Intelligence whistleblowers face a dangerous path to Congress by JennaMC_Laugh
WASHINGTON — When House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., issued a rare subpoena to acting spy chief Joseph Maguire, commanding him to share with Congress an “urgent” and “credible” disclosure reportedly relating to the president, it kicked off a heated debate across different government agencies and Capitol Hill over how to handle the anonymous complaint.
However, at most of the intelligence agencies, employees who want to talk to Congress about a problem without going to the inspector general may need to jump through certain hoops first. “Some agencies require whistleblowers to fill out forms with their name and the subject matter [before] their disclosing to Congress. This puts a target on their back.”
Dan Meyer, a managing partner at D.C. law firm Tully Rinckey and the former head of the intelligence community whistleblowing program, was also exposed when he brought concerns about the sidelining of his office to Congress. He was subsequently fired, a decision that has still yet to be fully investigated.
A key danger for the whistleblower is that, by going out on their own, they will not be protected and could in fact be labeled a leaker for sharing classified information improperly. “That path doesn’t offer protection,” said Mark Zaid, a national security lawyer in Washington, D.C., and co-founder of the nonprofit Whistleblower Aid.
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