Government Accountability Project works with scholars from a wide variety of disciplines, sharing our earned experience and expertise with scholars of law, rhetoric, business, journalism, and other disciplines on academic research projects about various aspects of whistleblowing. In addition, we offer a whistleblowing law clinic at the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law, training future lawyers about the role whistleblowers play in promoting accountability and how to navigate the complex legal landscape of protecting the rights of employees to disclose misconduct. Our academic partnerships are an invaluable method to catalyze cultural understanding about and support for whistleblowers who are essential to protecting the public interest.
Public interest organizations are often the first outside audiences to hear a whistleblower’s disclosure. Whistleblowers do not always see themselves as such, but they may go to organizations they recognize as effective advocates on specific issues, making these groups a critical first support. Government Accountability Project prepares these organizations with trainings, develops partnerships for legal advice, collaborates on Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, and leads coalitions in support of whistleblowers and better legislation. Through these efforts, we ensure whistleblowers have the platform and support of the public interest community to amplify their disclosures and affect change.
For decades, Government Accountability Project has worked with journalists as powerful partners in exposing wrongdoing disclosed by whistleblowers. The free press is essential to cultivating civic engagement and addressing abuses of power, and whistleblowers are often the best and most credible sources of information about misconduct. While media coverage can insulate a whistleblower from reprisal and focus attention on the problem disclosed, it can also inadvertently make sources vulnerable. Our partnerships with journalists and journalism organizations seek to educate and empower both whistleblowers and journalists in their shared interest in exposing and addressing abuses of public trust.
Government Accountability Project is one of the few organizations that actively defends whistleblowers in both the court system and the court of public opinion. Our foremost priority is serving our whistleblower clients’ interests, which are typically two-fold: defending them against retaliation and ensuring the wrongdoing they expose is addressed. Our partnerships with private attorneys and law firms amplifies our ability to serve both of those goals.