Do you think Congress and the president have done enough to protect bureaucratic whistleblowers? Why or why not?

No.

Explanation:

This ineffective system is especially problematic because most whistleblowers have noble intentions. Michael Horowitz, the IG for the Department of Justice, recently stated that 80 percent of whistleblowers are motivated to improve the system, not tear it down. He cautioned that because normal whistleblower protections do not shield government employees who run straight to the media, those who do so may go for broke, taking as much information as possible. This is a particularly serious problem when the whistleblower has access to classified information.

A few policy changes could remedy this state of affairs and make whistleblowers feel more welcome inside the classified system.

First, the intelligence committees should create a classified, secure intake system for whistleblowers to reach Congress directly and confidentially with their concerns.

Second, Congress should release annual unclassified reports of what it has done with whistleblower complaints. Obviously, the topic of many of these complaints would be incredibly sensitive, so the committees would be able to include only the total number of complaints, the number the committee found merited further action, and perhaps the number of retaliation complaints that the committee received. Releasing these unclassified reports would create a feedback loop so that employees would know that Congress is an effective and secure avenue.

Finally, because the intelligence committees’ staff resources are limited, Congress should turn to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) for additional auditing help. The GAO sets the highest standard for auditing and is frequently used to review complicated and sensitive military intelligence programs for the armed services committees. It could do so for some intelligence committee cases as well.

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