Boeing CEO Confirms That His Company Has Retaliated Against Whistleblowers

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun took the senate floor on Tuesday to field questions from Senators on the company’s dubious safety track record, confirming that he is aware that management in his company has retaliated against whistleblowers. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) chaired the committee and grilled Calhoun, directly asking Calhoun if he knew about the company’s treatment of whistleblowers. “We have taken action on people who have retaliated,” Calhoun carefully navigated his words when pressed by Blumenthal. Blumenthal asked Calhoun to recount one of those “actions,” to which he did not, instead assuring the senator that Boeing has a “process,” that “works,” according to CNN. Blumenthal then read testimony from John Barnett, the late Boeing whistleblower who was found dead in his car, in which Barnett recounted a co-worker being physically assaulted for raising safety concerns to a superior. Blumenthal asked Calhoun whether he had investigated the matter—Calhoun dodged the question, saying that it “happened a long time ago.”