The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs favorably reported out a bill April 13 that would strengthen whistleblower protections. The measure, the Federal Employee Protection of Disclosures Act (S. 494), would amend the Whistleblower Protection Act to provide additional protections for federal employees. Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI) introduced the bill, which is identical to legislation introduced in the 108th Congress as S. 2628. That bill, S. 2628, was the first stand-alone whistleblower protection bill to be approved by the Senate Committee on Government Affairs in 10 years. The Federal Employee Protection of Disclosures Act would clarify the original congressional intent for the WPA, and strengthens the language by:

• Adding a provision that allows for the protection of any disclosure that provides evidence of waste, abuse or violation of any law, rule or regulation;
• Allowing the Office of Special Counsel to file amicus briefs with federal courts;
• Requiring employee training on whistleblower rights;
• Permitting the review of whistleblower cases by any court of appeals, not just the Federal Circuit, as is currently the case;
• Protecting whistleblowers from having security clearances revoked as retaliatory actions;
• Amending the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to permit the disclosure of independently obtained critical infrastructure information if it provides evidence of waste, fraud or abuse.

Congress unanimously strengthened the WPA in 1994, but the courts have defied its statutory language and congressional intent by ruling to severely limit the cases in which whistleblowers receive protection. The protections have been whittled down so that whistleblowers will not be protected if they blow the whistle about wrongdoing to co-workers, if the whistleblowing connects with their job duties, or if another whistleblower has already exposed the issue. Recent whistleblowers have demonstrated the importance of these individuals in exposing serious and unaddressed problems in government. FBI translator Sibel Edmonds was fired after publicly revealing that the agency was purposely delaying document translations to get more funding, and employing a person connected with individuals under FBI investigation, among other accusations. She later sued the FBI for wrongful termination, but her suit was dismissed after the government argued that the case would divulge state secrets if it proceeded. Edmonds has filed an appeal, and oral arguments for her new case will begin April 21. S. 494 is cosponsored by Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Charles Grassley (R-IA), Carl Levin (D-MI), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), George Voinovich (R-OH), Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), Norm Coleman (R-MN), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Mark Dayton (D-MN) , Mark. Pryor (D-AR), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Thomas Carper (D-DE) and Lincoln Chafee (R-RI).