WASHINGTON DC (September 30, 2019) — Senators Charles "Chuck" Grassley (R-IA), Ron Johnson (R-WI), and Mike Lee (R-UT) sent a letter to Inspector General of the Intelligence Community Michael Atkinson Monday to push for answers related to the intelligence community’s decision to change requirements for whistleblowers seeking to report “urgent concerns” to Congress. Prior to the August 2019 update, the agency required whistleblowers to have first-hand knowledge before forwarding complaints to Congress.
“According to a recent news report, the Office of the Intelligence Community Inspector General (IC IG) changed its ‘Disclosure of Urgent Concern’ form, the document by which a whistleblower submits a complaint that can be transmitted to Congress, to no longer require first-hand knowledge of alleged wrongdoing,” the senators wrote. “Specifically, the report described a previous version of the form, which was approved on May 24, 2018, that included a section titled ‘First-Hand Information Required’…”
“We are not aware of any federal law, regulation, or internal directive relating to whistleblowers that requires first-hand information in order for the complaint to be accepted as credible or receive legal protections, which calls into question why your office used it in the first place,” the senators continued.
Full text of the letter can be viewed here.
