The Invisible Chains that Shackle Whistleblowers and Workplace Justice Advocates You are seen as a Problem. You are not Credible unless you win your case. You cannot win your case unless you abide by these rules. These rules are the rules you must internalize. These rules are the rules you

Last September, nearly a year after the passage of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act, the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board issued a decision in O’Donnell v. USDA, 2013 MSPB 69 (Sept. 10, 2013), which resurrected a whistleblower-hostile ruling from 2000: that disclosures of wrongdoing made in the adjudicative context could not be protected because

Can you be an effective advocate for whistleblowers’ rights if you don’t believe retaliation is immoral? Readers of this website know that I am not a fan of Tom Devine, Legal Director at the Government Accountability Project. I believe that he possesses/possessed far too much influence in whistleblower circles, given

From The Guardian: The White House conceded on Monday that revelations about how its intelligence agencies have intercepted enormous amounts of French phone traffic raised “legitimate questions for our friends and allies”. In a statement released after a phone call between Barack Obama and his counterpart, François Hollande, the White

A few days ago, it was revealed that U.S. Senator Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) objected to, and got removed, a provision in the shutdown deal legislation that would have funded the Office of Special Counsel, the nation’s top federal whistelblower defender, at the levels proposed by the White House, $20.6M (a figure which

IRONY ALERT: @OpenTheGov holds private summit on govt transparency, declines to specify what was discussed http://t.co/AKqAdBHA4u #secrecy — MSPB Watch (@MSPBWatch) October 15, 2013 @OpenTheGov if @US_OSC 's role in #FOIA oversight wasn't brought up, then it's just an echo chamber — MSPB Watch (@MSPBWatch) October 16, 2013 The Office

A few weeks ago, the Senate confirmed the nomination of OPM general counsel/acting OPM director/former Special Counsel Elaine Kaplan to the little-known U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The Court of Federal Claims hears government contracts cases, vaccination fund claims, and other odd legal bits and ends. Past alumni from this

Two developments in the whistleblower world caught the Government Accountability Project speaking out of both sides of its mouth today. Here’s GAP’s Legal Director, Tom Devine, on news that the Federal Circuit dealt a serious blow today to national security employees’ (and possibly all federal employees’) civil service protections: Last year Congress

For a copy of PPD-19, click here. For information about Congress’ role in stripping whistleblower protections for intelligence community contractors in December 2012, click here.

An interesting read from Popular Resistance: Rumors have flown for many years that DC police routinely infiltrate and spy on the frequent protests in the nation’s Capitol. But until now, activists have never been able to identify a specific undercover cop at a protest. Now, after months of piecing together