Recognizing Honour and Courage

3 whistleblowers named Time magazine's Persons of the Year

December 22, 2002

BY ERIN McCLAM ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK -- The FBI agent who wrote a scathing memo on FBI intelligence failures and women who blew the whistle on corruption at corporate giants Enron and WorldCom were named Sunday as Time magazine's Persons of the Year.

The magazine's editors chose Coleen Rowley, Cynthia Cooper and Sherron Watkins "for believing really believing that the truth is one thing that must not be moved off the books, and for stepping in to make sure that it wasn't."

Time managing editor Jim Kelly said the women embody a critical struggle facing the country how to restore trust in disgraced institutions, from major corporations to the Catholic Church.

In a choice that will likely be debated, Time Magazine has chosen to recognize three women who took significant risks in order to do what they believed to be right.  Already, a poll at Time shows that roughly 85% of the people who responded disagree with Time's choices.

Prior to announcing 2001's choice (Mayor Rudy Giuliani), there was quite a bit of debate over who might be the recipient, as Osama bin Laden was one possiblity.  During that debate, it was pointed out that the "Person of the Year" designation was not intended to be an indication of who was the best person of the year, but rather it is awarded to the person (or people) who have had the largest impact - positive or negative - during the last year.  (Due to the possible confusion that "Person of the Year" can create, there have been suggestions that Time rename the designation as "Newsmaker of the Year"). 

Following that logic, Time would have been quite justified in naming Osama bin Laden as "Person of the Year", as he truly did have the biggest impact on the news last year.  This year, however, there wasn't anyone who stood out as much - no one person or group of people who had clearly made the biggest change.  Time's choice, however, seems to be appropriate, especially in regards to Sherron Watkins, whose efforts to expose the fraud at Enron led to Enron's collapse.  When Enron collapsed, it triggered a hard look at other corporations, and swiftly several others reported "cooked" books and fraudulant earnings statements, leading to several high-profile arrests and the collapse of several other companies.  In addition to the impact this had on the stock market, it also had another serious impact on the economy - as many people suddenly found themselves out of work.  On top of that, because many companies encouraged employees to invest in their own stock or stock options, as the companies collapsed, so did the value of their stock, draining the retirement funds many now-unemployed workers had worked to save.

This is a situation that will likely have a long-term effect on business in America -- at least, it should.  Accounting practices will need to be reviewed, and there needs to be a system set up to help prevent the kinds of conflicts-of-interest that existed between several of these companies and their auditors. Retirement plan programs need to be reviewed and revamped to help ensure that an employee's account won't become worthless if the company they work for collapses. 

Colleen Rowley's memo regarding the FBI's lapses in handling investigations prior to September 11, 2001, has also had a significant impact on this past year.  By coming forward and bringing these allegations into the open, she paved the way for other agents to make their concerns known as well.  These reports, and the questions they've raised, helped create enough pressure on the President for him to finally call for a special investigation into the FBI and CIA's actions prior to the attacks to try and determine why - and how - so many warning signs were missed.  This is something that may have a significant impact on what steps the government ultimately takes in order to prevent such disasters from happening again.

As it stands right now, the government's main focus is on increasing the power given to the Justice department and law enforcement in general, and cutting back on the civil liberties that are supposedly guaranteed to American citizens.  If the investagatory commission is allowed to do its job properly, however, the testimony of Ms. Rowley and her fellow agents who are willing to step forward, may help show that some of these changes are unnecessary, and that the problem is not that our society is too "free" nor that our Justice department and law enforcement agencies are too weak, but rather that they simply need to do their job better and make better use of what information they have available.

While it's a sad commentary on the state of our law enforcement agencies and large corporations that such whistleblowers are necessary, its good to see the impact that whistleblowers can have - not just on their company or agency, but on our nation as a whole - recognized an described as heroic and honourable.