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News :: Civil & Human Rights : Environment : Government Secrecy : Labor : Peace : Protest Activity |
Human Rights Violations and Corruption in the U.S. Antarctic Program |
Current rating: 0 |
by Antarctic Storm (No verified email address) |
13 Jan 2004
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Even at the ends of the earth, it's hard to get away from Bush's America |
The Controversy
The Raytheon Corporation takes a lot of money from American taxpayers. As the nation's third largest Federal contractor, Raytheon cashiered more than $12.2 billion from US Government contracts in 2002. What are Americans receiving for the $43 per person they fork over to Raytheon each year?
Raytheon's administration of the United States' Antarctic Operations suggests we are getting a corporation that drains precious revenue into ineffective upper management while poisoning Antarctica's most valued resource: its unique, open, and highly motivated community.
Recent developments in the US Antarctic Program (USAP) point to a trend of open political discrimination and abridgement of legal and constitutional rights. It involves the USAP's prime contractor, Raytheon Polar Services Co. (RPSC). It is not clear how much involvement the National Science Foundation (NSF) has. It does appear that RPSC's behavior follows a pattern of corruption, incompetence, illegal activities and abuse of its own employees.
The objectives of this web site are:
1. To be a repository for documentation of Raytheon's recent abuses in Antarctica.
2. To collect input from other people in and out of the USAP on these issues.
3. To tell the story of what Raytheon's been doing in Antarctica and elsewhere.
This home page includes a list of all of the documents that are currently on this site, along with brief descriptions of the significance of each one.
Who We Are: Antarctic Storm is made up of current and former USAP support workers and grantees. We apologize for the anonymity of this site but, as recent events show, there is a real fear of retribution to individuals who are too vocal on these subjects. We do wish to keep our jobs and our grants.
Highlights
Inside this site, you'll find Raytheon's famous background check waiver for employees that, if any employee signs it, gives the Company the right to investigate his or her personal records from the day they were born to their last day on earth - and with cryogenics on the rise - possibly forever.
You'll be able to read about the pitfalls of Raytheon's desire to spy on Antarctic residents,. You'll also see firsthand internal documents from Raytheon that show this corporation at loggerheads with the Antarctic community and the National Science Foundation over its attempt to restrict privacy rights.
You can read about the black-listing of one employee for organizing peace gatherings, as well as threats directed at all members of the community.
Other highlights of the documents below include Raytheon's corporate rap sheet of contractual fraud, environmental damage, legal and labor abuses, a narrative of Raytheon's misconduct elsewhere; and testimonials about Antarctica's phenomenal community - and Raytheon's threat to it. |
See also:
http://antarcticstorm.org/ |
This work is in the public domain |
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