Whistleblowers come from all kinds of positions and professions. From the corporate world to government headquarters, individuals come forth to expose misdeeds. Sometimes, whistleblowers are caught in a position where they have information about wrong actions happening within their workplace or organization, but because of the nature of the wrongdoing, blowing the whistle publicly could compromise national security. This is a delicate position, and anyone in that position must understand that there is a mechanism for blowing the whistle without blowing the cover off of sensitive information.
The Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act (the Act) protects intelligence officials from retaliation after they bring forth concerns about government misconduct. Not only does the Act protect whistleblowers, but it also provides a procedure for blowing the whistle without revealing classified information. If a person follows the process outlined in the Act, they cannot be prosecuted criminally, nor can they be fired.
The way that the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act says intelligence officials must submit their concerns about government misconduct to the Inspector General of the intelligence community. When the Inspector General receives a complaint, they have fourteen days to evaluate it. If the Inspector General determines that the claim describes a matter of urgent concern – a violation of the law, an abuse of power, or other serious problem that relates to an intelligence activity that involves classified information, the complaint must get forwarded to the Director of National Intelligence.
When the Director of National Intelligence receives a complaint, they have a week to forward the complaint and any relevant documents that support it to the intelligence committees in Congress. If an intelligence community whistleblower follows that procedure, their claim should be heard and acknowledged by those who have the power to address the wrongdoing without exposing the classified information associated with it. If the inspector general dismisses a complaint as not credible or, even worse, ignores it entirely, the whistleblower is not without options. They may take their complaint directly to Congress if they first comply with two additional requirements. First, the whistleblower must notify the inspector general of their intent to approach Congress directly with their complaint. Next, they must seek guidance from the Director of National Intelligence about how to approach Congress without revealing classified information. Once those two steps are complete, the whistleblower can contact Congress with their complaint while following the instructions provided to them by the Director of National Intelligence on how to do so in a way that protects classified information.
Whistleblowers often experience retaliation in a variety of ways, including but not limited to threats of prosecution or job loss. Fortunately, would-be whistleblowers within the intelligence community can protect themselves from those threats and keep classified information securely under wraps by following the provisions of the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act. To learn more about whistleblower laws and whistleblower protection claims, call the Mississippi Whistleblower Attorney at Barrett Law PLLC today at 1 (800) 707-9577 to set up an initial consultation.