Feral Jundi

Folks, this is a good one to pass around and get the word out. Glen Doherty was one of the four contractors killed at Benghazi back in 2012, and his family was not able to receive death benefits because of how DBA is structured.

Tell congress that you support this bill so that not only will Glen’s family get the benefits they deserve, but also any future families of deceased security contractors will receive the same death benefits.

Below is a summary of the bill with links to where you can read about it’s progress. I have also included a portal to a very easy to use online letter writing tool that can connect you with your representatives. And finally, I have included the latest news on the bill and who supports it. With any luck, we will have a majority, bipartisan support for this thing and it will become law. –Matt 

This undated photo provided by Mark and Kate Quigley shows Glen Doherty, who family members say died in an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya. Four Americans were killed at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012 along with U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens. Kate Quigley identifies Doherty as her brother, saying in a media interview he was a former U.S. Navy Seal. (AP Photo/Quigley Family Photo)

Write congress here.

Introduced in House (01/13/2015)

Glen Anthony Doherty Overseas Security Personnel Fairness Act

Amends the Defense Base Act with respect to payment of death benefits otherwise due a widow, widower, or surviving child of an individual employed at a military, air, or naval base outside of the United States who dies as a result of a war-risk hazard or act of terrorism occurring on or after September 11, 2001, when there is no person eligible for a death benefit under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act.

Requires payment in such a case to:

a beneficiary designated by the deceased, or
the next of kin or the estate of the deceased under applicable state law if there is no designated beneficiary.
Requires benefits to be paid from the Employees’ Compensation Fund.

Congress.gov link here.
Govtrack.us link here.

US Sen. Ed Markey pushes bill to support family of Massachusetts man killed in 2012 Benghazi attack
By Shannon Young
December 09, 2015
U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., introduced legislation this week that seeks to ensure the families of federal contractors who died as the result of a war-risk hazard or terrorist act receive full death benefits.
Named after the Winchester, Mass. native and former Navy SEAL killed in the Libyan consulate attack in 2012, the “Glen Anthony Doherty Overseas Security Personnel Fairness Act” would fix an omission in federal law the bars families from receiving full benefits if a contractor was unmarried with no dependents at the time of his or her death, Markey’s office said.
The bill would modify the Defense Base Act of 1941 to allow payment of death benefits otherwise due to a surviving spouse or child to the surviving next of kin. According to the senator’s office it would specifically require payment to a beneficiary designated by the deceased or the next of kin or estate of the deceased under applicable state law. Benefits would be paid from the Employees’ Compensation Fund.

Markey said no family in the Central Intelligence Agency community should be left uncompensated after a loved one dies in the line of duty.
“I am committed to continuing to fight for the Doherty family to get the benefits that they deserve. This issue goes to the heart of the United States government’s relationship with the families of those who are killed defending our country,” he said in a statement. “Glen Doherty was dedicated to serving his nation and it is only right that we honor his distinguished heroism and sacrifice for the Doherty family.”
U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-South Boston, who first introduced the bill in the House in 2014, added that “at a minimum, we have a fundamental responsibility to make sure that government-sanctioned insurance policies that are sold to these brave Americans provide the coverage that their families will need in the event they are killed in the line of duty.”
The congressman also praised Markey for pushing the proposal, which he said “seeks to correct the injustice faced by the family of Glen Doherty and families in similar situations.”
Doherty was among those killed in the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya in September 2012. The attack drew national attention, as criticism mounted against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s handling of the incident.
Story here.