Friday, August 03, 2007

In departure from Rumsfeld era, Pentagon aims to toughen whistleblower protections

The Hill

The Pentagon has released new rules to better protect uniformed employees from retaliation if they report wrongdoing, despite the Bush administration’s opposition to similar efforts in Congress — an opposition based on what it views as potential harm to national security.

The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have amplified the role of whistleblowers, who have sounded alarms in cases ranging from the Abu Ghraib prison scandal to widespread contractor fraud.

In a 16-page Pentagon directive dated July 23, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England mandated a series of safeguards for agency whistleblowers, effective immediately. The directive marks what some watchdogs call a sharp change from the policies under former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

“Unlike former Secretary Rumsfeld, who dismissed the role of whistleblowers, Secretary Robert Gates appears to be much more concerned about receiving unvarnished information from the field,” Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) said in a statement. PEER, a national alliance of local state and federal resource professionals, released the directive on its website.

According to PEER, the new rules are in many respects stronger than existing protections for civil servants outside the Pentagon. Officers and civilian supervisors who are found to have restrained or reprimanded whistleblowers will face punishment. In addition, the Pentagon is preparing regulations to make whistleblower retaliation explicitly punishable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice as an act of insubordination.

Tom Devine, the legal director of the nonprofit public interest group the Government Accountability Project (GAP), said the most significant aspect of the directive is the fact that it establishes accountability for those who retaliate against whistleblowers. “This is potentially a breakthrough in accountability,” he said. It could also serve as an “encouraging precedent” to eventually strengthen civilian whistleblower protection at the Pentagon, Devine added.

The directive also mandates that the office of the inspector general of the respective military branches investigate whistleblower complaints within 180 days. The rules provide for oversight of all such investigations by the Defense Department’s inspector general. In addition, any decision flowing from these investigations may be appealed to the secretary of defense.

The Pentagon leadership is also extending whistleblower protection regulations to cover disclosures made within the military chain of command, as well as disclosures made to Congress or inspectors general.

“In some very important ways, Secretary Gates is providing for stronger protections for Defense employees than exist presently for the civilians working inside other federal agencies,” said PEER executive director Jeff Ruch. “If this level of openness can be encouraged within our military branches, surely it can be extended to civilian agencies without impeding the efficient administration of government.

“Secretary Gates deserves congratulations for taking decisive steps to improve accountability within our military services,” he added. “This is a crucial time for our people on the front lines to know that telling the truth is expected and suppressing the truth will not be tolerated.”

It is ironic, Ruch noted, that Gates is strengthening certain safeguards while the Justice Department is opposing similar measures in Congress, namely a strengthening of the Whistleblower Protection Act.........

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