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Whistleblower Joshua Dean, who raised concerns about Boeing jets, dies at 45

Published

2 years ago

May 2, 2024

Whistleblower Joshua Dean, who raised concerns about Boeing jets, dies at 45

Joshua Dean, who died on Tuesday, had gone public with his concerns about defects and quality-control problems at Spirit AeroSystems, a major supplier of parts for Boeing. Here, a Spirit AeroSystems logo is seen on a 737 fuselage sent to Boeing’s factory in Renton, Wash., in January.

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Joshua Dean, a former quality auditor at a key Boeing supplier who raised concerns about improperly drilled holes in the fuselage of 737 Max jets, has died.

Dean, 45, died on Tuesday morning, his family announced on social media. His family told NPR on Thursday that Dean had quickly fallen into critical condition after being diagnosed with a MRSA bacterial infection.

He was airlifted from a hospital in Wichita, Kan., to another facility in Oklahoma City, but medical teams were unable to save his life, according to The Seattle Times, which was the first to report his death.

Why problems at a key Boeing supplier may help explain the company's 737 Max 9 mess

“He passed away yesterday morning, and his absence will be deeply felt. We will always love you Josh,” Dean’s aunt, Carol Dean Parsons, said via Facebook.

Dean raised quality issues in manufacturing 737 Max

Dean was one of the first to flag potentially dangerous defects with 737 Max jets at Spirit AeroSystems, a major Boeing supplier that was spun off from the planemaker in 2005.

Now federal investigators are looking more closely at Spirit and Boeing to understand what went wrong with the door panel that blew off an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 in midair in January — the latest chapter in a long and troubled relationship between the two companies.

“Our thoughts are with Josh Dean’s family. This sudden loss is stunning news here and for his loved ones,” said Spirit spokesman Joe Buccino in a statement.

Dean is the second Boeing-related whistleblower to die in the past three months. In March, John Barnett, 62, died in Charleston, S.C., “from what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” the local coroner said. At the time, Barnett had been testifying in his retaliation lawsuit against Boeing. Police in Charleston say they’re still investigating his death.

Boeing whistleblower John Barnett, who raised alarm over plane quality, is found dead

Dean and Barnett were both represented by lawyer Brian Knowles.

“Josh’s passing is a loss to the aviation community and the flying public,” Knowles said in a statement. “He possessed tremendous courage to stand up for what he felt was true and right and raised quality and safety issues. Aviation companies should encourage and incentivize those that do raise these concerns.”

Dean rapidly went from healthy to being hospitalized

Dean’s mother and stepfather describe him as a studious and honest man, a “health nut” who rarely drank and attended church regularly. His career was helped by his prodigious memory and attention to detail, they said.

“He was just amazing,” said Winn Weir, Dean’s stepfather. “He could read something and then he could just tell you word for word what he read” days later.

Dean started feeling sick around two weeks ago, his mother, Virginia Green, told NPR. He stayed home from work for a couple days, but things got worse.

“Sunday [April 21] is when I got a call from him that he was really sick and having trouble breathing,” Green said. “Said he went to an immediate care and they told him he had strep throat.”

Green went to check on her son at his home, telling him to call her if he felt worse.

“He did call me a couple hours later, told me he was in the emergency room,” she said. “And he was scared. They found something on his lungs.”

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“He tested positive for influenza B, he tested positive for MRSA. He had pneumonia, his lungs were completely filled up. And from there, he just went downhill.”

Dean was initially treated at St. Joseph hospital in Wichita. But as he got worse, he was sent to an Integris hospital in Oklahoma City.

It was a stunning turn of events for Dean and his family. Green says he was very healthy — someone who went to the gym, ran nearly every day and was very careful about his diet.

“This was his first time ever in a hospital,” she said. “He didn’t even have a doctor because he never was sick.”

But within days, Dean’s kidneys gave out and he was relying on an ECMO life support machine to do the work of his heart and lungs. The night before Dean died, Green said, the medical staff in Oklahoma did a bronchoscopy on his lungs.

