A small group of senators and congressmen have asked the Government Accountability Office to review whistleblower protections for FBI employees, again, after hearing continued complaints about the agency’s procedures.
The group includes Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), as well as Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), the leader of the Oversight and Reform Committee, as well Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), joined their Senate colleagues in writing to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro.
“Extensive issues with the FBI’s current whistleblower program make the bureau one of the most difficult places in the federal government to report malfeasance,” House members and senators wrote in a Nov. 3 letter.
They’re asking GAO for an update to a report it completed in 2015, which found weaknesses in the statutory protections afforded to most FBI employees. FBI guidance to employees about their whistleblower rights and the bureau’s procedures was often confusing, GAO said, and the bureau often took years to close retaliation complaints.
It’s been several years since Congress revisited more comprehensive FBI whistleblower protections for the agency’s employees. Lawmakers passed the FBI Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA) back in 2016, which expanded the list of appropriate officials who could receive...
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