The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) Blog

Wyden Pumps the Brakes on Anti-Leaks Legislation

By SUZIE DERSHOWITZ and ANGELA CANTERBURY

Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is holding firm on free speech rights. Last week, the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 (S. 3454) was “hotlined”—the first step in clearing a bill for unanimous consent in the Senate. Usually, if there are no objections to the hotlined bill within a given amount of time, and leadership agrees, it is passed. But Wyden put the brakes on this legislation due to his concerns about the bill’s so-called anti-leak provisions.

Many of the provisions in Title V of the bill would reduce access to information the public has a right to know, put whistleblowers in jeopardy, and threaten government accountability. Thanks to Wyden’s objection, the Senate was unable to fast-track this far-reaching bill. In June, the Project On Government Oversight and more than 25 of our allies sent a letter to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees objecting to the bill’s anti-speech provisions, which diminish government transparency and jeopardize whistleblowers’ rights. The letter states:

While we recognize that leaks of appropriately and properly classified information are a serious problem, the American public requires access to some information about government conduct in order to foster an informed and meaningful national discussion, particularly about such issues as the use of drones to kill American citizens and other persons.

POGO and our allies in the government accountability community are currently organizing another letter thanking Senate leadership for delaying action on the bill until these concerns can be fully addressed. Any legislation intended to stop leaks of classified information should be carefully considered through an open process that provides ample opportunity for engaging in debate.

Congress Sends Whistleblower Reform to the President's Desk!

Congress finally enacted much-needed upgrades to whistleblower protections for federal employees. The Project On Government Oversight is ecstatic to report that yesterday the Senate unanimously passed the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA, S. 743, as amended by the House). At long last, this important legislation is on its way to the President’s desk for signature.

POGO has been advocating for the critical reforms included in this bill for more than a decade. The WPEA will ensure protection for legitimate disclosures of wrongdoing, increase government accountability to taxpayers, and save billions of taxpayer dollars by helping to shed light on waste, fraud, abuse, and illegality. This is a real victory for whistleblowers and taxpayers.

The WPEA closes arbitrary, judicially created loopholes and restores free speech rights. It expands coverage to a wider universe of government workers (including federal scientists and Transportation Security Administration officers). The new law also strengthens due process rights, ensuring fair judicial processes and practices. It provides compensatory damages for prevailing whistleblowers, incentivizing individuals to come forward. The WPEA also requires Inspector General Offices to designate Whistleblower Protection Ombudsmen to educate agency staff about whistleblower rights. Click here for more details on the reforms passed.

Victory for National Security and Intelligence Community Whistleblowers

By ANDRE FRANCISCO

On Wednesday, President Obama issued a Presidential Policy Directive expanding whistleblower protections to national security and intelligence community (IC) whistleblowers.

The directive is a huge step towards accountability in the intelligence community and is welcome protection for national security whistleblowers who are too often punished for reporting fraud, waste, and abuse.

POGO’s Director of Public Policy, Angela Canterbury, praised the directive in a statement:

The President deserves tremendous credit for going above and beyond his commitments to support legislation and explore ways to better protect whistleblowers. When implemented properly, this policy should provide for more balance between guarding precious rights and legitimate secrets while ensuring more disclosures of wrongdoing necessary for a more accountable IC. Today, President Obama delivered on protections for whistleblowers and taxpayers. 

Deja Vu--Again--for Whistleblowers

Last week, there was another big push in the 14-year effort to upgrade protections for federal workers who blow the whistle on waste, fraud, abuse, and illegality. On Friday, the last day before Congress broke for the elections, we and our allies in Congress were working on a miracle—we tried to move the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA, S. 743, as amended) through both chambers with passage by unanimous consent. It was a heroic effort by the very committed cosponsors of the bill, their staff, and our allies, but in the end, there wasn’t enough time. Again.

Last week’s emails and calls to Members of Congress and letters of support almost pushed it over the finish line. By Friday morning we learned the bill was expected to pass the House by unanimous consent around noon, and that the Senate was poised to follow suit. We were truly thrilled! But it was a short-lived victory dance, as bumps developed in this all-too-familiar road. We heard a lot of things about what happened to derail the bill, including that House Speaker John Boehner had decided not to pass any bills by unanimous consent on that last day before breaking for the elections (in fact, they didn’t) and that the “intelligence community” had concerns about parts of the bill—parts that, in fact, were no longer in the bill! In the end, we were told that the last minute issues could not be resolved in time. Just as in years past, an unforeseen obstacle arose at the eleventh hour, and Congress failed to pass the bill.

