The Escape Engine
The Cyclical Nature of Humanity
There’s been some troubling stories in the news this year.
The wars in the Ukraine and Gaza continue.
Fascists are taking their masks off and winning elections, swirling around embattled former President Donald Trump and his ongoing legal battles.
This year will hold court on another ridiculous election cycle, anchored by the aforementioned Trump and incumbent Joe Biden. Biden has been a mixed bag of policy, but better than I excepted. I think he will win the election, barring any major health issues. A real concern with an 81-year-old man.
Inflation troubles are conflated by regressive wealth divides that continue to widen1.
Any number of these stories could be pulled into a greater historical discussion. We share a lot of indicators of global conditions that triggered both of the World Wars. The US’s participation is war is nothing new, we’ve been at war all but 21 years of our existence2.
Those stories will be written, many times most likely. These are stories that carry historical significance and will be covered in books from every political angle.
There are two stories that are more of a footnote in the larger news cycle. I want to focus on them a little.
First up is John Barnett
John Barnett died last Saturday. John Barnett was staying in a hotel in Charleston, SC. His death is believed to be from a self-inflected gunshot wound. He was discovered dead in his truck in the parking lot3. He was 62-years-old and had retired in 2017 over health concerns. He had been engaged in legal battles with his employer, who he argued had denigrated his character and harmed his career4. He was supposed to continue testimony and his lawyers lead to his discovery.
The other story is Boeing.
Boeing Airlines have been in the headlines a lot lately. Airplane safety is reported to be disregarded in pursuit of profits. CNN had a great run down of the issues they’ve had:
Part of the fuselage blowing off shortly after takeoff, leaving a gaping hole in the plane, and phones and clothing ripped away from terrified passengers. Investigations revealing sloppy work, including loose or missing bolts, instances of tools, trash and even empty tequila bottles left inside planes built for government clients. Worldwide groundings. Halts to deliveries due to quality issues.
And, by far, the most serious problem - two fatal crashes leaving 346 people dead5.
Boeing is in legal battles, under investigation for gross negligence and is being deposed. A lot of it seems to be tied into safety issues.
John Barnett
I want to go back to John Barnett’s story for a moment. John was a factory worker for 32 years. He oversaw aircraft production and carried out safety checks for Boeing. And he left in 2017, after raising security complaints about their manufacturing process. Something he had started noticing as early as 2012, when the company made changes in procedure in pursuit of better profit margins67.
Barnett had been very public with his concerns. Concerns that have born fruit. He was discovered because his attorneys had been trying to contact him to continue his testimony in the congressional deposition of Boeing8. If it feels like something out of a Scorsese movie, well, keep in mind movies like Goodfellas were based on actual events9.
Barnett’s story can read like a wild conspiracy theory or a tragedy of someone’s life lost in pursuit of holding people in power accountable. There’s no doubt in my mind that Barnett was telling the truth. He was someone who became disillusioned by a company that did have a stellar track record.
Most people have a moment where they see their trust in an institution break. There are people struggling in companies like Boeing with ethical concerns, people who are fighting to save institutions from the inside. Do the right thing.
There is also a lot of concern over taking a stand. Losing employment. Becoming a target for retaliation. Long term legal and career risks. And also because Barnett’s story isn’t the first like this.
Valentin Broeksmit was the son of a Deutsche Bank executive who died by suicide in 2014. After his father's death, Broeksmit used his father’s credentials to release information about the bank’s connections to Donald Trump. He was found dead at a local school with no evidence of how he arrived or how long he had been on campus. Police did not suspect foul play1011.
From ABC News - “Gabriela Contreras risked her position at the former Lewis Corrections Department in Buckeye last April when she leaked surveillance videos that revealed multiple jail units had cell doors that did not lock properly.” She was was found dead in an apparent suicide.12
Steven Luke handled a routine investigation on a potential travel violation by Robert Cardillo. Luke felt he was pressured to dismiss the case when he felt the evidence was too thin.
From Foreign Policy:
After the case was closed, Luke wrote a two-page email outlining his concerns to Charles Murphy, an investigator in Sen. Chuck Grassley’s office. They arranged to meet on Feb. 4, 2019.
On Jan. 8, 2019, he was found dead in the trunk of his red Volvo S60 in the parking garage of the Mark Center office building, home to the Pentagon’s Office of the Inspector General. An Alexandria police department investigation concluded that Luke—a father of four who had been stalked by depression throughout his adult life—had killed himself. He was 54 years old.13
Boeing Ripe For Conspiracy
The question of Boeing’s complicity in Barnett’s death will continue to be investigated. The circumstances around his death are suspicious. And the situation is ripe for conspiracy theorists.
Companies terrorizing people feels more like the 1920s or 1820s than the 2020s, but there are some companies that have made the news for pretty horrific reasons. I understand that these instances are a far cry from murder, but Barnett’s story and the surrounding narrative reminded me of them.
Take Wizards of the Coast. They are reported to have deployed Pinkertons multiple times, most notable in the case of Dan Cannon. Cannon is a Youtuber who showed off an unreleased set of Magic: The Gathering cards and was harassed by Pinkerton agents. Cannon said that Wizards made no real effort to contact him before unleashing the agents on him.14
Or eBay. They settled a harassment campaign against a blog called EcommerceBytes for $3 million. That blog was run by Ina and David Steiner and reports on ecommerce sites. NPR reported eBay employees, frustrated by the blog’s reporting:
proceeded to carry out an intimidation campaign that included: Creating Twitter accounts under false names and using them to send threatening private DMs to Ina; publicly posting the Steiners' home address and encouraging strangers to visit their home for sexual encounters and other activities; and installing a GPS device on the Steiners' car.
eBay employees also sent to the Steiners' home live spiders and cockroaches, a funeral wreath, a fetal pig and a book about surviving the loss of a spouse.15”
Stories like eBay and Wizards give me pause when examining the circumstances around Barnett’s death. I can’t deny that I’m engaging in a little thread pulling myself right now. This is speculation and anecdotes. How much of a role Boeing played in his death will be fought over for some time, I suspect.
I do feel comfortable saying that if Barnett hadn’t gotten involved in fighting this fight he would probably still be alive. It also feels like a story that won’t get a satisfactory conclusion.
Barnett’s ending is a tragedy. His warnings about Boeing were investigated in 2017 and found to have merit by the FAA. 16 Boeing has dealt with a number of serious safety issues that may not have happened if they had addressed Barnett’s concern.
This is a story that will exist for a news cycle and reappear when new information is unearthed, but risks the possibility of sinking below the surface. People who raise their voice in service of others often do so at great risk. In my opinion, we have a duty to continue their fight.
Who is John Barnett, the Boeing whistleblower mysteriously found dead in US? - Hindustan Times (this site’s language is incendiary to me, but there is validity in some of the questions they raise).