This fall will be the season of truth for truth-tellers. Much of the nation was transfixed by the testimony of witnesses to the Jan. 6 Committee. But none of those political appointees or career civil servants who blew the whistle had credible rights against retaliation. Politicians have slathered them with lavish praise for their courage, but whistleblowers need rights, not compliments. This fall will be a test for Democrats if they back up their rhetoric with leadership to schedule votes and use their majority to pass laws. For Republicans, it will be a test whether their primary loyalty is to voters or to former President Trump.
Whistleblowers are people who use freedom of speech to challenge abuses of power that betray the public trust. Two recent events illustrate what happens when we listen to these messengers, and what happens when we allow the messenger to be silenced. This past spring, a Netflix documentary — “Meltdown: Three Mile Island” — traced how brazen nuclear safety violations in the Three Mile Island (TMI) cleanup threatened a full meltdown that could have taken out the East Coast. It was prevented because three engineers blew the whistle.
By contrast, when Congress approved multi-trillion-dollar spending increases after the last election, it failed to update America’s antiquated whistleblower law for government contractors. Not surprisingly, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz estimated there could be upwards of $100 billion in fraud....
On Friday, April 10, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) has agreed to pay just over $17 million to resolve allegations that ...