(Washington, DC) – Last night, the House Armed Services Committee unanimously approved legislation sponsored by Representative Jackie Speier (D-Ca) and Mike Coffman (R-Co) to strengthen rights under the Military Whistleblower Protection Act of 1988. Their legislation mirrored the Military Whistleblower Protection Act of 2013 (MWPEA), introduced last week by Senators Mark Warner (D-Va) and Tim Kaine (D-Va). The bipartisan legislation has been in response to the ongoing problem of sexual assaults in the military.

GAP Legal Director Tom Devine commented:

Sexual assaults in the military continue for the same reasons as other human rights violations – secrecy coupled with weak or nonexistent rights to challenge abuses of power. For 25 years, the Military Whistleblower Protection Act has been so weak that GAP has advised soldiers not to file complaints under it. House committee approval is the first major step toward credible whistleblower protection. Our troops, and the taxpayers, deserve no less.

GAP led the campaign for the original Military Whistleblower Protection Act of 1988, as well as additional rights for disclosures within the chain of command and due process to challenge forced psychiatric examinations. But political compromises gutted the legislation to the point where it has created more reprisal victims than it helped. The Speier/Coffman bill is properly customized for the military services, but upgrades core provisions for legitimate rights through:

expanding protection to include disclosures of sexual harassment, testimony in law enforcement or legal proceedings, and exercise of appeal rights.
expanding protection against the full scope of harassment, including a hostile working environment.
eliminating the same loopholes for whistleblower protection that Congress closed last year in the civil service Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act.
normalizing a one year statute of limitations to assert rights.
implementing the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act burdens of proof standard.

GAP is deeply concerned, however, that two of the bill’s key provisions were removed due to objections from the House Judiciary Committee: protection for supporting witnesses, and the right for whistleblowers to challenge illegal retaliation at an administrative due process hearing.

Protection for supporting witnesses is a necessity for real, working rights. Otherwise, reprisal victims are limited to a “he said, she said” argument, where the retaliating agency can call supporting witness, but the whistleblower cannot. Similarly, without guaranteed due process hearings, the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (OIG) will continue to be the sole fact-finder to enforce whistleblower rights. But the OIG has a long history of investigating whistleblowers seeking help, instead of those employers who harass them. That OIG has been harshly criticized by third party organizations, from the congressional Government Accountability Office to public interest watchdogs.

As GAP’s Devine observed:

Every whistleblower law on the books since 1988 has guaranteed at least an administrative day in court, with protection for all who testify. If Congress is serious about addressing military sexual harassment, there is no excuse to turn credible reform into second-class rights. Whistleblower rights will be a cruel mirage if employees have to fight their cases alone and are at the mercy of hostile bureaucratic investigators.

Contact: Tom Devine, GAP Legal Director
Phone: 202.457.0034, ext. 124
Email: [email protected]

Contact: Dylan Blaylock, GAP Communications Director
Phone: 202.457.0034, ext. 137
Email: [email protected]

Government Accountability Project
The Government Accountability Project is the nation’s leading whistleblower protection organization. Through litigating whistleblower cases, publicizing concerns and developing legal reforms, GAP’s mission is to protect the public interest by promoting government and corporate accountability. Founded in 1977, GAP is a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.

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