WASHINGTON – A Government Accountability Office report released today revealed challenges facing whistleblowers at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, including limited protections for whistleblower disclosures and long delays in addressing retaliation claims. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, requested the GAO report.
“The FBI and Department of Justice, in particular, have a vested interest in investigating wrongdoing, yet when an FBI employee uncovers misconduct within the agency’s own ranks, it’s not so easy to sound the alarm without the risk of retaliation. This report confirms that reforms are needed to empower whistleblowers at FBI and ensure they are effectively and efficiently protected against retaliation in the workplace,” Grassley said.
The report notes that the FBI is the only federal entity that does not shield from retaliation whistleblowers who make disclosures to their immediate supervisors. Instead, FBI employees are required to make disclosures to one of only nine designated high-ranking FBI officials in order to be considered as whistleblowers legally entitled to protection from retaliation.
The report also concluded that FBI guidance doesn’t clearly warn FBI employees that disclosures within the chain of command may not be protected from retaliation. Further, it found that the Department of Justice does not consistently comply with regulatory requirements regarding the investigations of alleged retaliation at the FBI.
GAO offered several recommendations for improvements including expanding protections for whistleblowers to disclosures made within the chain of command and clarifying to FBI employees where protected disclosures can be made.
A long-time advocate for whistleblowers, in addition to co-authoring both the 1989 Whistleblower Protection Act and the 2012 update designed to further protect federal whistleblowers, Grassley authored changes made in 1986 to the President Lincoln-era federal False Claims Act to empower private sector whistleblowers.
In an April 2014 speech marking the 25th anniversary of the original Whistleblower Protection Act, Grassley highlighted efforts to provide whistleblower protections to the intelligence community. He has fought for FBI whistleblowers who have been retaliated against and become entangled in the bureaucratic red tape that too often traps these patriotic citizens. For example, Grassley helped an FBI agent who blew the whistle on agents taking evidence from the site of the World Trade Center following the Sept. 11 attacks. The whistleblower was mired in red tape and court cases for more than 10 years after being retaliated against for blowing the whistle. Most recently, Grassley has advocated for FBI employees who appear to have been retaliated against with Loss of Effectiveness orders, a method of retaliation that allows managers to bypass the Office of Professional Responsibility and avoid basic due process for the employee whistleblowers.
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