Whistleblowing

New concerns whistleblowers in intelligence community may not come forward with concerns

Many in Washington are concerned the system for reporting wrongdoing is broken and that blowing the whistle can result in retaliation, or worse.

“Whistleblowers in the intelligence agencies have been referred for criminal investigation as well as criminally prosecuted,” said Louis Clark, CEO of the Government Accountability Project (GAP) - a whistleblower protection group in Washington.

Clark said reporting wrongdoing in an environment filled with secrets can be problematic.

“They need to be able to speak about what is often classified and therefore illegal to go public about,” Clark said.

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers want the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to take a closer look at whistleblower protections within the intelligence community. They’ve written a letter requesting an audit.

“Those individuals inside the federal government can feel that they come clean if they see abuse or if they see mistakes being made that they’ll be protected,” said Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) in an interview last week.