Defense Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection
The Inspector General also has authority to investigate whistleblowing reprisal allegations filed by civilian and military members of the Defense Intelligence Community.
[11] The mechanics of protecting Defense Intelligence Community whistleblowers occurs, in part, through the Inspector General Act passed in 1978.
The IG Act authorizes statutory inspectors general to receive and investigate complaints or information received from agency employees concerning a violation of law, rules, or regulations; or mismanagement; gross waste of funds; abuse of authority; or a substantial and specific danger to the public health and safety.
[12] However, unlike the CSRA, the IG Act provides no general exemption preventing protection of intelligence and counterintelligence employees.
If the Defense Inspector General has jurisdiction over an intelligence or counter-intelligence service member or employee, there is a means of providing whistleblower protection.
[15] With respect to civilian Defense Department employees working in the intelligence and counterintelligence fields, the Inspector General's CRI directorate was established in 2003.
The directorate investigates whistleblower reprisal by determining whether a complainant was subject to a negative action as a result of disclosing instances of fraud, waste, and abuse; or violations of law, rule, and regulation.
In addition, complainants may contact a member of Congress to report the whistleblower retaliation and then be sent to the Inspector General, or the case may be referred to the DoDIG by the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Oversight (ATSD-IO), if it is forwarded through that office.
[20] The varied means of filing complaints lead to a process called “deconfliction,” by which government agencies prevent duplicative efforts.
Reports of substantiated whistleblower reprisal bear recommendations that the complainant be made whole through remedies provided by the command or component.
