Today’s Politico article entitled “Critics question whistleblower bill” highlights the broken promises of the White House and Senate on national security whistleblower protection. The NWC has repeatedly pointed out the serious flaws in the national security provisions of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (S.372). Politico points out that Senator Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) continues to stand behind these dangerous provisions and does not take issue with the fact that this new Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Board would not have the power to award a whistleblower his or her job back. The Senate Homeland Security Committee promised changes would be made to the bill’s flaws, but changes have not come. The House version of the bill (H.R. 1507), however, allows whistleblowers access to federal courts and is fully supported by the NWC. Senate Intelligence, Judiciary, and Homeland Security Committee are set to meet this week, but are "unlikely" to address correcting the repeal of existing FBI whistleblower protections. Prominent FBI whistleblowers recently issued letters stressing the importance of national security whistleblower protection and urged the bill to not be passed in its current form. Support their cause and TAKE ACTION! to stop the passage of this bill.
*Philip Barrett (a NWC intern) contributed to this posting