“The doctor said he’d never seen anything like it before in his life. His lungs were just totally … gummed up, and like a mesh over them.”

Green says she has asked for an autopsy to determine exactly what killed her son. Results will likely take months, she said.

“We’re not sure what he died of,” she said. “We know that he had a bunch of viruses. But you know, we don’t know if somebody did something to him, or did he just get real sick.”

Dean alleged that quality-control systems were flawed

Dean followed his father and grandfather into the commercial aviation industry, holding a series of jobs in the same factory in Wichita where they had both worked before.

After earning a degree in engineering, Dean took his first job at Spirit in 2019. He was let go amid mass layoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 but returned to work for the company the next year as a quality auditor.

Dean took that job seriously and grew increasingly frustrated with what he described as a “a culture of not counting defects correctly” at Spirit.

During two interviews in January, Dean said that Spirit pressured employees not to report defects in order to get planes out of the factory faster.

“Now, I’m not saying they don’t want you to go out there and inspect a job. You know, they do,” Dean told NPR. “But if you make too much trouble, you will get the Josh treatment. You will get what happened to me.”

Dean was fired in April of last year — in retaliation, he said, for flagging improperly drilled holes in fuselages.

“I think they were sending out a message to anybody else,” Dean said. “If you are too loud, we will silence you.”

Gave testimony in a shareholder lawsuit against Spirit

Dean described what he saw while working for Spirit in a deposition for a lawsuit filed by the company’s shareholders, who accuse the company of misleading investors by attempting to conceal “excessive” numbers of defects at the Kansas factory. He was not a plaintiff in the case.

A recent lawsuit alleges 'excessive' defects at Boeing parts supplier

In the shareholder lawsuit, Dean said he flagged a significant defect — mis-drilled holes in the aft pressure bulkhead of 737 Max fuselages — months before he was fired. His deposition lays out a series of pivotal dates:

October 2022: In his auditor role, Dean realizes Spirit workers mis-drilled holes on the 737 Max aft pressure bulkhead, representing a potential threat to maintaining cabin pressure during flight. The lawsuit accuses the company of concealing the problem.

April 13, 2023: Boeing publicly reveals learning of a separate defect, related to the tail fin fittings on certain 737 Max aircraft. Spirit then confirms that defect.

April 26, 2023: Spirit fires Dean, saying he failed to flag the tail fin issue. In his testimony, Dean said he told company officials that he might have missed the tail fin defect because he had just discovered the problem with bulkheads he inspected and was focused on that.

August 23, 2023: Boeing announces it has found fastener holes in the aft pressure bulkhead on certain 737 Max airplanes that don’t match its specifications, resulting in “snowmen,” due to the multiple holes’ elongated shape. It’s the problem Dean flagged 10 months earlier. On the same day, Spirit releases a statement acknowledging the issue.

The shareholder lawsuit accuses Spirit of concealing the bulkhead defect “not only from investors, but also apparently from Boeing.”

A Spirit spokesman says the company strongly disagrees with the lawsuit’s allegations, and it’s fighting the case in court.

Boeing and Spirit look for ways to boost quality

Boeing is currently in talks to acquire Spirit as the planemaker’s leaders concede they may have outsourced too many parts of the manufacturing chain.

“Did it go too far? Yeah, probably did. Now it’s here and now, and now I’ve got to deal with it,” Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said in an interview with CNBC earlier this year.

Boeing agreed last month to advance $425 million to Spirit as it works to improve its manufacturing quality.

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In interviews with NPR, Joshua Dean predicted it would be difficult to replace the experienced workforce that Spirit lost during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The mechanics aren’t as experienced. Neither are the inspectors,” Dean said. “We’ve just lost that.”

But even after going public with his concerns about Spirit’s quality control, Dean said there were reasons for optimism about the future. And he said that CEO Patrick Shanahan, who took over in late 2023, has a unique opportunity to change Spirit’s culture for the better.

“What you really want is, you want someone to be able to play the hero,” Dean said, saying Shanahan had a chance to play “the new sheriff in town.”

