, he has been permitted to file as ‘Peter B.’,” according to a recent court ruling (pdf), in which Judge Richard W. Roberts rejected the CIA’s motion to dismiss the case. “Peter B’s” attorney, Mark S. Zaid, whose name is not classified, welcomed the June 1 opinion.
This is bigger than a singular elimination of race and ethnicity questions. It could accelerate the second wave of widespread reductions to demographic data, leaving public health officials with even less information to deliver better health outcomes for all Americans.
Soft law was never meant to be a permanent solution. Treating it as one, and letting the sandcastle stand in for the skyscraper indefinitely, is how we end up with a decade of voluntary commitments and no enforceable accountability to show for it.
FAS has partnered with ICLEI USA to launch the CRI Local Advisory Council.
We sat down with Dr. Max Moritz and Chief Rob Hazard to discuss how communities use time, money, and data to reduce the risk that wildfires pose.