It is unclear where President Trump stands on Federal whistleblowers. Senator Charles E. Grassley has invited him, as he has invited every President since Ronald Reagan, to hold a Rose Garden Ceremony in honor of American whistleblowers. The event has never been held; even the Rose Garden is no more. Support for Federal whistleblowing effectively peaked with Secretary Hazel O’Leary’s engagement efforts at the Energy Department in the early 1990s. The division between Washington factions since 1994 has slowly bled support from the post-Watergate reforms, even as the weaponization of whistleblowers by the Legislative and Executive branches accelerated, especially after the Benghazi investigation.
On March 20, 2025 President Trump issued the executive memorandum “Strengthening the Suitability and Fitness of the Federal Workforce.” This action shifted the lion’s share of authority over suitability determinations and actions to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Usually, OPM’s role in suitability determinations ends once a Federal employee’s probationary period does. Even then, suitability determinations are largely the prerogative of employing agencies, not OPM.
This consolidation of authority over suitability determinations and actions is a marked departure from the status quo: one that puts deeper dents in Federal employee protections. Perhaps less obvious among these dents is this: greater risk of reprisal for Federal employees engaging in protected...
[OSEN=Jang Woo-young Reporter] Amid repeated denials from actor Park Si-hoo’s side regarding allegations of facilitating an affair, a close associate also emphasized that the claims are “baseless”...