Kathryn Bolkovac: "The Whistleblower"
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-01-11/kathryn-bolkovac-whistleblower
Kathryn Bolkovac
Courtesy Palgrave Macmillan
In the late 1990s Kathyrn Bolkovac -- a Nebraska police officer and divorced mother of three -- answered a job ad to work in Bosnia for a U.S. defense contractor. She looked forward to a good salary, travel and the chance to help rebuild a war-torn country as a human rights investigator. She expected hard work and real challenges. But she never expected her investigations into sex trafficking and prostitution rings would implicate some of her U.N. colleagues and put her life in danger. Whistleblower Kathryn Bolkovac on fighting the sex trade -- and why she was fired from her job.
Guests
Kathryn Bolkovac
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Are you really surprised by the corrupt United Nation?
I served in Bosnia, in Zenica, in 2000/2001 with the CIMIC battalion (Civil-Military projects) and I wish I could say things were better by then. They weren't. The Slavers (as we called them) were still in business, and there were still SFOR personnel both civilian and military who knew about it and who were part of it.
The comments seem to say that we should not fight corruption, horror, injustice. I'm not surprised by the evil but am very thankful there are people who risk everything to fight it. How can we join in this fight? Thank you Kathryn for fighting.
Sadly enough I have no trouble believing Ms. Balkcovac.
Corruption and cronyism at the highest levels of the Pentagon and the Bush/Cheney White House were exposed in 2004 by whistleblower Bunny Greenhouse. Bunny was simply doing her job as top Pentagon auditor when she wrote her objections to the unprecedented, 5-year multi-billion dollar exclusive no-bid "emergency" Iraq contract awarded entirely to Halliburton, in indelible ink across the face of the final draft document. For that she was insulted, slandered, libeled, demoted, persecuted, deprived of her civil rights, and finally fired. She has since endured many "anonymous" threats of bodily harm and even death, and despite the danger, continues to bravely pursue the matter in court.
If top U.S. officials set such a horrid example stateside, I have absolutely no trouble believing the U.N., State Department and contracting personnel act in an even more heinous manner while abroad.
How did the women that worked for DaimCorp. (or in surrounding positions) handle the knowledge of these rights abuses? It seems that this is more easily tolerated by the UN because these are women, and seen as sex workers. Do the women in ligitimate positions feel that they are different , because they are professionals and not seen as sex objects?
Thank you, thank you, thank for your determination. It is shameful, simply shameful.
It saddens me that the war crimes in Bosnia occurred, including rape, and that in helping to rebuild the war-torn country, there were US citizens who victimized these poor women further. Who can they trust?
Thank you Kathryn for everything you have done for this cause. Nothing is going to change until the people (the ones who are suppose to be protecting the victims) start choosing to live their lives with character and integrity, the root of this issue is human nature, greed, selfishness, perverted sexual nature. Non-profits and whistleblowers can only do so much, the individuals (and the company) who are suppose to be protecting the victims and working for justice should have been taught how to do the right thing. Can that even be taught?
The process of reporting corruption is broken - those who became angry at Ms. Bolkovac might understand the problem & agree that it must be corrected, BUT they know that as executives, the crimes committed by subordinates reflect poorly on them as leaders. The current process for reporting criminal behavior doesn't allow managers & executives to walk away anonymously without a blemish on their professional record.
This is no surprise at all. If you are curious as to how deep this type of corruption extends please read the book Trance-Formation of America by Cathy O'Brien (http://www.trance-formation.com/).
Please post the enitre statement provided by DynCorp. It's only fair to allow them to present their position on this story in the context that it was provided. Thank you.
I agree with many of the comments. DynCorp has practices & behaviors going on right now, in the US offices, that I believe "trickle down" to everything that they do here and abroad. It's a corporate culture that tolerates sexual misconduct between employees (even between executive level DynCorp employees ), favoritism, the worst of old boy networks, etc. They talk the talk, but they don't walk the walk.
I, too, believe (as Cathoryn comments above), that this tolerance of such behavior by Dyncorp is partially because of the "negative reflection" upon the careers of the leadership executives that expose the behavior and misconduct "on their watch." So no one acts. It's sad and harmful, but this describes the corporate culture at DynCorp ... in my humble opinion.
Bravo Kathryn Bolkovac for having the courage to go public with your information! We all know there is a great personal cost for telling the truth.
Sad to still live under too big to fail armyCORPZ: PPPlease come and join to kill relegion globallly-UN/Redcross/CNNJazeera'z so u can die slowly with misery;being fired-druged-bribed-tell all now after 20 years of congress crimes and Arizona going'z..Indeed Hu is KafoOr.
Kathryn, I listened to your story today and was thinking how courageous you have been, instead of just being horrified and leaving it all behind you, you chose to the right thing and be a good example to all these young women who were victimized. I believe in retribution and that you will someday be greatly rewarded for your humanitarian efforts.
