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Accountability is essential to open government. The Administration has consistently worked to strengthen whistleblower laws
to protect Federal workers who expose waste, fraud, and abuse of authority in government through the appropriate channels.
In the Plan, the Administration committed to use executive action if Congress failed to act in this area. The Administration
was pleased that on November 27, 2012 - after four years of work with advocates and Congress - the President signed the Whistleblower
Protection Enhancement Act of 2012. Its passage vindicates longstanding Administration efforts to promote commonsense legislative
protections. The Act closes loopholes and upgrades protections for Federal workers who blow the whistle on waste, fraud, abuse,
and illegality. In particular, it improves whistleblower protections for Federal employees by clarifying the scope of protected
disclosures; expanding judicial review; expanding the penalties imposed for violating whistleblower protections; creating
new protections for Transportation Security Officers and scientists; creating whistleblower ombudsmen; and strengthening the
authority of the Office of Special Counsel to assist whistleblowers. The Administration supported a legislative proposal that
would have also included protections for the intelligence community. When it became evident that those provisions would be
a barrier to the bill's passage, the President took executive action, issuing a landmark directive that extended whistleblower
protections to the intelligence and national security communities for the first time, with the signing of Presidential Policy
Directive 19 in October 2012. Given the unique security issues facing these communities, developing the Directive required
a long and sustained consensus-building effort within the Executive Branch. Though reforms taken through executive action
are inherently constrained by the limits of existing authorities, and the success of the Directive will depend on agency implementation,
its reforms are significant, and may pave the way for legislative action in the future. In response to civil society feedback,
the White House recently published the Directive online.
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Recently, Congress nearly enacted legislation that would eliminate loopholes in existing protections, provide protections
for employees in the intelligence community, and create pilot programs to explore potential structural reforms in the remedial
process. The Administration will continue to work with Congress to enact this legislation.
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