Advocates outline plan to protect whistleblower rights

The president should create an office to focus on government transparency and ensure federal agencies are fully protecting the rights of whistleblowers, recommended several panelists at a conference in late June.

The conference on whistleblower rights was sponsored by the Government Accountability Project and American University's Washington College of Law.

Sean Moulton, director of federal information policy for OMB Watch, a nonprofit watchdog group that runs the popular FederalSpending.org site, said he would recommend the creation of a presidential office that would hold agencies accountable for engaging in transparent decision-making, obeying Freedom of Information Act requests, and respecting the rights of federal whistleblowers. Moulton also suggested that the next president create a system of incentives for whistleblowers who help uncover problems at federal agencies so they are "actually rewarded or in some way applauded."

In a survey released in September by the National Whistleblower Center, Democratic presidential hopeful and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama pledged support for pending legislation to enhance protections for federal employees who expose weakness or fraud in government programs. Obama said he also would support the appointment of a special counsel firmly committed to protecting federal whistleblowers. Republican presidential candidate and Arizona Sen. John McCain did not respond to the survey.

Strengthening whistleblower protections is considered imperative for many advocacy groups and public and private sector employees, especially since the landmark law safeguarding whistleblowers -- the 1989 Whistleblower Protection Act -- has been weakened by a series of rulings by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals since 1994. Panelists said the courts have rewritten the laws to create loopholes that significantly undermine the law.

Tom Devine, legal director for GAP, also recommended including whistleblower protection criteria in an employee's performance appraisal. Furthermore, he said, the president should issue an executive order directing government agencies not to challenge laws already in place to protect federal whistleblowers.

Bonnie Robin-Vergeer, an attorney with Public Citizen's litigation group, said new national leadership should work to revive agency inspector general offices to ensure they take whistleblower disclosures seriously. In addition she said, "appoint justices to the Supreme Court and federal courts who might be sensitive to the rights of employees."