DOJ Inspector General Defends Anonymity of Intelligence Community Whistleblower
On Wednesday, Inspector General of the Department of Justice (DOJ) Michael Horowitz defended the anonymity of the intelligence community whistleblower who sparked the impeachment proceedings.
The whistleblower has a “right to expect full confidentiality in all circumstances, it’s in the law in the IG Act that Congress wrote,” Horowitz said. He cited the whistleblower provisions of the Whistleblower Protection Act and the Inspector General Act, both of which require the identity of federal employees who make lawful whistleblower disclosures of wrongdoing be kept confidential.
Horowitz, who has said that whistleblower rights and protections have been one of his highest priorities since becoming IG, called the law a “very important provision.”
In a recent Op-Ed in The Hill, the qui tam lawyers at the whistleblower law firm Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto explained the specific laws that protect the confidentiality of intelligence community whistleblowers. They specifically addressed protections for the Trump-Ukraine whistleblower. Read The Trump-Ukraine whistleblower has a statutory right to confidentiality: it’s the law.
The partners also published two lists of frequently asked questions (FAQs) regarding the Trump-Ukraine whistleblower:
Can Federal Employees “Blow the Whistle” Confidentially?
Can Federal Employees Blow the Whistle on the President?
