Fish and Wildlife whistleblower retaliation case raises questions

This web exclusive appeared on hcn.org March 8, 2015:

Gary Mowad enjoyed a 25-year career at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Mostly, that was in law enforcement, working as a special agent posted in places like Colorado and Alaska, and later, as deputy chief in DC. At the end, he served for a couple years as the agency’s top administrator and head biologist in Texas. Nearly everyone who worked with him seemed to hold him in high regard. And yet, by February, 2013, he appears to have essentially been forced into retirement by his superiors for reporting what he construed to be scientific misconduct and political interference with an endangered species listing. The whistleblower retaliation case, which the government settled last fall, raises alarming questions about Fish and Wildlife’s handling of such complaints, as well as how much politics influence the agency’s science. More…