We support our Publishers and Content Creators. You can view this story on their website by CLICKING HERE.

Two GOP senators are raising concerns about the protections, or lack thereof, being granted to Secret Service whistleblowers by the Biden-Harris administration.

In a letter written on Friday to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson revealed that, according to their whistleblower sources, Secret Service employees were forced to sign nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) sometime in early July.

The whistleblower sources said they were forced to sign the NDAs to access briefings containing “sensitive reporting” regarding their work protecting former President Donald Trump.

What Grassley and Johnson would like to know is whether the NDAs contained anti-gag language ensuring that signers knew that they had the right to blow the whistle if and when necessary.

Anti-gag language is reportedly required as per the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA), as explained by the senators in their letter to Mayorkas.

“The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA) clearly and unequivocally states that no federal agency nondisclosure policy, form, agreement, or related documents may be implemented or enforced if it does not contain specific language notifying the employee of their rights to disclose waste, fraud, abuse, or misconduct to Congress, an Inspector General, or the Office of Special Counsel (OSC),” they explained.

“Further, the anti-gag provision included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act provides that no funds appropriated may be used by federal agencies to implement or enforce any nondisclosure, policy, form, agreement, or related documents unless it contains the specific language notifying employees of their aforementioned whistleblower rights,” they added.

In their letter, Grassley and Johnson also noted that they’ve noticed a trend in Biden-Harris administration agencies forcing employees to sign NDAs devoid of anti-gag language.

“In conducting our congressional oversight, we’ve noticed a trend among federal agencies to require their employees to sign nondisclosure and related agreements without the inclusion of the anti-gag provision,” they wrote.

The two also revealed their own past efforts at ensuring that all Biden-Harris administration NDAs contain the required language.

“On March 11, 2024, Ranking Member Grassley wrote to all 74 Inspectors General requesting they conduct a review of their parent agency’s nondisclosure policies, forms, agreements, and related documents to ensure they contained the anti-gag provision as required by law,” they wrote.

“Moreover, on April 3, 2024, in recognition of the importance of federal employees knowing their constitutional and statutory rights to blow the whistle, the Office of Special Counsel released a statement saying ‘OSC will continue to aggressively enforce the prohibition against nondisclosure agreements and communications that discourage employees from blowing the whistle,’” they added.

The problem is that a month later in May, the DHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) revealed that, according to an internal DHS report from 2018, many NDAs were lacking the language.

But it gets worse.

“The DHS OIG also said that during the Biden-Harris administration, ‘DHS employees had been told that they should not provide documents directly to OIG’ without prior review by DHS attorneys,” Grassley and Johnson explained.

“The DHS OIG said that ‘this review process could violate the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA), which prohibits an agency from implementing or enforcing a policy that restricts employees’ communications with an OIG concerning waste, fraud, or abuse.’

The senators continued their letter by highlighting the importance of whistleblower protections.

“The importance of whistleblowers knowing their rights under the law cannot be stated enough, and federal agencies should encourage their employees to disclose allegations of waste, fraud, and abuse through all appropriate channels,” they wrote. “Federal agencies cannot conceal their wrongdoing behind illegal non-disclosure policies and related actions.”

The letter concluded with the senators lecturing DHS to do better.

“With DHS’s reportedly long history of lack of transparency, retaliation, and attempts to silence whistleblowers, it’s critically important to know whether the nondisclosure policies and related documents provided in these whistleblower disclosures and DHS-wide contain the anti-gag provision as required by law,” they wrote.

“Further with ongoing Congressional, OIG, and other investigations into the July 13 and September 15 assassination attempts against former President Trump, it’s crucial that DHS embrace transparency to the American people and show that it isn’t seeking, through its nondisclosure agreements or otherwise, to chill DHS employee communications to Congress, the OIG, and the OSC,” they added.

Vivek Saxena
Latest posts by Vivek Saxena (see all)

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.