Dr. David A. Tenenbaum is a civilian mechanical engineer who works for the Army at the TACOM base in Warren, Michigan. In 1997, he was falsely accused of being an Israeli spy–and having dual loyalty to the State of Israel simply because he is Jewish–by a known anti-Semite and several other anti-Semitic coworkers who referred to Tenenbaum as the “little Jewish spy.” The FBI conducted a full-scale criminal investigation of Tenenbaum and his family. It resulted in an official report to FBI Director Louis Freeh, that there was no evidence Tenenbaum had ever done anything wrong. In fact, Tenenbaum was not even working on classified programs. Instead, he was concentrating on an approved and unclassified program known as the Light Armor Systems Survivability (LASS) to up-armor the Army’s HMMWVs because, following Somalia, it was a known fact the the HMMWVs were death traps.
The Tenenbaums’ federal lawsuit for religious discrimination was dismissed after the Army falsely claimed that they “would not be able to disclose the actual reasons or motivations for their actions without revealing state secrets.” Senator Carl Levin ordered the IG-DOD to investigate the Tenenbaum case and determine if the Army was guilty of anti-Semitism. After over two years, the IG-DOD issued a report which confirmed that the US Army was guilty of anti-Semitism.
To this day, the Army refuses to make Tenenbaum whole and compensate him for the false accusations against him. Tenenbaum is one of the only persons for whom a favorable Inspector General report has been issued to not be compensated. The government has never been held accountable for their anti-Semitism.
MEDIA CONTACT
Angelle Barbazon, publicist
Books Forward
E: angelle@booksforward.com
P: (615) 576-0497
Accused of Treason: The US Army’s Witch Hunt for a Jewish Spy
by Dr. David A. Tenenbaum
Hardcover
On-Sale: March 10, 2020
ISBN: 9781642934519
$US 26.00 / $35.00 CAD
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. David A. Tenenbaum has been working for the US Army as a civilian engineer since December 1984. He holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Chemical Engineering and a Doctorate in Business Administration. He has extensive experience working with other countries, conducting risk assessment and assessing technologies around the world, and developing business opportunities worldwide. One of his earlier primary responsibilities was to assess the safety of specific military vehicles and to help develop technologies to increase the safety of those vehicles. He managed the gunner restraint program for the HMMWV, which prevented the gunner from being killed in the event of a rollover, and was one of the primary designers of the restraint system which has been applied to other military vehicles as well. He was one of the first scientists/engineers in the US to recognize the deficiency of the HMMWVs against IEDs and developed a program with the Israelis and Germans to ensure the safety of US soldiers in these vehicles. Tenenbaum had been chosen for the highly competitive Weapon System Sustainment Management (WSSM) program as well as another competitive Congressional program, the AMC Civilian Leadership Development Program, which meant that he was being “fast-tracked” for upper management. He was also selected to be the exchange engineer to Israel. He continues his fight to this day to clear his name publicly and have the US Army accept responsibility and be held accountable for their false accusations against him.
A Conversation with Dr. David A. Tenenbaum:
Q: What inspired you to write Accused of Treason?
A: I don’t know that I would use the word inspired. There was never a moment of “oh, I think I should write a book”. It was more of a necessity or a responsibility. Anti-Semitism or any form of racism or bias should not be tolerated especially in our own government. And those who are guilty of purposefully trying to hurt people because of their own racist/biased attitude need to be held accountable for their actions. I did not write this book out of revenge.
I wrote this put to emphasize that we must never be afraid to take a stand against hatred and perhaps even more so we must not let hateful people define who we are.
By writing this book I am fighting back and showing that these people did not win and I will keep fighting until justice is served.
I wrote it to tell the story of a government gone wild where people in high level positions are not held accountable for their actions. It should make people angry. Remember…if it can happen to me…it can happen to you.
As George Santayana said; “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Paraphrased many times as; “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
People need to be held accountable for their actions.
Q: What do you hope is the biggest takeaway from the book?
A: I would like people to read this book and become angry that something like this should occur in today’s day and age in the United States. More importantly they should, hopefully, take away from this book to never give up and don’t let the negative things in life define you in a negative way but those negatives should help us learn and grow in a positive direction.
