The Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced a plan to revamp its whistleblower protections, supposedly with an eye to making it easier for whistleblowers to report misconduct. But under an administration that has gone after more whistleblowers than any other in history, the move is already being met with some well-deserved skepticism.
The plan consists of eleven recommendations from the DOJ, including paying whistleblowers damages and expanding the categories of officials allowed to receive protected disclosures.
DOJ also proposed publishing annual whistleblower reports, and granting whistleblowers the authority to call ex-FBI employees as witnesses.
Although Edward Snowden’s exposure of NSA spying and subsequent flight to Russia has brought a lot of attention to the way the FBI deals with whistleblowers, FBI Director James Comey has already made clear that Snowden would not benefit from any of these added protections.
Comey said in January that he has “trouble applying the ‘whistle-blower’ label to someone who just disagrees with the way our country is structured and operates.”
The Obama administration’s pursuit of anyone who leaks its secrets has been called “unprecedented.” In perhaps the most high-profile instance of this, they arrested and charged Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA officer who gave New York Times reporter James Risen information on the CIA’s attempts to sabotage the Iranian nuclear program.
Risen also reported in 2005 that the NSA was spying on American citizens, and had his credit card and phone records secretly sifted through by the CIA in order to uncover his sources.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) reacted to the news with cautious optimism in a statement: “Nobody’s got on rose-colored glasses that the culture for whistleblowers at the FBI will change anytime soon, but many of the items outlined in the FBI’s analysis are promising.”
“I’m not a fan of all of the recommendations,” Grassley clarified, “but it would at least be a step forward if some of them are actually implemented and carried out.”
The report includes some of the suggestions from whistleblower advocates that DOJ rejected. Among these were granting a right to judicial review, using administrative law judges to ensure an impartial review, giving deadlines for decisions, and automatically granting hearings to any request.