“We need to make sure that there is no retaliation or intimidation,” Dean said. “This culture of you’re too loud, you’ll be moved or silenced — that’s got to go.”

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What the Supreme Court did on the final day of its term

Published

1 hour ago

July 1, 2026

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What the Supreme Court did on the final day of its term

The U.S. Supreme Court

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The Supreme Court Tuesday upheld the long-established right of children born on U.S. soil to automatic American citizenship, regardless of their parents’ immigration status. In so doing, the court rejected President Trump’s most aggressive attempt to limit immigration in the United States.

Writing for the court majority, Chief Justice John Roberts traced birthright citizenship back to the founding of the nation. Just as the colonists demanded “the rights of Englishmen” more than 250 years ago, he said, Congress, after the Civil War, amended the Constitution to specify automatic citizenship for any child born on U.S. soil.

“Citizenship then and now was the right to have rights”—and the framers of the 14th amendment extended that promise to every free born person in this land. He concluded: “We keep that promise today.”

The vote was 6-to-3, depending on how you count it. Altogether, five justices signed on to the Roberts’ majority opinion. A sixth, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, agreed only that federal legislation enacted in the 1950s grants automatic citizenship for children born in the U.S.

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the lead dissent, a 91-page opus that agreed with Trump’s assertion that the 14th amendment only applied to former slaves and their descendants. The Thomas dissent added ominously that he “was not sure that “today’s opinion will stand the test of time.” The dissent was joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch, with Justice Samuel Alito writing a separate dissent.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who, like Thomas is African American, responded to some of the themes in the Thomas dissent.

“Despite his longstanding endorsement of a colorblind society,” she wrote, “Justice Thomas now surprisingly suggests that the citizenship clause was a race-conscious remedial measure relating only to freed slaves.”

Cecillia Wang, legal director of the ACLU, who successfully argued the case at the Supreme Court, said President’s Trump failed attempt to limit birthright citizenship was transparent.

“A majority of the court saw through what the president was trying to do in spinning birthright citizenship as something that can flex and retract and expand depending on what the administration in power thinks about immigration policy,” she said.

Wang sees birthright citizenship as “much more fundamental than that.”

“It is part of how our country rejected caste distinctions and championed freedom and equality,” she said.

Yale law professor Akhil Amar called the court’s opinion a classic example of the court sticking to the original meaning of the Constitution. The text of the 14th Amendment, he said, “is about the child. It doesn’t say anything about parents.”

University of Virginia law professor Amanda Frost, however, was surprised and saddened that the court was so closely divided.

“The very length of the opinion,” she told NPR, plus “the fact that you had four justices say the Constitution does not require near universal birthright citizenship, which had been the understanding, that suggests that this is a fringe argument that the Trump administration has succeeded in moving into the mainstream, even though it has not succeeded in the end of the result.”

The issues in the birthright case focused in large part on the longstanding, and as of Tuesday, still standing, meaning of the 14th Amendment, which was enacted after the Civil War. It guarantees birthright citizenship to almost all persons born or naturalized in the United States. Chief Justice Roberts pointedly said the only exceptions written into the amendment were for certain Indian tribes, which were not subject to the laws of the United States at the time, and the children of foreign diplomats. That understanding was so well accepted that even in World War II, when Japanese citizens were confined to internment camps, their children, born in those camps, were automatically deemed to be American Citizens.

The Supreme Court’s decision ~~Tuesday~~ was the second time the justices have upheld birthright citizenship. The court’s previous decision came in 1898 in the case of Wong Kim Ark, born in the U.S. to Chinese parents. His great grandson, Norman Wong, issued a statement today saying, “My great grandfather, Wong Kim Ark, never set out to become a symbol. He was one man, only a cook, and yet he stood up for what was right, and I believe that it has made a difference. As a result, he stood up for the rights of all of us Americans – it just so happens that I am related to him. Today’s ruling shows that his victory remains as important now as it was in 1898.”

