Draft report: Investigators prematurely closed military whistleblower reprisal cases
(POGO) “You’re in the military. You blew the whistle. Something bad happened to your career. You ask your military service Inspector General or the big Department of Defense Inspector General (DoD IG) to investigate what you believe is reprisal. You’re in good hands, right? Maybe not. Or at least there’s some reason for concern.
“There are numerous problems with how investigators are handling these cases, according to a draft Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that POGO has obtained. Perhaps the most concerning finding is that unclear guidance “has resulted in investigators closing cases prematurely,” according to the draft. The guidance relates to “a key investigative question” on whether an adverse personnel action would be taken against the complainant in absence of whistleblowing. A “yes” answer to this question was estimated by GAO to be the cause, at least in part, for “65 percent of the cases closed between January 1, 2009 and March 31, 2011.” “