As an advocate I have been told that I am doing things people in positions would like to do but would lose their job, if they did and I am fully supported. We have to remember that this “American Dream” we are fighting for exists in part today, but is more so a vision to be achieved in the future and not everyone is in a position to fight for it, be it by a need for security or by personality. This country is made strong, made real by people like Kathryrn Bolkovac. It is people like her, who are the true nation builders, who truly create equality and justice; it is people who believe in the dream and act for the dream never giving up on it, bringing it to others, to all. Perhaps people like Kathryn are the lucky ones to have the strength, the wisdom to hold us to be true to our path while those that somehow don’t see what they are doing, don’t have the gift of creation, vision and compassion for those who are suffering, abused are really the unlucky ones because their product is destruction of community and no matter how well they hide it from the world, it will remain a ball and chain for their own conscious.
I live in a city in the USA that has the 4th largest human trafficking occurrence in the US. There are many children that are victims. We have a bad economy. There are other issues. We like to not think about them, deal with them...but you know what…that doesn’t make it go away. Allowing it destroys the community in unseen ways, just as drug and arms trafficking.
From my experience, I am not surprised that Ms. Bolkovac was targeted once she spoke up. I was targeted directly by the Federal government here on U.S. soil. In 3/08, I was fired from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in RI after 21 years of Federal service because of my disability - the U.S. Attorney’s stated it was due to my medical conditions. This ended years of discrimination & retaliation for invoking my rights, & for whistleblowing. The U.S. Attorney once called my need to manage pain after duty hours as a “personal convenience.” DOJ refuses to rescind his false testimony at an EEOC hearing. Another EEOC case was dismissed by a judge in MA who voluntarily made corrections to a DOJ motion that was filed incorrectly & allowed the administrative process to proceed, in DOJ’s favor of course. I’m finding it’s not much different now that I have a civil action in Federal Court, Cv09-587ML. Due to the financial devastation the removal has caused, I qualified to have the US Marshals serve my complaint on all defendants (individuals are charged with civil RICO). I found out 2 months (9/9) after they received the paperwork that DOJ told them to halt service – without my knowledge or permission. DOJ continued to interfere with service, and that process only ceased when DOJ filed a notice of representation of all defendants – that was 11/23. On 11/24, DOJ files a motion asking for 60 more days to respond. Their motion was granted after only 3 days – 11 days before my deadline to object. Although I filed an objection on 12/10 asking for an hearing to show evidence I have that proves DOJ constructed their own extension, the Court has not responded - DOJ gets an answer in 3 days, & I don’t get one at all. I also asked for sanctions against DOJ, but know that will never happen. If anyone tells you the Federal government is one big happy family, remember they are thugs and bullies who eat their young.
Your book was a fantastic read! Being a peacekeeper I am ashamed to say that I work for an organization that has been dragged to such a low. Unfortunately, it is the 'type' of people that are employed and the authority and delegation that they so blantly abuse. Friends employ friends and keep perpetuating the cycle of abuse and corruption.
I just saw the movie "The Whistleblower". I am a female contractor and have seen the same "Sex-Tourism" in Honduras - of which I suspect the US employees there have been doing the same thing since the 80's. Unfortunately, it's been going on so long that it has become a part of the Honduran culture.This also affects the Americans who work there. When discrimination or harrassment happens to a contractor abroad, there is no EEO (overseas )and when you go to your "HR" in the states, they deem you a troublemaker and find any lame excuse to let you go - So realize that these same men that go downtown and pick up women (some underaged) who don't speak English return to work and disrespect the "American" women and completely get away with it. It's like a cancer that is decaying the American male and so many of us women allow it to happen for fear of losing our jobs. I just don't get the fact that of why they don't see that these women are someone's daughter, sister, aunt, cousin or mother.
In closing> The best definition of Integrity I have seen is "Integrity is who you are when no one is looking". I salute Kathry Bolkovac, for she is one of the few who have fought this internal war of inhumanity with the utmost integrity. Thank you Kathryn ---!!
Kathryn, please list the full names of all the men that you know of who were involved at whatever seedy level. The US makes it mandatory to list all Pedofile's, and in order to protect our children and ourselves we have a right to know. Especially since they were never brought to an international trial.
This story is of an incredible tragedy of our times. What organizations are in place for monitoring the UN? The Human Rights Community? What is their stance in all of this?
Are these UN operations still underway in Bosnia? Who if anyone is on the ground, keeping their eyes open to ensure this type of atrocity is prevented., in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia... Lybia?
In January of 2009, I was employed by "The Boeing Company" (TBC) and its wholly owned subsidiary Boeing International Support Systems, Saudi Arabia (BISS) who have engaged in fraudulent and criminal activities (First) here in the United States and then again in the country of Saudi Arabia.
The criminal activity I am referring to that was (First) committed here in the United States arises from fraudulent recruiting practices that BISS is conducting while operating as an unregistered business from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and in St. Louis, Missouri. The criminal activity overseas stems from fraudulent representations made by TBC management; fraudulent activities taking place within these company's operations; and the fact that Boeing/BISS management confiscated my U.S. Passport and did not return it upon my written demand. I believe the confiscation of a U.S. Passport; not returning it upon demand; and holding a person in a foreign country for months against their will constitutes the criminal act of "False Imprisonment." Withholding my salary constitutes the criminal act of "Human Trafficking."
Passing the Civilian Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (Senate Bill 1145) will help to bringing these people to justice.