The high court also issued opinions in two other cases on Tuesday. In a 6-to-3, ideologically divided vote, the court upheld state laws that prevent transgender athletes from playing on women’s sports teams. Writing for the conservative majority, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said that the laws violate neither federal statutes nor the 14th Amendment. States, he said, have a legitimate interest in protecting the safety of sports, which he suggested could be compromised if transgender girls or women are allowed to play on female teams. Similarly, he said transgender athletes could also compromise fairness in athletic competition.

Sitting in the court chambers Tuesday when Kavanaugh summarized his opinion were not only his wife and mother, but his two daughters, whose athletic teams their father has long coached.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by her liberal colleagues, issued a partial dissent. She agreed with the majority that the benefits of sports are “immense,” but she wrote that these laws unconstitutionally deny transgender athletes the opportunity to play with their peers.

In a third ideologically divided case Tuesday, the Court struck down decades-long limits on the amount of money political parties can spend on candidates. The limits were challenged by the Republican National Committee. The decision may well increase by millions of dollars the amount of money that will pour into campaigns.

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Rep. Tom Kean returns to Congress, says depression is why he went missing for months

Published

11 hours ago

June 30, 2026

Press Room

Rep. Tom Kean returns to Congress, says depression is why he went missing for months

Rep. Thomas Kean Jr., R-N.J., arrives at the U.S. Capitol with his wife Rhonda Kean on June 30.

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New Jersey Republican Thomas Kean Jr. said it was struggles with depression that kept him away from Congress for nearly four months with no explanation to his constituents.

Kean last voted on March 5th, missing numerous votes and other appearances on Capitol Hill since. In April, House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters he had spoken to Kean and that he was dealing with an undisclosed medical issue. Kean was not spotted until recently at his New Jersey home.

Speaking from the House floor on Tuesday, the second term lawmaker said he had checked into a hospital for testing several months ago after health concerns, and was subsequently diagnosed with depression.

“Talking about myself has never come naturally,” Kean said. “But I believe that I owe an explanation to the people of New Jersey’s seventh district, to my colleagues in this chamber and to the American people for my absence.”

Kean said he originally did not think his diagnosis would result in a long-term absence. Doctors recommended he remain in the hospital to address the illness, and it was his fastest route to recovery, he said.

“It is physical. It is emotional,” he said. “And until you experience it yourself, it is difficult to fully understand how powerful this illness could be.”

Kean said he miscalculated how long he would be away, estimating it would be a matter of weeks. However, he said like the roughly 48 million Americans who have battled the illness, he learned there is no timeline for recovery.

“I am grateful that I accepted help,” Kean said. “Today I stand before you healthier, stronger and excited to return to the work that I love.”

Kean’s absence proved a struggle for House Republicans, who contend with a razor thin majority to pass party priorities. For weeks, Kean and his office declined to share additional details on why he was away, feeding rumors and speculation and raising interest in a member known for his privacy.

Despite his absence, Kean won the GOP primary earlier this month to defend his seat in Congress in this fall’s midterm elections. He will face Democrat Rebecca Bennett, a former U.S. Navy helicopter pilot and healthcare executive.

Bennett has targeted Kean’s absence in her campaign. Democrats have said Kean’s 7th congressional district is a top target to flip in their pursuit of taking back the majority.

“Tom Kean Junior, wherever you are, you have failed this district,” Bennett told supporters at an event last week.

In a statement after Kean’s remarks on Tuesday, Bennett said she was relieved he was well and wished him good health.

“But let’s be clear: I got into this race because Tom Kean Jr. was failing our community long before this absence,” she said.

Kean is not the first member of Congress in recent years to speak publicly about their struggles with depression. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., took leave from the Capitol in 2023 after he was diagnosed with the illness. In Fetterman’s case, his office announced the news within days of his starting treatment.

Kean was elected to Congress for his first term beginning in 2023, flipping a district that was represented by former Democratic Congressman Tom Malinowski.

He comes from a long line of politicians: His father, former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean Sr., was appointed by former President George W. Bush as a chair of the 9/11 Commission. Kean’s grandfather and great grandfather also served in Congress.

