View source for Government Accountability Project

{{distinguish|Government Accountability Institute|Government Accountability Office}}
{{Short description|American whistleblower protection and advocacy organization}}
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| type = Non-profit organization
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| headquarters = [[Washington, D.C.]]
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| website = {{url|https://www.whistleblower.org|Whistleblower.org}}
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The '''Government Accountability Project''' ('''GAP''') is a nonprofit [[whistleblower]] protection and advocacy organization in the [[United States]]. It was founded in 1977 by the [[Institute for Policy Studies]].<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Feinstein |first1=Samantha |last2=Devine |first2=Tom |date=2021 |title=Are whistleblowing laws working?: A global study of whistleblower protection litigation |url=https://www.ibanet.org/MediaHandler?id=49c9b08d-4328-4797-a2f7-1e0a71d0da55 |access-date=Aug 12, 2024 |website=[[International Bar Association]] |page=2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kinsolving |first=Lester |date=Feb 20, 1979 |title=The Institute for Policy Studies: ' Whistleblowers' with Concealed Finances |url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp88-01315r000300180002-1 |access-date=Aug 12, 2024 |website=[[Central Intelligence Agency]] |publisher=Washington Weekly}}</ref>

Over the years, GAP has struggled with its own workplace discrimination,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dunton |first1=Kasey |title=Caitlyn Jenner's Transition Is Far From Average: Why That Matters |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/caitlyn-jenners-transitio_b_7515290 |access-date=16 January 2025 |publisher=Huffington Post |date=8 June 2015}}</ref> attorney malfeasance and client dissatisfaction.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Volpe |first1=Michael |title=Tom Devine's Whistleblower Grift |url=https://www.theamericanconservative.com/tom-devines-whistleblower-grift/ |access-date=16 January 2025 |publisher=The American Conservative |date=4 January 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Clark |first1=Charles |title=The Whistleblower Who Won't Go Away |url=https://www.govexec.com/management/2015/12/whistleblower-who-wont-go-away/124754/ |access-date=16 January 2025 |publisher=Government Executive |date=29 December 2015}}</ref>

==Activities==
In March 1983, the GAP worked with whistleblower Rick Parks to inform the [[Nuclear Regulatory Commission]] about alleged problems with cleanup procedures after the [[Three Mile Island accident]]. Parks also alleged his apartment had been broken into and drugs were planted in his van. This was popularized in the Netflix documentary ''Meltdown: Three Mile Island''.<ref>[https://whistleblower.org/blog/nuclear-whistleblowers-protected-the-public-from-disaster-now-we-must-protect-their-right-to-speak-up/ Nuclear Whistleblowers Protected the Public from Disaster. Now We Must Protect their Right to Speak Up.]</ref>

In 1992, the GAP represented [[Aldric Saucier]], who had lost his job and security clearance after he criticized the [[Strategic Defense Initiative]].<ref name="washpostlardner">{{cite news|last1=Lardner|first1=George Jr.|title=ARMY ACCUSES SDI CRITIC OF FALSIFYING CREDENTIALS|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1992/04/14/army-accuses-sdi-critic-of-falsifying-credentials/13ffe75f-50f8-4654-9027-536c30880c13/|access-date=August 26, 2017|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=April 14, 1992}}</ref>

In December 2012, Eric Ben-Artzi came forward publicly with evidence of multi-billion dollar securities violations at his employer, [[Deutsche Bank]]. He internally reported violations stemming from the bank's failure to report the value of its credit derivatives portfolio accurately. The bank retaliated in multiple ways and ultimately dismissed him. the GAP filed an official whistleblower complaint on Ben-Artzi's behalf. He was ultimately awarded $8 million from the SEC, which he declined to collect.<ref>{{cite news|title=Deutsche Hid Up to $12Bn Losses, Say Staff|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f03eb1d6-3efd-11e2-a095-00144feabdc0.html|newspaper=Financial Times|date=December 6, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Schechter |first1=Asher |title=The $8 Million Question: Why an Israeli Whistleblower Turned Down His Reward |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/why-did-an-israeli-whistleblower-turn-down-his-reward-1.5429429 |access-date=25 March 2019 |publisher=Haaretz |date=August 25, 2016}}</ref>

