Protecting Whistleblowers, Making Government More Accountable

Government whistleblowers are being denied protections they ought to have under a law I co-authored in 1989, and I’m working to fix that.  The Whistleblower Protection Act has been watered down by the Merit Systems Protection Board, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals and a general anti-whistleblower sentiment found in executive branch agencies.

That’s not right.  Whistleblowers stand up for truth and help to fight wrongdoing, injustice, and waste, fraud and abuse in government.  They shouldn’t be subject to retaliation, from either higher-ups or colleagues, for coming forward with important information.  Without whistleblowers, we’d know a lot less about what goes on in government.  They are key to unlocking secrets deep in the closets of the bureaucracy.

In fact, it’s because of whistleblowers in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or the ATF, that we now know about a government program where assault weapons were sold to straw buyers who then transported the weapons across the border to resell them to Mexican drug cartels.  The murder of two federal law enforcement agents may be linked to this practice. If the U.S. government has allowed countless guns to “walk” across the border into the hands of violent criminals, the American public deserves to know and there needs to be accountability.

This week, I introduced legislation to update and fortify the Whistleblower Protection Act with Senator Daniel Akaka of Hawaii, Senator Susan Collins of Maine and Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.  The new bill is called the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act.  In the Senate, I’ve stood up for individual whistleblowers facing the heavy hand of the bureaucracy (regardless of the political party of the administration in charge) at the Pentagon, the FBI, the IRS, the Department of Interior, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Our system of self-government is strengthened when government is made more transparent, more accessible and more accountable, and whistleblowers help us do that.