Staten Island Live: Staten Island's Grimm Seeks to Steer Whistleblowers to their Superiors
While the whistleblower community waits for the SEC to roll out provisions for its whistleblower bounty program later this year, Congressman Michael Grimm (R-NY) held a hearing earlier this week on whether financial whistleblowers – those who this new program are meant to attract – should be required to first raise concerns with their corrupt company's officials. The hearing specifically focused on Grimm's draft language of a bill that would mandate corporate whistleblowers to first share their concerns with their corrupt companies. It's a terrible idea, and a terrible bill for whistleblowers and overall financial accountability.
Key Quote: But Tom Devine, legal director of the Washington-based Government Accountability Project, said Grimm's legislation amounts to "an obstruction of justice." Devine said "forcing" an individual to go to his bosses "sabotages the prospects for law enforcement" to unearth crimes.
Related Article: FireDogLake
ProPublica: Watch out, Whistleblowers: Congress and Courts Move to Curtail Leaks
A quick, "round-up" story of the recent legal and legislative actions taken against the whistleblower community. This includes the move by Rep. Grimm, the federal court of appeals ruling last week that stated whistleblowers from corporations don't enjoy protections when disclosing to the media, the Obama administration's crackdown on whistleblowers, and language in the Intelligence Authorization Bill that grants the Director of National Intelligence and other intelligence community (IC) heads the unprecedented authority to penalize active and former IC employees – at a minimum taking away their pensions – based simply on the Director's subjective "determination" that an employee knowingly disclosed classified information to an unauthorized party.
Key Quote: The Government Accountability Project has said that under the proposed law, intelligence officials need only reach a "determination" that a knowing violation occurred.
FIC Blog: GAP Joins Coalition to Push Public Right-to-Know Agenda
Increased public access to information and stronger government transparency are core demands in a report sent to various U.S. agencies and the White House this week. A coalition of 112 organizations, including GAP, drafted the report, which recommends prioritizing whistleblower protection, as well as requiring industries such as agriculture to reveal data on practices that affect environmental and public health.
USA Today: Congress Takes Action on Pentagon Mentors
In order to increase Defense Department transparency, a House panel voted earlier this week to require that the Pentagon "publish four times a year the names of the retired officers it hires as 'senior mentors'".
Key Quote: An investigation by USA TODAY in 2009 showed that the Pentagon had hired 158 retired generals and admirals as advisers for as much as $440 an hour and 80% had ties to defense contractors that they were not required to disclose.
Lindsay Bigda is Communications Fellow for the Government Accountability Project, the nation's leading whistleblower advocacy organization.
