Intel Authorization Whistleblower Protections

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, on September 23, 2021, I inserted for the record an explanation of my intent to hold the Intel Authorization Act because I was concerned with changes made to the whistleblower protections.

Specifically, it would have prevented whistleblowers from going to any committee that had jurisdiction over the matter they were reporting on.

I was also concerned that this bill could inadvertently overturn protections that I authored in 2016 for FBI whistleblowers.

I have long advocated that whistleblowers should have as many avenues as possible to report waste, fraud, and abuse. So I placed a hold and made two simple requests: first, that the law permit whistleblowers to report wrongdoing to any committee of jurisdiction; and second, that language be inserted to clarify that nothing in this bill overturns protections guaranteed for FBI whistleblowers under the FBI Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act.

I am happy to report that Chairman Warner and Ranking Member Rubio agreed to incorporate these changes into the Intel Authorization Act.

I would like to take this opportunity to commend both Senators Warner and Rubio for their commitment to supporting whistleblowers. Thanks to them, Congress is on the verge of passing much needed reforms with regard to how whistleblower complaints in the intel community are handled. I would also like to thank EMPOWER and the many whistleblower advocacy groups that wrote the Senate Intelligence Committee to show the need for these changes.

However, the job is still not done, and the House must agree to support these changes. As such, I urge members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence to support these much needed changes.

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