Dear GAP Supporters,
Thanks in part to the strong support of President Obama, there finally has been some progress on protections for federal whistleblowers. But at the same time, secrecy in the national security state is growing and threatening whistleblowers, the media, and freedom of speech.
The President deserves credit for helping to enact the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act and issuing a directive to protect some national security and intelligence community whistleblowers for the first time. But the Obama administration also has taken actions to undermine those same protections. There have been unprecedented prosecutions of so-called "leakers" under the Espionage Act. Also, a loophole supported by the administration allows agencies to cancel due process and strip whistleblower rights in the name of national security without appeal or oversight.
In fact, the Obama administration is at odds with itself over whistleblowers. While the Director of National Intelligence, the Department of Justice, and the Office of Personnel Management are making it easier to silence and retaliate against national security whistleblowers, government watchdog agencies such as the Office of Special Counsel and the Merit Systems Protection Board – each led by Obama appointees – are objecting to the national security loopholes for whistleblower protections.
A new film called The War on Whistleblowers: Free Speech and the National Security Statetells the stories of four whistleblowers who were silenced – including GAP whistleblowers Franz Gayl and Thomas Drake – and the journalists who were finally able to get these truth-telling voices heard.
In the spirit of the film, we and our partners in the Make It Safe Coalition are asking people to stand up and demand that President Obama end the war on intelligence whistleblowers and the threats to our free speech in the name of national security.
Shanna Devine is Legislative Coordinator for the Government Accountability Project, the nation's leadingwhistleblower protection and advocacy organization.
