National Security Whistle-Blowers Allege Retaliation

The five whistleblowers, who have made headlines before, offered their stories at Tuesday's hearing. Many described their inspector general as ineffective or co-opted by the security offices.

Army Spc. Samuel Provance laid out what he considers to be a pattern of systemic abuses at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. He said his rank was reduced for disobeying orders not to speak about mistreatment he saw at the prison.

Russ Tice, a former NSA analyst, has called attention to possible constitutional abuses and security breaches at NSA. He said he was given psychological evaluations deeming him mentally unstable, and his clearance was revoked. He's now unemployed.

Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer says the Defense Intelligence Agency has made a series of allegations against him since he disclosed information about a program known as Able Danger. He says the program identified four Sept. 11 hijackers before the attack. Government officials have raised doubts about his claims, which are the subject of another hearing Wednesday.

Richard Levernier, a retired Energy Department nuclear security specialist, said he lost his security clearance and effectively his job for giving the media an unclassified report about shortfalls in nuclear security.

And former FBI special agent Michael German said the Justice Department's inspector general found his claims of a botched terrorism investigation in Florida were substantiated. He says he faced retaliatory actions, some of which the inspector general also found.