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After WikiLeaks, Whistle-Blower Bill Gains Steam
Following the latest baring of U.S. secrets on the Internet, Congress is poised to pass legislation giving employees in the most sensitive government jobs a way to report corruption, waste and mismanagement without turning to outside organizations like WikiLeaks.
President Barack Obama is expected to sign the bill, which supporters say will discourage leaks of classified information. The legislation would allow intelligence agency whistle-blowers to raise concerns within their agencies instead of giving classified materials to WikiLeaks or other outlets, which is illegal.
CBSNews.com Special Report: WikiLeaks
Without protections spelled out in law, whistle-blowers risk being fired or demoted for informing their chains of command about misconduct, according to Tom Devine, legal director at the Government Accountability Project. That leaves no alternative to anonymous - and potentially damaging - leaks unless whistle-blowers are willing to jeopardize their careers, he said.
"Until this law is passed, WikiLeaks will continue to be the safest option for whistle-blowers unwilling to engage in professional suicide," said Devine, who is coordinating support for the bill from a coalition of more than 60 public interest and advocacy groups.
The Senate is expected to approve the bill this week and send it to the House, where Democrats are planning to pass it quickly.
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In an e-mailed statement, White House spokesman Josh Earnest called the bill "landmark legislation" that the Obama administration hopes "will be passed promptly."
The bill would not protect WikiLeaks or anyone who improperly reveals sensitive information. On Sunday, WikiLeaks, which uses the Internet to expose government secrets, released thousands of classified State Department documents, leaving federal officials fuming and scrambling to contain the damage.
No one has been charged with passing the diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks. But suspicion is focused on Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, an intelligence analyst arrested in Iraq in June and charged over an earlier leak. Attorney General Eric Holder said Monday the Justice Department will prosecute anyone found to have violated U.S. law by giving government documents to WikiLeaks.
The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act bars workplace reprisals against employees at the CIA and other intelligence organizations for telling their superiors about illegal activities, abuses of authority and dangers to public health or safety, according to a draft of the legislation.
The bill also requires the director of national intelligence to set up a special review board to resolve cases involving whistle-blowers who believe their security clearances were suspended or revoked as punishment for speaking out. This would mark the first time employees with clearances will be able to dispute an agency's decision regarding access to classified information.
It also gives expanded whistle-blower protections to civil service employees outside the intelligence agencies, including thousands of Transportation Security Administration baggage screeners and headquarters staff. The rights extend to employees who challenge the censorship or misrepresentation of federal research.
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Whistle-blowers outside the intelligence agencies would also be able to seek a jury trial in federal court to appeal dismissals or demotions. An earlier version of a House bill extended this provision to intelligence employees. But Obama administration officials objected, arguing classified information would be compromised if these cases were heard outside a classified setting.
Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said Wednesday the legislation "provides a means of securing justice to those individuals who are punished for doing the right thing."
In a bid to draw attention to the risks whistle-blowers now face, Devine's organization prepared a report detailing the ordeals of 12 government officials whose employers sought "to enforce secrecy though repression."
Among them is Thomas Drake, a former National Security Agency official who reported "massive fraud, waste and abuse" in agency surveillance programs to the NSA inspector general's office. Drake's reward, according to the report, was an indictment in April under the Espionage Act for allegedly making unauthorized contact with a newspaper reporter after he had exhausted all other means for disclosing the problems he witnessed.
© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the bill, which supporters say will discourage leaks of classified information. The legislation would allow intelligence agency whistle-blowers to raise concerns within their agencies instead of giving classified materials to WikiLeaks or other outlets, which is illegal.
CBSNews.com Special Report: WikiLeaks
Without protections spelled out in law, whistle-blowers risk being fired or demoted for informing their chains of command about misconduct, according to Tom Devine, legal director at the Government Accountability Project. That leaves no alternative to anonymous - and potentially damaging - leaks unless whistle-blowers are willing to jeopardize their careers, he said.
"Until this law is passed, WikiLeaks will continue to be the safest option for whistle-blowers unwilling to engage in professional suicide," said Devine, who is coordinating support for the bill from a coalition of more than 60 public interest and advocacy groups.
