Friday, June 29, 2012
Grassley, Issa work to protect whistleblowers from retaliation at the ATF
Lawmakers ask Inspector General to take immediate action in response to job placement
WASHINGTON -Senator Chuck Grassley and Chairman Darrell Issa today asked the Inspector General for the Department of Justice to immediately investigate whether steps have been taken to prevent retaliation against whistleblowers in the Fast and Furious case by senior management of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in light of inflammatory comments by ATF personnel reported to the lawmakers' offices.
In a letter sent this afternoon to Michael E. Horowitz, Grassley and Issa detailed hostile and extremely negative comments that were made last year about two of the main whistleblowers who testified before Congress, according to a direct eyewitness account. Grassley and Issa said they have just learned that the two whistleblowers have been placed under the supervision of the ATF official who reportedly made the comments, Scot Thomasson.
Grassley and Issa said the fact that these alleged comments have been in public documents since May, and since the Inspector General should be "a firm, independent voice within the Department to protect whistleblowers from retaliation," they're asking the Inspector General to investigate how the ATF official has been admonished, how the ATF official was elevated and given such supervisory duties, and what steps are being taken to protect the whistleblowers from the campaign of retaliation the ATF official expressed a desire to conduct in his comments.
Click here to read the letter of request from Grassley and Issa.
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