Fired whistleblower gets 2-week reprieve SDI scientist complained of fraud, waste

WASHINGTON — A Pentagon scientist who claims he was fired because he complained about waste, fraud and mismanagement in the “Star Wars” program has gotten a two-week reprieve, he and the Army said Saturday.

Aldric Saucier, who has been associated with the Strategic Defense Initiative since 1983, said he was told Friday his firing was suspended and he was put on administrative leave with pay until March 6 while the secretary of the Army reviews the firing.

Saucier was given his dismissal notice Feb. 14 after he returned to his office from a conference with the staff of a House Government Operations subcommittee on national security, which is investigating his allegations.

His dismissal notice said he had not “demonstrated that (he) can acceptably perform the duties of a government scientist regardless of grade or assignment.”

Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., chairman of the panel, intervened on Saucier’s behalf and asked Secretary of the Army Michael P. Stone to review the circumstances surrounding his firing, according to a Conyers’ aide.

After talking by phone with Conyers on Thursday night, Stone suspended the firing Friday and put Saucier on administrative leave with pay for two weeks while he reviews the case, the aide said.

“In those two weeks, we’ll try to convince the secretary to reverse” the firing, aide said.

Col. Donald Kirchoffner, an Army spokesman, confirmed Saturday that Saucier had gotten the two-week reprieve and said the secretary of the Army “requested that a thorough review be conducted of the procedures” in Saucier’s case. He declined to comment further on the review.

Saucier said in an interview that he’s confident he will get his job back because “all along I felt I did my duty.”

“I think it’s a duty of government employee to make sure the taxpayer dollar is well spent,” he said.

“This has proved that the check and balance on our Constitution is working,” he added. “I don’t have my job back (yet), but at least I have a chance for review under an unbiased manager.”

Saucier, chief scientist for advanced technologies and architectures, says the $25 billion missile-defense program known as “Star Wars” has been mismanaged, money has been wasted and the public has been misled “about accomplishments that never occurred.”

The scientist contends that his work was rated highly until he began complaining about the defense program.