Whistleblowers Benefit From Government Accountability Project Ongoing Support

By Louis Clark

Government Accountability Project was born 40 years ago in the wake of Watergate. That presidential scandal was exposed through the joint efforts of The Washington Post and whistleblower Mark Felt, the deputy director of the FBI and identified anonymously as "Deep Throat." By 1977, there was an avalanche of whistleblowing from across the government.

The Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) organized a national conference for them, their supporters, and public interest reform activists who saw in the wave of revelations about wrongdoing, an opportunity to address corruption and reform government, making it more accountable, transparent and legitimate. The conference focused on the plight of the whistleblower and the need for statutory whistleblower protections. In those days, there were no whistleblower laws. On the last day of the conference, participants filled out surveys that included suggestions for how to address the needs of whistleblowers. The vast majority of those questionnaires called for the creation of an organization that would provide direct support to whistleblowers, and develop effective legal remedies for them. Within days, this organization had a name— Government Accountability Project. Its daunting mission was to change the public perception of whistleblowers and develop model legislation that would when enacted protect them. Within a few months, Government Accountability Project added me as staff counsel to provide legal representation to whistleblowers.

At a second national whistleblower conference in May 1978, Government Accountability Project made its first headlines. It exposed the CIA's secret war in Algeria, the failure of the CIA to protect the identities of Vietnamese who had collaborated with the United States during the Vietnam War and the refusal of the Pentagon to build in adequate quality control when it launched its Worldwide Command and Control Intercomputer Network.

Legendary Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg delivered the keynote speech at this national security-related conference, seven years after his own whistleblowing on the Vietnam War had dramatically helped end widespread public support for that war effort.

Now, 40 years later, Government Accountability Project has surpassed its own expectations. It has advised or represented over 8,000 whistleblowers on their legal cases or their efforts to expose and address wrongdoing. Working with vital coalition partners, Government Accountability Project has helped to develop whistleblower legal protections that now extend to 80 million private sector workers, 12 million government contractors and every federal employee, even those within the intelligence community. Polling clearly demonstrates that there has been a revolution in the public acceptance and appreciation of whistleblowers and broad support for their protection.

As one thankful whistleblower has summarized, "Never have so few people done so much good for so many." That statement is not completely accurate because thousands of donors have rallied to the support of Government Accountability Project. Without that critical public support, Government Accountability Project would cease to exist and whistleblowers would once again drown beneath the waves that they have created.

Today, the need for our services could not be greater. Since the 2016 presidential election, we have been facing a political environment that presents unprecedented challenges to holding our government institutions accountable—flagrant, deliberate disregard of truth; attacks on lawmakers, journalists and judges; censorship of information and of employees; contravention of ethics norms and rules; stacking control of public agencies with appointees proudly committed to private interests at the expense of the public interest; expectations of compliance with illegal and unvetted executive orders; and a climate of swift reprisal against those who challenge the Trump administration's legitimacy—including the press, the judiciary, elected officials and career civil servant deemed "disloyal"—in the form of mendacity, venomous verbal attacks and threatened and real reprisal.

However, at this unique moment in time, when concerns about the direction of this country are at a fevered pitch, there is widespread hunger for tools beyond marches and phone calls to hold the current administration accountable and prevent harm to the environment, civil and human rights, consumers, children, workers, national security and other fundamental public interests. Whistleblowers, and the information they disclose, may be the most powerful of those tools, reflecting the adage that information is power and tends to flow to those who are either able to suppress that information or to those who are able to strategically disclose it.

Thanks to the critical support of conscientious citizens such as yourself, Government Accountability Project is now poised to further enhance truth-telling throughout the federal government at a time when the rule of law is clearly under siege by an administration that often presents lies and allegations without evidence to justify its actions. Although as pragmatists seeking utilitarian solutions to serious problems, we recognize that there are philosophical limitations with discerning "truth," nevertheless we are choosing that term as a worthy expression to challenge an emerging power elite that somehow refuses to recognize alternative facts as what they are—falsehoods.

Support Whistleblowers

Contact Michael Termini at (202) 926-3321 or michaelt@whistleblower.org to learn how you can support whistleblowers with a gift to Government Accountability Project.