Legal Resources and Options

Several US laws provide modest measures of support to engineers who wish to practice their profession in an ethically responsible manner. Four of the most noteworthy are the False Claims Act (FCA) of 1863 the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1970 ° the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) of 1977 and the Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA) of 1989.  

The FCA of 1863 allows an individual who believes that a party has knowingly defrauded the government to sue that party on behalf of the government 

However, while such suits have occasionally been successful, the FC A also has serious limitations. Recall that Nira Schwartz s qui tam action against TRW and Boeing North America was dismissed. That happened when TRW threatened to subpoena and introduce in court a number of confidential government technical documents about missile defense specifications that the Department of Defense did not want to become public. Because of this, and perhaps also to avoid embarrassment, the federal government invoked the state secrets privilege, at which point the presiding judge quashed Schwartz s suit before she had a chance to make her case.  

However, as implemented and challenged, the WPAs limitations have become clear. In Garcetti v. Ceballos the US Supreme Court held that 

Moreover, the government entities most heavily involved in investigating and adjudicating federal employee whistle-blowing claims - the Office of Special Counsel, the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), and the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals (FCCA) - have rarely decided in favor of whistle-blowers. 

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