WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley has asked the head of the U.S. Army Medical Command to address the alleged reprisal against a whistleblower suspected of raising concerns about the safety of laboratory employees working with pathogens such as anthrax, plague and Ebola. Grassley also sought a description of the steps the Army Medical Command (MEDCOM) will take to fix the public health concerns in his letter.
“I bring this matter to your attention so that you may take appropriate action to address any public health concerns associated with this matter and cease any inappropriate reprisal actions taken by individuals within your command,” Grassley wrote to Lt. Gen. Nadja West, the Surgeon General and Commander of the U.S. Army Medical Command.
Grassley wrote that according to information obtained by his office, in 2015, the Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General (DoD OIG) conducted an investigation of Department of Defense Chemical Nuclear and Biological facilities. During that investigation, the DoD OIG received reports that certain routine inspections—including Army MEDCOM inspections—of containment laboratories did not improve lab safety and in fact had failed to address key problems within certain laboratories. Afterward, individuals within the MEDCOM chain of command allegedly removed a civilian physician employee they suspected of cooperation with the DoD OIG to an offsite office with a non-working phone and prohibited the physician’s contact with other staff.
“It is my understanding that this physician, among other things, must clinically assess any potential exposures that occur in the course of the researchers’ work, as a result of any mishaps or problems with the workers’ protective gear,” Grassley wrote. “It is also my understanding that, while this physician remains idled, there is no one available with the necessary experience and training to oversee appropriate risk assessment or treat potentially exposed workers and thus minimize any possible spread of an inadvertently released pathogen.
“This situation is precisely what the federal laws protecting whistleblowers are designed to prevent. Federal employees are required to disclose potential wrongdoing, so that agencies may address it. Ignoring those disclosures and punishing the whistleblower for making them only allows those problems to fester and flourish. In no case is this more troubling than when disclosures involve potential threats to public health and safety, like those at issue here.”
Grassley wrote that federal law protects employees who report information that they reasonably believe demonstrates “any violation of any law, rule, or regulation,” or “gross management, a gross waste of funds, an abuse of authority or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety.” Also, federal agencies may not “take or fail to take, or threaten to take or fail to take, any personnel action against any employee” for “cooperating with or disclosing information to the Inspector General of an agency.”
A long-time whistleblower advocate, Grassley led a bipartisan group of senators in launching the Whistleblower Protection Caucus last year.
Grassley sought a written response by March 17. The text of his letter is available here.
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