BUTLER
COUNTY, IOWA – Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Ranking Member of the Senate
Judiciary Committee, today sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland in
response to Garland’s August 30 memorandum to Department of Justice (DOJ)
employees about direct communications with Congress. Grassley mentioned statutory
provisions that Garland failed to note in his memorandum, causing concern that
the memo will chill and undermine the importance of whistleblower protections.
“I
write this letter to make clear to you that whistleblowers are the most
patriotic people I know and they play an integral part in ensuring that
inappropriate influences, political influence, and improper conduct within the Department
and its components, such as the FBI, are exposed. Under your leadership, the
Department and FBI have failed to be responsive to congressional oversight
requests. Accordingly, it is often only because of whistleblowers that Congress
and the American people are apprised of the type of wrongdoing that your memo
seeks to protect against,” Grassley
wrote.
“Even
with your whistleblower caveats, and due to the timing of your memo, I remain
concerned about the chilling effect it may have on whistleblowers who wish to
approach Congress with information relating to fraud, waste, abuse, and gross mismanagement.”
Grassley’s letter continued.
Grassley
is a strong advocate for government whistleblowers and he frequently hears from
current and former government employees who come
forward to shine a light on fraud, waste, abuse and gross mismanagement in
government agencies or by government contractors. He protects the
identities of these sources and frequently
promotes
policies that shield whistleblowers from retaliation. Individuals wishing
to call attention to mismanagement or misconduct within the Justice Department
and its component agencies, such as the FBI, should contact Sen. Grassley’s
investigations unit at (202) 224-3738 or email
wb_reports@judiciary-rep.senate.gov.
Full
text of the letter can be found HERE.