But the fight isn’t over yet.

POGO Cheers MSPB for Granting Stay for Whistleblowers

The Project On Government Oversight applauds the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) for defending U.S. Army whistleblowers who may have suffered retaliation for exposing the truth about their supervisor’s illegal actions.

The MSPB found reason to believe that these employees got serious payback for blowing the whistle, allegedly including harassment, loss of pay, and constructive removal (intentionally making working conditions difficult so the employee feels forced to leave his or her job). On September 6, the MSPB granted the 45-day stay requested by the OSC, providing temporary relief for the affected individuals who remain federal employees, while the OSC continues their investigation.

In this case, six employees of the Army Substance Abuse Program at Fort Richardson, Alaska (three psychologists, a social worker, a licensed counselor, and an administrative assistant) blew the whistle on their supervisor, Terry Bates. They jointly reported to the Joint-Base ombudsman that Bates was “knowingly falsifying, removing, and or/destroying clinical patient records.” These six individuals were brave to come forward. Their protected disclosures point to serious illegality that goes beyond victimless misconduct. The ombudsman recommended an investigation, and Bates’s supervisory and clinical responsibilities were temporarily suspended.

It's Time, Right Now, to Pass Whistleblower Protections

We’ve learned that the House and Senate cosponsors of the bills to strengthen protections for federal whistleblowers and taxpayers have reached an agreement and will offer the strongest version of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA) they think they can pass this week.

The window for passing this good government bill is extremely narrow. We urgently need you to write your representatives today, and tell them that they must pass critical whistleblower and taxpayer protections before they leave Washington.

This bipartisan bill (read our summary here) certainly does not have every reform we have sought, but has many critically important upgrades to the broken system for whistleblowing.

Let Congress know this is an important issue with broad support. So far, 168 organizations with more than 40 million members and diverse ideologies and interests have signed on to an open letter to Congress in support of the WPEA. In addition, conservative taxpayer groups have thrown their support behind this bill.

Click here now to tell Congress to pass these whistleblower protections before they hit the campaign trail!

Image from Flickr user afagen.

An earlier version of the post had a link to a letter from whistleblowers, but it was removed because we were informed that "the open letter demands more than Congress is willing to pass at this time."

Bipartisan House Bill Would Expand Whistleblower Protections to Federal Contractors

The Project On Government Oversight applauds Reps. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) and Todd Platts (R-Pa.) for introducing the bipartisan Non-Federal Employee Whistleblower Protection Act (H.R. 6406), an important bill that could save billions of taxpayer dollars. POGO has always supported granting strong whistleblower protections to all federal contractors and grant recipients of federal funds, and this bill would do just that. In April, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee passed Sen. Claire McCaskill’s (D-Mo.) companion legislation S.241, cosponsored by Senators Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.), and we are glad to see House members following McCaskill’s lead.

The Commission on Wartime Contracting estimated that up to $60 billion was lost in Iraq and Afghanistan due to waste and fraud, most of which was the result of questionable contracting. To stop this kind of gross waste in the future, would-be whistleblowers need to feel safe coming forward speaking out against the misuse of federal funds.

IRS Awards Whistleblower $104 Million for Exposing Swiss Bank Tax Dodge

Birkenfeld

By MICHAEL SMALLBERG

Uncle Sam to corporate insiders:  You could make a lot more money exposing fraud than participating in it.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued a $104 million reward to Bradley Birkenfeld, the former UBS banker who blew the whistle on the Swiss bank’s far-reaching efforts to help Americans hide money from the tax collector, Birkenfeld’s lawyers said Tuesday.

Stephen Kohn, one of Birkenfeld’s lawyers, said the IRS has sent a message to every American taxpayer who still has an illegal offshore account:

“Turn yourself in before your banker does.”

Kohn said the IRS also sent “104 million messages” to employees around the world: “There is an effective way to blow the whistle . . . and we are paying awards.”

Conservatives Tell Rep. Issa: Federal Whistleblowers, and Taxpayers, Deserve Their Day in Court

By ANGELA CANTERBURY AND SUZANNE DERSHOWITZ

Today, the North County Times—a paper in Representative Darrell Issa’s (R-Calif.) district—published an Op-Ed by our allies at National Taxpayers Union (NTU) and Liberty Coalition that makes clear they expect Rep. Issa to fulfill his promise of protections for federal whistleblowers by ensuring those whistleblowers can access the courts to hold the government accountable.

