Bush, senior officials mum on whether ‘Deep Throat’ is a hero

President Bush and senior administration officials declined to say Wednesday whether they believe W. Mark Felt should be considered a hero for his role in exposing the Watergate scandal.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, however, said federal workers have an obligation to report wrongdoing, adding it is an "easy thing" to do. Rumsfeld's comment was sharply criticized by a leading advocate for federal whistleblowers who said workers who expose wrongdoing have very little protection and often face harassment and intimidation from their managers and agencies.

The Washington Post confirmed Tuesday that Felt was Deep Throat, the inside source who leaked information in the early 1970s to Post reporter Bob Woodward. Felt was assistant FBI director at the time.

Members of Felt's family on Tuesday called him "a great American patriot" and a "hero who went well above and beyond the call of duty at much risk to himself to save his country from a horrible injustice."

Bush said it was hard for him to judge whether Felt is a hero.

"All I can tell you is that it was a revelation that caught me by surprise," Bush told reporters. "And I thought it was very interesting. I'm looking forward to reading about it, reading about his relationship with the news media. It's a brand-new story, you know, for a lot of us who have been wondering a long time who he was."

Rumsfeld was asked the same question during a press conference with Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"Anyone who sees wrongdoing has an obligation … to report that wrongdoing to the Department of Justice or to the proper authorities in the department," Rumsfeld said. "I wouldn't want to leave any ambiguity about that."

Myers said workers have access to telephone hotlines to report fraud, waste and abuse and whistleblower protection laws to shield them.

Tom Devine, legal director for the Government Accountability Project, disagreed with Myers and Rumsfeld, saying workers who report wrongdoing often have a difficult time. GAP is a leading advocate for federal whistleblowers.

"Whistleblowers have neither viable rights nor respect for challenging conventional wisdom throughout the executive branch," Devine told Government Executive. "It's about time to stop the double talk. Either be honest with the federal workforce and say we don't want to know, or give them some rights to protect themselves."

Devine said the 1989 Whistleblower Protection Act has been gutted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which has jurisdiction over those types of federal cases.

Devine noted that legislation has recently been introduced in Congress to strengthen protections for workers who allege wrongdoing. "If Secretary Rumsfeld is sincere, he should start the parade of administration leaders supporting the restoration of a viable Whistleblower Protection Act," Devine said.

Devine also said the Pentagon has a history of retaliating against whistleblowers. He cited the case of Carol Czarkowski, a former contract specialist with the Navy's Office of Special Projects. According to court records, in 1997, Czarkowski identified problems with a contract that she alleged represented a violation of law and a gross waste of funds.

The Pentagon removed her from her position, prompting her to take her case to the Merit Systems Protection Board. In turn, the Pentagon designated her agency as an intelligence agency. The move eliminated Czarkowski's status as a protected whistleblower because the Whistleblower Protection Act does not cover intelligence agency employees. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, however, ruled last fall that the Pentagon erred in making its designation, and remanded Czarkowski's case back to MSPB.

The Project on Government Oversight also issued a report in April outlining the difficulties employees face when reporting wrongdoing. The report noted that some federal workers, including those at the FBI, CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency, Transportation Security Administration and National Security Agency, have no whistleblower protections.

"The 9/11 attacks spawned a movement of national security whistleblowers who came forward to expose the weaknesses in America's defenses," the report stated. "Despite their patriotic motivations, many government security professionals have been systematically ignored and targeted by bureaucrats who would rather cover up their failure to properly secure America's aviation system, ports, intelligence community, borders and nuclear facilities."