Jeff Ruch, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility

Jeff Ruch is executive director of PEER, a service organization helping federal, state, and local agency scientists, law enforcement officers, land managers, and other professionals uphold environmental values within public service.

This evening, I actually got misty-eyed watching one of PEER's members and clients receive an award for public service from an organization called Taxpayers for Common Sense. Whistle-blowers are not commonly honored in their own time; they usually struggle in obscurity. Moreover, this honoree is especially deserving of recognition.

Dr. Donald Sweeney is a senior economist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: He is one of the few Ph.D.s in economics within the Corps -- one of their best and brightest. Like most employees who come to PEER, Don contacted me because he was not allowed to do his job. He was in charge of the largest economic study ever undertaken by the Corps -- the cost-benefit analysis of a proposed multibillion dollar expansion of the entire lock and dam system for the Upper Mississippi River and the Illinois Waterway.

He was removed from that study because he would not cook the books. When top Corps officers ordered that key numbers be altered, Dr. Sweeney used PEER to blow the whistle and trigger official investigations. In his case, the investigations completely vindicated his disclosures. In so doing, Don Sweeney has shaken the Corps to its roots.

Last week, an internal Pentagon investigation confirmed that top Corps officials manipulated cost/benefit studies in order to vastly exaggerate the need for massive new civil works projects. The report found serious flaws not only with the specific study cited by Dr. Sweeney but with the entire Corps planning process. The report also concluded that the Corps had departed from its traditional "honest broker" role to become "an advocate" for building large inland navigation projects, citing institutional biases flowing from a fiscal system based on project financing and "a customer service" model that placed the needs of the barge industry and other system users above the public interest.

These scathing findings were possible because Dr. Sweeney was not alone: His colleagues provided key corroborating testimony. For example, another senior economist called the system "corrupt." Although many have long suspected that the Corps cooked its books, Sweeney and his colleagues published the cookbook and gave the public a front-row seat in the kitchen.

As a result of the report, Defense Secretary William Cohen is recommending disciplinary action against two top Corps commanders: Major General Russell Fuhrman, Deputy Chief of Engineers, and Major General Phillip Anderson, Commander of the Mississippi Valley Division. In addition, the report triggered an investigation as to whether Major General Hans Van Winkle, Director for Civil Works, illegally spent funds without the required justifying studies. The National Academy of Sciences has also undertaken an analytic review of how the Corps conducts cost-benefit studies.

It takes courage to blow the whistle. This decision profoundly affects one's family, often destroys one's career, and sometimes costs one's peace of mind. So, it particularly warms my heart when I see whistle-blowers "win" and help remedy the conditions that caused them to risk their professional lives. Each victory by a single whistle-blower also makes it just a little bit easier for the next public servant who is morally compelled to step forward.

For my part, it is a distinct honor to work for such people.