The Senate unanimously passed the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act or WPEA (S. 743) in May, and now it’s the House’s turn to take action on Rep. Issa’s version of the bill (H.R. 3289). This landmark legislation would provide a better safety net for federal workers who sound the alarm on waste, fraud, abuse, and illegality. The Project On Government Oversight hopes the strongest possible version of the bill will reach the President’s desk this year.

Unfortunately, gaps in protection in the access-to-court provisions remain in the House bill. As Michael Ostrolenk of the Liberty Coalition and Pete Sepp of NTU wrote, “Every private-sector whistleblower protection law passed by Congress in the last decade includes a right to a jury trial and normal appeals process, which the current bill fails to include.” As Chairman of House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Rep. Issa should work to pass a bill in the House that includes the standard that has already been established for private sector whistleblowing.

10 Questions for the 2012 Candidates

By ANGELA CANTERBURY

Click to see our 10 Questions for 2012 Candidates

There are a lot of distractions during election season. There are more and more gotcha ads, and increasingly less discussion about what really matters. At POGO, OpenTheGovernment.org and the American Society of Newspaper Editors we spend a lot of time thinking about how our government can be more transparent, accountable, and effective. We'd love to be having conversations with every candidate to help educate them and to inform the work that we do in Washington---no matter the results of the election. Perhaps together we can!

POGO, OpenTheGovernment.org and ASNE have put together some questions we hope will spark important discussions about our government and democracy. These questions cover a lot of ground--on issues ranging from how to balance national security with rights like free speech, how to know who's influencing elections and government policies, how to protect whistleblowers, how to follow the money the government spends, and more. What interests you?

Over the coming days and weeks candidates will be out shaking hands, kissing babies, and making appearances at county fairs, town hall meetings, debates--maybe in your neighborhood. If you have an opportunity to ask a candidate a question, check out the 10 Questions we'd most like to ask in 2012. Then tell us about the conversations you have with candidates about making our government more open and accountable!

Angela Canterbury is the director of public policy at the Project On Government Oversight. Image by Flickr user IowaPolitics.com.

DOJ IG's New Whistleblower Ombudsman Position: A Step in the Right Direction

On Wednesday, the Department of Justice Inspector General announced the creation of a new whistleblower ombudsman position -- and we think it’s a great idea. Although whistleblowers are on the front lines in the fight against government waste, fraud, and abuse, they aren’t always valued in the process of standing up for what’s right. (Just check out this recent clip from The Daily Show featuring whistleblower Thomas Drake’s story for evidence.)

Establishing this ombudsman position at Justice will make it easier for would-be whistleblowers to feel safe in coming forward and better ensure that when they do take that risk to tell the truth, their voices are actually heard.

The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act, or WPEA (S. 743, H.R. 3289) (which the Project On Government Oversight strongly supports), would require each inspector general to designate a whistleblower protection ombudsman.  While we continue to wait for the House of Representatives to pass this important legislation (the Senate passed S.743 with unanimous consent in May), the Justice Department's inspector general's actions serve as an important reminder to other inspectors general that they can proactively designate their own whistleblower protection ombudsmen.

Under the WPEA, the ombudsman’s role would be to educate and communicate with whistleblowers about their rights. The Department of Justice's whistleblower ombudsman will do just that. He or she will help whistleblowers make protected disclosures and monitor investigations of retaliation claims. The ombudsman will also see to it that whistleblower complaints are handled promptly and that cases don’t fall through the cracks.

Former Info Security Director Fights Excessive Government Secrecy

By DANA LIEBELSON

Leonard

 When senior public officials leave government, they take much-needed vacations—or even swing through the revolving door to a cushy job in the private sector. But J. William Leonard, former director of the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), hasn't given up public service at all: he's using his post-public service career to fight for whistleblower Thomas Drake, and improve the government's classification system.

But the government isn’t making it easy—according to a report today in Secrecy News, government attorneys have denied Leonard’s request to publicize certain National Security Archive (NSA) documents from Drake’s case, which could expose problems with the U.S. classification system. Leonard is instead being asked to submit for them under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Steven Aftergood of Secrecy News points out that, “As it happens, I requested one of those documents under FOIA last year, and the NSA has not acted on it expeditiously, or at all.”

For those not familiar with Drake’s case: he was charged under the Espionage Act for allegedly retaining top-secret defense documents for the purpose of unauthorized disclosure. But there is wide agreement that Drake wasn’t a leaker—he blew the whistle on a NSA contract that wasted hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars. The espionage charges against Drake were ultimately dropped, and he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.