Clement condemned the actions in a letter to The Washington Post titled “I’m a Scientist. I’m blowing the whistle on the Trump administration.” He pointed out the destructiveness of the administration’s actions to Native people and the environment and criticized the silencing of civil servants.

Moved to a job he wasn’t suited for, Clement resigned and now works for the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, where he exposes political interference in science. He also works with the union’s Science Protection Project, where scientists can make confidential reports of political interference.

Brandon Coleman

A former Marine and an addiction counselor, Coleman worked at the Phoenix Veterans Affairs hospital, where he saw a pattern of negligence in the care for suicidal veterans. In 2014, he came forward with his observations, despite retaliation and harassment from his superiors. As a result of whistleblowers like Coleman, the VA formed an Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection, which is where Coleman now works.

The scandal stretched over several years and required the courage of several VA employees to speak out before reforms were put in place. It was revealed that wait times for veterans with serious problems such as depression and PTSD were being reported as 24 days when they were actually almost four months. More than a dozen died before they were seen. Further investigations showed that veterans across the country were enduring long waits for appointments, and that other hospitals were involved in cover-ups.

Will Doolittle is projects editor at The Post-Star. He may be reached at will@poststar.com and followed on his blog, I think not, and on Twitter at @trafficstatic.

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