| By Admin1 (admin) on Friday, October 12, 2001 - 11:40 pm: Edit Post |
The email about Illegal Activities at Peace Corps was forwarded anonymously to Peace Corps Online. It is a "tip" or a "leak" like the Pentagon Papers. We do not know the name of the person who wrote it although we can surmise that he probably is or was a Peace Corps Staffer working in PC Headquarters. We have no way to independently confirm every allegation in the email or that the legal conclusions in the email are correct. We do know that many of the facts are true. We know Charles Baquet resigned as Peace Corps Director effective October 1. We know that Chief of Staff Lloyd Pierson has assumed the role of Acting Peace Corps Director. What we don't know is if there are missing facts - this may not be all there is to it.
We have contacted the Press Office at the United States Peace Corps to get their comment on this story and have been waiting for them to get back to us. Once we have their comment we will publish it.
This email has been circulating on different RPCV listserv's all day - and the fact that the email has been publicly circulating makes it news. This is a news forum and it is our job to publish news about the Peace Corps - even when the facts may be incomplete. Just like the mainstream press published rumors that were circulating about other attacks on September 11, just like the press published unverified or "background" stories about US actions in Afghanistan, and just like the press has published stories about rumors of more cases of anthrax breaking out, we are publishing the allegations that have been made in this email about illegal activities at the Peace Corps so that returned volunteers can get answers to their questions.
You, as the reader, are correct to consider the allegations contained in the email with skepticism - as statements which are waiting for additional facts which may confirm or refute the allegations. Many of you have worked in Peace Corps Headquarters and should be able to confirm or refute some of the statements in the email from your own first hand knowledge. So draw your conclusions, do additional research if you have special knowledge about the subject or know anyone who does, and if you find any additional facts that either confirm or refute this story, please send them to us or make your own posting below. In the meantime, we will continue to work on this story to get to the bottom of it.
The Peace Corps Press Office was advised of this story and asked to comment this morning. By the end of the day they had not yet confirmed, denied or responded to the allegations contained in the email on Illegal Activities at the Peace Corps. We hope to hear from them soon - because these allegations are too serious to be ignored.
Admin1
| By Admin1 (admin) on Tuesday, October 16, 2001 - 2:10 pm: Edit Post |
Following is the response from the Peace Corps Press Office:
The only comment we would make to the statement by Mr. Coyne is that his
statement is neither factual nor legally correct.
You may quote me.
Ellen Field
Press Director
Peace Corps
202.692.2118
202.692.2201 Fax
| By Admin1 (admin) on Tuesday, October 16, 2001 - 5:58 pm: Edit Post |
We spoke to John Coyne of Peace Corps Writers about the statement (above) made by Ellen Field, the Press Director for the United States Peace Corps, and he made the following response:
"I did not write the email. Anything I write, I sign. I do not know who wrote it. But it was well written and I wish I had written it."