Increase protections for whistleblowers

Obama administration expresses support for whistleblowers, with a few caveats

Updated: Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 | By Angie Drobnic Holan

Congress is considering legislation to protect whistleblowers, those federal workers who expose misconduct or other governmental shenanigans. The Obama administration has expressed support for the legislation, with a few caveats.

The bill, H.R. 1507, seeks to help whistleblowers in several ways. It expands what workers can safely disclose and forbids additional forms of reprisal. It extends protections to contractors, employees of the Transportation Security Administration and individuals who disclose censorship related to federal research or technical information. It also extends whistleblower protection to employees of national security agencies and prohibits reprisals such as revoking security clearances.

It's that last item that concerns the Obama administration. Speaking for the Justice Department, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Rajesh De said national security whistleblowers should be treated differently.

"The current bill would grant federal employees the unilateral right to reveal national security information whenever they reasonably believe the information provides evidence of wrongdoing, even when such information is legitimately classified or would be subject to a valid claim of executive privilege," De said in prepared testimony. "We believe that this structure would unconstitutionally restrict the ability of the president to protect from disclosure information that would harm national security."

De suggested a special board (De calls it an "extra-agency mechanism") within the executive branch of government to handle whistleblower cases involving national security.

Steve Kohn, president of the National Whistleblowers Center and a litigator of whistleblower cases, opposes the idea of such a board. National security workers need protections that other federal workers have that would ultimately give them access to federal courts, he said.

Kohn said that during the campaign, Obama said he supported legislation to do that, but that now the national security bureaucracy is opposing the new legislation.

"I am disheartened that Obama hasn't pushed the agencies that report to him and demand that they be fully supportive of his positions," Kohn said.

On one hand, Obama pledged to support more protections so federal workers will feel free to call attention to problems. But the administration has emphasized it does not want those protections to lead to the release of sensitive information. Likewise, Obama balked at language that Congress included in an appropriations bill that said Congress could revoke the salary of anyone who tried to prevent a fellow federal worker from communicating with Congress. Obama's signing statement said the executive branch's department heads could "supervise, control or correct" communications with Congress.

There's still plenty to be debated on this issue and we'll be watching to see what happens with the bill. Meanwhile, we rate this promise In the Works.

Sources:

U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Hearing Testimony and Witness List for Hearing on: "Protecting the Public from Waste, Fraud and Abuse: H.R. 1507, the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2009 , May 14, 2009

Thomas, HR 1507 , accessed June 9, 2009

Interview with Stephen Kohn of the National Whistleblowers Center

Federal Computer Week, Obama backs whistle-blowers but not in intell , May 14, 2009

The Washington Post, Whistleblower Advocates Push for More From Obama , May 15, 2009