Congress Extends Whistleblower Protection for Department of Defense Contractor Employees

By Aaron Poehler

Published on January 17, 2008

The whistleblower protections, included in the final conference report to H.R. 1585, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, were championed by Senators Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Armed Services Chair Carl Levin (D-MI) and give contractor employees the right to a jury trial if they do not receive prompt assistance from the DoD Inspector General after suffering retaliatory actions. Other provisions include protected channels of communication for reporting abuses to Congress and to the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, deadlines for DoD investigation of whistleblower retaliation complaints, and expanded scope of protected whistleblowing.

The legislation is expected to be approved by Congress and submitted for the President's signature later this month. If signed into law, the extended whistleblower protections will apply to defense contractor employees both domestically and overseas, most notably in Afghanistan and Iraq, where many whistleblowers have suffered severe retaliatory treatment after reporting extensive corruption and abuse by DoD contractors.

According to a government reconstruction audit, of over $30 billion allocated to rebuilding Iraq, at least $8.8 billion has vanished due to contractor corruption.

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