{
  "id": "RL33215",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL33215",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 311431,
      "date": "2005-12-30",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T19:23:48.458029",
      "title": "National Security Whistleblowers",
      "summary": "To discharge its constitutional duties, Congress depends on information obtained from the\nexecutive\nbranch. Domestic and national security information is provided through agency reports and direct\ncommunications from department heads, but lawmakers also receive information directly from\nemployees within the agencies. They take the initiative in notifying Congress, its committees, and\nMembers of Congress about alleged agency illegalities, corruption, and waste within the agency. \nThis type of information comes from a group known as whistleblowers.\n \n Through such techniques as \u201cgag orders\u201d and nondisclosure agreements,\nPresidents have\nattempted to block agency employees from coming directly to Congress. In response, Congress has\nenacted legislation in an effort to assure the uninterrupted flow of domestic and national security\ninformation to lawmakers and their staffs. Members of Congress have made it clear they do not want\nto depend solely on information provided by agency heads. Overall, the issue has been how to\nprotect employees who are willing to alert Congress about agency wrongdoing.\n \n The first procedures enacted to protect agency whistleblowers appeared in the Civil Service\nReform of 1978. It also contained language that excluded protections to whistleblowers who work\nin federal agencies involved in intelligence and counterintelligence. In 1989, Congress passed the\nWhistleblower Protection Act in an effort to strengthen statutory protections for federal employees\nwho assist in the elimination of fraud, waste, abuse, illegality, and corruption. That statute continued\nthe exemption for national security information. It did not authorize the disclosure of any\ninformation by an agency or any person that is (1) specifically prohibited from disclosure by any\nother provision of law, or (2) \u201cspecifically required by Executive order to be kept secret in\nthe\ninterest of national defense or the conduct of foreign affairs.\u201d\n \n Several statutes apply expressly to national security information. Congress has passed a series\nof laws known collectively as the Military Whistleblowers Protection Act, under which members\nof the military may give information to Members of Congress. It also passed the Intelligence\nCommunity Whistleblower Protection Act of 1998 to encourage the reporting to Congress of\nwrongdoing within the intelligence agencies. In crafting this legislation, Congress has sought to\nbalance its need for information with national security requirements, giving intelligence community\nwhistleblowers access to Congress only through the intelligence committees. For legal analysis see\nCRS Report 97-787,  Whistleblower Protections for Federal Employees , by L. Paige Whitaker\nand\nMichael Schmerling.\n \n This report will be updated as events warrant.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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      "topics": []
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  ],
  "topics": [
    "Constitutional Questions"
  ]
}