Yesterdayin celebration of National Whistleblower Appreciation Day (NWAD), GAP hosted three panels on Capitol Hill addressing multiple serious and current issues facing corporate and government whistleblowers. One panel kicked off a new GAP campaign aimed at banning the criminalization of whistleblowing. As whistleblowers have become safer from firings with the implementation of stronger protections, they are increasingly the targets of criminal investigations, referrals to the Department of Justice, and prosecutions. Moderated by GAP Legal Director Tom Devine, the panel featured GAP client and Federal Air Marshal whistleblower Robert MacLean, Food Integrity Campaign (FIC) Director Amanda Hitt, and the National Taxpayers Union’s Pete Sepp.
Additionally, this blog post details GAP’s new campaign and the terrible threats to government accountability posed by criminal investigations of whistleblowers. This FIC blog relays how Hitt detailed the chilling effect of Ag Gag laws across the country, which criminalize the reporting of abuse at farm facilities using undercover video.
Key Quote: “Increasingly, criminal investigations are being launched at agencies ranging from the Internal Revenue Service, to the Homeland Security Department, to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, in place of more traditional acts of retaliation such as firing, demotion and undesirable assignments, said Tom Devine, legal director for the nonprofit Government Accountability Project, at a Wednesday panel discussion on Capitol Hill.
“What formerly were rare exceptions are now the rule – instead of firing someone, you force them out of government through criminal investigations or actual prosecutions that affect their prospects for future federal employment, “ Devine said. “It’s a dangerous, scary trend that’s likely to get worse because it’s an attractive option.”
Whereas the firing process can take two years of going through the human resources and editing documents, Devine added, “all a criminal investigation takes is one bully to give the suspect the third degree. It doesn’t risk anything – the manager decides when the harassment ends, and sometimes they then open up a new probe. The threat of jail has a more chilling effect.”
GAP National Security & Human Rights Director Jesselyn Radack criticized legislation in Australia that threatens whistleblowers with imprisonment and makes it illegal for journalists to report intelligence information obtained from inside sources. Prominent NSA whistleblower Tom Drake also spoke with Radack at the Wheeler Centre in Melbourne, stating this type of law is clearly intended to sending a “chilling message.”
Key Quote: “That law is so draconian and would be so chilling in terms of freedom of the press,” Ms Radack said. “It would criminalize a reporter talking to a source.
“It’s the most draconian thing I’ve seen and it is completely antithetical to a free and open democratic society … I find it very disturbing that Australia’s entertaining this kind of legislation and that there hasn’t been a greater outcry, especially from the press.”
The legislation makes it an offence if a person “discloses information … [that] relates to a special intelligence operation” and does not state any exemptions, meaning it could apply to anyone including journalists, bloggers, lawyers and other members of the public. Those who disclosed such information would face tough new penalties of up to 10 years’ jail.
Ms Radack said the new laws would essentially give [Australian Security Intelligence Organization] immunity. “This particular proposed legislation is drafted so broadly that almost anything could be labeled a special intelligence operation … the definitions are so broad and vague as to make anyone subject to this.”
The Hill: Litmus Test for Obama on Whistleblowers
In this opinion piece, GAP Legal Director Tom Devine and Legislative Director Shanna Devine relay the importance of the Obama administration’s treatment of whistleblowers as it relates to the Open Government Partnership (OGP), a global government transparency campaign.
Key Quote: Is OGP a serious effort to build the infrastructure for cleaning up government, or just another public relations campaign? How the administration handles whistleblower rights will be indicative of whether to take its rhetoric seriously.
The key is education and training, so that employees and managers know their rights and limits of authority, respectively. As a rule, neither do. Some 35 years after passage of statutory whistleblower protections, only a token percentage of employees and managers know where the legal line is or when they’ve crossed it. Even worse, fear of retaliation actually has increased since enactment of legal “protections.” A Federal News Radio survey found that only 16 percent of federal employee-survey respondents felt protected enough to report waste, fraud or abuse.
American Conservative: Washington Doesn’t Forgive Whistleblowers
This lengthy feature about Matthew Hoh, a former Ridenhour Prize winner and Marine who exposed a failing strategy in Afghanistan, illustrates how whistleblowers can suffer personally and professionally for years. GAP’s Radack is quoted in the piece.
Key Quote: Jesselyn Radack, a whistleblower and attorney who now serves clients like Thomas Drake and Edward Snowden for theGovernment Accountability Project, said Hoh’s case is not atypical. “I consider Matthew Hoh a hero,” she told TAC. However, “far too often, whistleblowers end up blacklisted, bankrupt, and broken. Even when you prevail, there’s still this taint, often due in no small part to the government upon which you blew the whistle.”
Business Week: Whistleblower Cases Hit New Records
The Department of Justice (DOJ) will collect more than $5 billion under the federal False Claims Act by the end of fiscal year 2014.
Michael Riley is a Communications Intern for the Government Accountability Project, the nation’s leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization.