Grappling with the Gray #120: Back in the U.S.S.R.?

How much does the government need to know to do its job?

That's the question that drives the conversation when Krista Crawford, Ph.D., MBA, SPHR, Sarah Kalmeta, and Jolanta Pomiotlo join the ethics panel to Grapple with the Gray.

And here is our topic:

Paul Whelan, a 55-year-old retired U.S. Marine, was freed from Russia last summer after being imprisoned on false espionage charges for more than five years. After the first year of his detention, his employer cut his job and his insurance coverage. When he finally arrived home, Mr. Whelan found that he did not qualify for unemployment because he had not worked in Michigan recently.

A member of Congress had to contact Michigan's secretary of state just for Mr. Whelan to get a driver's license and identification. And being convicted of a crime in Russia, even a crime the U.S. government declared was bogus, hindered his getting a Global Entry card because he was arrested and imprisoned overseas. Apparently, Customs and Border Patrol didn’t have access to the pictures of the president meeting him at Andrews Air Force Base when he came back.

Strangest of all, when Mr. Whelan tried to get full Medicaid coverage through the state he received a letter back saying that he didn't qualify because he wasn't a U.S. citizen. And his story is not unique.

NPR seemed to miss the irony when they aired this story on March 27, scarcely two minutes before a story questioning why the Department of Government Efficiency needs access to citizens’ private data and personal information.

Ostensibly, DOGE is charged with scouring government records for signs of waste, fraud and abuse… not to mention inefficiency. Might Paul Whelan reasonably argue that protecting our data is no more urgent than ensuring that government agencies make better use of that data to serve U.S. citizens?

There’s always going to be tension between protecting personal freedoms and providing for the general welfare. Is it possible to balance one against the other without descending into partisan politics?

Meet this week’s panel:

Krista Crawford is a human resource consultant, adjunct instructor at Virginia Tech and Champlain College, and Group Chair with Vistage Worldwide, Inc.

Sarah Kalmeta, aka Sarah the Pivoter, is a speaker, author and relentless truthseeker. She is founder of Pivot Point International, a high performance consulting company.

Jolanta Pomiotlo is Vice President of Information Technology for EXSIF Worldwide who manages innovative initiatives aimed at reducing operating costs, improving profit, and growing revenue.

#ethics
#culture
#accountability
#leadership
#politics