The Senate is expected to approve the bill this week and send it to the House, where Democrats are planning to pass it quickly.
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In an e-mailed statement, White House spokesman Josh Earnest called the bill "landmark legislation" that the Obama administration hopes "will be passed promptly."
The bill would not protect WikiLeaks or anyone who improperly reveals sensitive information. On Sunday, WikiLeaks, which uses the Internet to expose government secrets, released thousands of classified State Department documents, leaving federal officials fuming and scrambling to contain the damage.
No one has been charged with passing the diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks. But suspicion is focused on Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, an intelligence analyst arrested in Iraq in June and charged over an earlier leak. Attorney General Eric Holder said Monday the Justice Department will prosecute anyone found to have violated U.S. law by giving government documents to WikiLeaks.
The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act bars workplace reprisals against employees at the CIA and other intelligence organizations for telling their superiors about illegal activities, abuses of authority and dangers to public health or safety, according to a draft of the legislation.
The bill also requires the director of national intelligence to set up a special review board to resolve cases involving whistle-blowers who believe their security clearances were suspended or revoked as punishment for speaking out. This would mark the first time employees with clearances will be able to dispute an agency's decision regarding access to classified information.
It also gives expanded whistle-blower protections to civil service employees outside the intelligence agencies, including thousands of Transportation Security Administration baggage screeners and headquarters staff. The rights extend to employees who challenge the censorship or misrepresentation of federal research.
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Whistle-blowers outside the intelligence agencies would also be able to seek a jury trial in federal court to appeal dismissals or demotions. An earlier version of a House bill extended this provision to intelligence employees. But Obama administration officials objected, arguing classified information would be compromised if these cases were heard outside a classified setting.
Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said Wednesday the legislation "provides a means of securing justice to those individuals who are punished for doing the right thing."
In a bid to draw attention to the risks whistle-blowers now face, Devine's organization prepared a report detailing the ordeals of 12 government officials whose employers sought "to enforce secrecy though repression."
Among them is Thomas Drake, a former National Security Agency official who reported "massive fraud, waste and abuse" in agency surveillance programs to the NSA inspector general's office. Drake's reward, according to the report, was an indictment in April under the Espionage Act for allegedly making unauthorized contact with a newspaper reporter after he had exhausted all other means for disclosing the problems he witnessed.
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I have to tell you that feel bad for Pfc. Manning because the private will face a court martial and prison time. He is like me...a lowly, middle class, working private. He allegedly released INFORMATION which was gathered by my government with the support of my, away from home, labor intensive tax dollars.
Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzales & Bush walk away with the support of my government and tax dollars. No questions asked and no worries for them except which shrub needs to be trimmed on the ranch in the morning.
To live a privileged life must be liberating.
Anyway...Its getting late and I have to get up early to make extra cash to keep the lights on and pay my taxes.
The whistleblower bill is long overdue, and blocked by only those who fear exposure of wrong-doing.
The very idea of responsible disclosure terrifies companies like BP, which actively harasses not only company employees, but even state employees who know of BP abuses and go public.
If BP is understandably hostile to disclosure of its wrongdoing, what does this say about federal officials who ostensibly work for all Americans?
As case in point, Cheney and Bush did their best to silence whistleblowers in their term, which explains the bounty of Bush-era scandals which surfaced after they left office.
For those who fear the principle of public disclosure, they have only to refresh their knowledge of American history and the founders. There is abundant evidence government secrecy was considered the arch-enemy of democracy and responsible governance.
I do not believe anyone has been put in danger, as they are saying, because no one had to be protected. Watch Link TV on direct tv channel 375 to get the real stories.
I hope they can reinstate you.
BUSH, CHENEY, the WAR in IRAQ...Weapons of Mass Destruction, Torture, Guantanamo and the denial of International RED CROSS access for 3 years...??? Don't you get it? WAR CRIMINALS...and they are walking the streets of the USA.
Wikileaks is hardly posting any crimes per se.
We must be blind and cannot see.