On May 8, the House Armed Services Committee voted on the National Defense Authorization Act of 2015 – about 15 minutes after midnight. The committee voted on hundreds of amendments and debated the legislation for more than 12 hours before finally passing it. You have probably heard some of the highlights of whats in the bill, but here is a longer list of stuff that made it in that you might not have heard about. Now remember, the bill still needs to be voted on by the full House and then by the Senate, so there are still changes that…
Browsing: whistleblower
Dubbed a traitor by House Speaker John Boehner and yet hailed as a brave whistleblower by Daniel Ellsberg, Edward Snowden’s leaks about National Security Agency data collection techniques have ignited public debate about privacy, security and the scope of U.S. government surveillance activities. But legally speaking, the 29-year old, self described high school dropout isn’t really a whistleblower: “Whistleblowers are individuals who have engaged in lawful disclosure,” said R. Scott Oswald, managing principal of The Employment Law Group, a DC-based law firm that represents whistleblowers, including some in the intelligence community. Snowden, however, leaked classified information subject to a court…
The Justice Department is adding a whistleblower ombudsman to its team to better support those who report wasteful government spending and mismanagement, agency officials announced Wednesday. Robert Storch, counselor to the inspector general, will train and educate Justice Department employees about the role and importance of whistleblowers, as well as their legal rights and protections against retaliation, according to an agency news release. Storch will ensure that whistleblower complaints are reviewed and addressed by the Justice Department inspector general’s office promptly, tell whistleblowers about the status and resolution of their complaints and monitor inspector general investigations of retaliation claims. Storch…