Several weeks ago, three female whistleblowers came to me alleging gender discrimination and whistleblower retaliation at the FBI. I brought up the allegations with the FBI Director, James Comey, who happened to be appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee where I’m the Ranking Member.
Since I brought this up with Director Comey, five additional FBI whistleblowers have come forward. Each of the whistleblowers has expressed similar concerns of discrimination and retaliation.
The whistleblowers also allege that the FBI uses secret methods of retaliation called Loss of Effectiveness orders. According to the whistleblowers, the Loss of Effectiveness orders allow managers to bypass the Office of Professional Responsibility which is where most allegations of wrongdoing are processed or personnel reviews are handled. Bypassing the Office of Professional Responsibility deprives the employee in question of the right to appeal. In addition, employees who receive such an order do not necessarily even receive notice of the underlying allegations, and never have the opportunity to defend against those allegations.
I’m seeking answers from Director Comey about this secretive method of retaliation against whistleblowers. I’ve heard positive feedback about the Director’s actions so far, but with five more whistleblowers coming forward, it looks like there may be a bigger problem that needs to be addressed.