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Michigan governor threatens to pull troops from D.C. if used for Trump task force

Published

21 hours ago

June 30, 2026

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Michigan governor threatens to pull troops from D.C. if used for Trump task force

Members of the National Guard stand in front of a large image of U.S. President Donald Trump that hangs from the the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building on May 18, 2026 in Washington, D.C.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a strongly worded letter to the head of Michigan’s National Guard, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer reiterated troops from her state are only to be used for operations surrounding America 250 celebrations in Washington, D.C., and not for President Trump’s long-running — and controversial — joint task force to fight crime. She said that she would pull her troops from the city if that is not the case, in the letter obtained by NPR.

“Please take all necessary measures to ensure the Michigan National Guard is only supporting the narrow and limited America 250 Mission and is in no way supporting the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Mission,” wrote Gov. Whitmer, referencing the official name for the federal task force.

Trump deployed hundreds of troops to Washington, D.C., in August of 2025, in what experts said was a stunning departure from governing norms. He said he did so to address rampant crime, despite declining crime rates at the time. The number of troops in the city has increased over time to more than 4,800 from Washington, D.C. and almost two dozen states, which until recently were exclusively Republican-led.

Michigan — which has 161 guard members currently in the city — is one of four Democratic-led states that sent members of their National Guard to D.C. in recent weeks, ahead of an influx of tourists for America 250 celebrations. North Carolina and Kentucky each sent one member of their guard, while Minnesota sent more than a hundred last week.

Kentucky confirmed to NPR Monday that it had recalled its one guard member over the weekend, after that member was “diverted to the task force by the federal government without the knowledge or consent of Gov. Beshear of the Kentucky Guard,” Scottie Ellis, a spokesperson for Gov. Beshear, wrote to NPR in an email.

When contacted by NPR, spokespeople for each respective Democratic governor’s office made it clear that their guard members were sent to help specifically with America 250, not for law enforcement purposes as part of the larger ongoing federal joint task force operation. All four states have been clear about their opposition to the Trump administration’s ongoing deployment of National Guard troops to D.C., filing an amicus brief in support of litigation challenging it as recently as May.

But in recent days, a video of troops identifying themselves as Michigan National Guard members patrolling the Georgetown waterfront — an upscale neighborhood more than a mile away from any official America 250 celebrations — began circulating on social media. NPR has authenticated the video. Whitmer’s office did not immediately respond to NPR’s request to verify that the troops were Michigan members.

All state guard members are currently in D.C. under Title 32 status, which essentially means that the federal government pays for the deployment, but the state governors maintain control and command of their troops. But former National Guard officials say it’s impractical for states to play a role in day-to-day activities in a complex national mission like what’s happening in D.C.

“If the National Guard has defined the America 250 Mission to extend beyond direct support for events celebrating the nation’s 250th anniversary, please let me know so we can ensure the Michigan National Guard’s efforts are carefully limited,” Gov. Whitmer’s letter reads.

It goes on to say that if that can’t be ensured, then Gov. Whitmer will “end Michigan’s support for the America 250 mission.”

Legal experts, like those at the Brennan Center for Justice who have closely been watching Trump’s ongoing deployment to D.C., worry that drawing a distinction between the America 250 celebration and the general mission of the joint task force in the city will prove difficult. The joint task force is largely carrying out high visibility presence patrols in residential neighborhoods, public parks and metro stations.

Troops from all four Democratic-led states are listed as part of the official federal joint task force numbers released to the public. Gov. Whitmer said the Michigan troops should not be included in that count.

The offices for other Democratic governors NPR reached out to about that list also said their guard members shouldn’t be included.

When asked about the confusion, a spokesperson for the joint task force told NPR that it is overseeing all guard members in D.C. for organizational purposes, but being on the list “does not change their specific mission.” The joint task force did not immediately respond to NPR’s request for comment as to why Michigan guard members were apparently in Georgetown, and if that was part of the America 250 operations.