Q: How was your personal life affected by these workplace accusations?
A: That is an easy question to answer but not easy in a psychological way. I was for many years consumed with my case especially during the time I was suspended from my job and for many years after. I didn’t know if I was going to go to jail for the rest of my life, perhaps the death sentence for treason…I had no idea. I was not able to be there for my children for obviously good reasons. Even after I was cleared of any wrongdoing I was focused on obtaining justice. I had to be available for legal issues and could not necessarily go on vacation with my family. I lost time with my wife and kids…time is something which can never be given back. My focus was initially staying out of jail. Even after I was cleared I was treated like a pariah in my job for the Army and am still treated that way. I am still harassed and have to constantly watch my back as they would love to get rid of me. I am the mistake they made…the bad penny that keeps coming back. So, my focus is still on the case, but not like it used to be. My kids are older but I missed time with them…and I will never get that time back.
Q: Why do you continue to work for the Army despite the unfair treatment you received?
A: There are a few reasons that I continue to work for the Army.
– I still believe that I can contribute to the soldiers in the field. I have developed programs such as the gunner restraint system for HMMWVs. This technology has been used in other vehicles as well and I would like to think has saved soldiers’ lives. I initially conceived the idea for civilian ambulances and I believe that at least at one point the system was adapted for civilian ambulance use. I have certainly contributed to advancing better safety standards and developing safer vehicles for the civilian sector and government. Given the right environment I think I can contribute even more.
– I have been blackballed and cannot obtain another job outside the government. Even within the government I have not been promoted since the false accusations against me occurred. I was being fast tracked for an executive position before all of this happened. So, I need to stay in the government for the time being.
-I also cannot leave for the simple reason that the case is not done. If I left the army has no impetus towards being held accountable for what they have done. They would have no reason for settling my case. They have never even apologized. No, I need to stay until it is over.
Q: How did the treason investigation affect the projects you were working on for the Army?
A: My projects were cancelled. The LASS project which was geared towards upgrading the survivability of the HMMWV was the most important project to be cancelled. I remember telling my supervisors that if we get into a war time situation and those HMMWVs are used as they are “now” soldiers will die. And that is what happened. I am neither a prophet or soothsayer…I just have common sense. Those who came after me with anti-Semitic accusations of dual loyalty’s, as my attorneys have said, “they have blood on their hands”.
I had other projects I was working on when I was suspended, which were sabotaged by those who contributed to the false accusations.
It was not just the “present” projects which suffered but future projects as well. When I was ordered back to work after the suspension I was told by the director at the time that not only were my projects, which I had spent years developing cancelled, but I was not allowed to work with Israel despite the fact I had done nothing wrong. My old contacts not just in Israel but other countries, in the US and at TACOM/TARDEC would not work with me. “Colleagues” turned the other way when they saw me in the hall walking towards them. I was told by my “friends’ that they thought I was guilty of espionage but there was not enough evidence to convict me. One of my old supervisors told other engineers treat him cordially but “lock your doors” …paraphrased. Another of my supervisors treated me very nicely to my face but I was told by a friend of mine that this supervisor told him “stay away from Tenenbaum…he is trouble”.
Welcome back.
Q: What advice would you give to someone else who is experiencing anti-Semitism, or any sort of discrimination, at work?
A: The best advice I would give is to not be complacent. You need to fight back…otherwise they have automatically won. I did receive calls from other people, mostly Jews who were being singled out or profiled and being investigated. They asked me what they should do. I said that they needed to fight back. Get an attorney. Publicize what was happening. Some were to afraid. They told me that they felt by fighting back it would make it worse. I told them they were counting on this attitude from you. But they were afraid. I told them they needed to take a stand against hatred. It will only get worse. Do it not just for yourself but also for your family. Respect yourself. Don’t allow hatred to beat you.
A former award-winning journalist with national exposure, Marissa now oversees the day-to-day operation of the Books Forward author branding and book marketing firm, along with our indie publishing support sister company Books Fluent.
Born and bred in Louisiana, currently living in New Orleans, she has lived and developed a strong base for our company and authors in Chicago and Nashville. Her journalism work has appeared in USA Today, National Geographic and other major publications. She is now interviewed by media on best practices for book marketing.