GAP represented [[Thomas A. Drake]], a former senior executive with the [[National Security Agency]] (NSA), until 2015 when his lawyer [[Jesselyn Radack]] resigned from GAP and he followed her to the [[Institute for Public Accuracy]].<ref name="ex1">{{cite web |last1=Bill |first1=Lackemacher |title=Digital Coordinator |url=https://whisper.exposefacts.org/clients/#thomas-drake |website=ExposeFacts.org |publisher=Institute for Public Accuracy |access-date=10 December 2024}}</ref> He blew the whistle on multi-billion dollar programmatic fraud, waste, and abuse; the critical loss and suppression of 9/11 intelligence; and the [[Stellar Wind]] project's dragnet electronic [[mass surveillance]] and data-mining (conducted on a vast scale by the agency with the approval of the White House after 9/11). Drake argued that Stellar Wind violated the Constitution and American citizens' civil liberties while weakening national security. In April 2010, the [[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]] charged him with 10 felonies (five under the [[Espionage Act of 1917|Espionage Act]]) and he faced 35 years in prison.<ref>{{cite news|last=Mayer|first=Jane|title=The Secret Sharer: Is Thomas Drake an Enemy of the State?|url=http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/05/23/110523fa_fact_mayer|newspaper=New Yorker|date=May 23, 2011}}</ref> He was the first whistleblower to be charged under the Espionage Act by the Obama administration. All charges were eventually dropped when Drake pleaded to a minor misdemeanor for exceeding the authorized use of a government computer, with no fine or prison time.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Espionage Act: Why Tom Drake was indicted|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-espionage-act-why-tom-drake-was-indicted-21-08-2011/|newspaper=60 Minutes|date=August 22, 2011}}</ref> In the book ''Bravehearts'',<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hertsgaard |first1=Mark |title=Bravehearts: Whistle-Blowing in the Age of Snowden |date=2016 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781510703377 |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Bravehearts/1xF1EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=bravehearts+herzgaard&pg=PP1&printsec=frontcover |access-date=29 December 2024}}</ref> [[Tom Devine (lawyer)|Tom Devine]] took credit for Drake's success, however Drake later clarified that "Tom Devine was never my lawyer at GAP"<ref>{{cite news |last1=Volpe |first1=Michael |title=Tom Devine's Whistleblower Grift |url=https://www.theamericanconservative.com/tom-devines-whistleblower-grift/ |access-date=31 December 2024 |publisher=The American Conservative |date=4 January 2021}}</ref> and that "the voice I had in the court of public opinion was [[Jesselyn Radack]]. She was my voice when I had none."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Gilmore |first1=Jim |title=FRONTLINE: United States of Secrets (Part One) |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/government-elections-politics/united-states-of-secrets/the-frontline-interview-thomas-drake/ |access-date=31 December 2024 |issue=Episode 9 |publisher=Public Broadcasting Service |date=2014}}</ref>

In 2003, [[Federal Air Marshal Service|Federal Air Marshal]] (FAM) [[Robert MacLean]] revealed a cost-cutting plan to cancel FAM coverage from long distance flights on the eve of a confirmed al-Qaeda suicidal hijacking plan. The plan never went into effect after Congress protested, based solely on his whistleblowing disclosure. [[Transportation Security Administration|TSA]] fired him three years later with a single charge of "Unauthorized Disclosure of Sensitive Security Information" – an unclassified "hybrid secrecy" label the TSA retroactively applied to the information that he disclosed.<ref>{{cite news|title=Appeals Court Questions Firing of Air Marshal Who Blew Whistle|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/law/2013/04/26/appeals-court-questions-firing-of-air-marshal-who-blew-whistle/|newspaper=Wall Street Journal|date=April 26, 2013}}</ref> In January 2025, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel vindicated a number of MacLean's safety concerns.

Jim Schrier is a veteran food safety inspector for the [[United States Department of Agriculture|US Department of Agriculture]] (USDA) who was retaliated against after reporting violations of humane handling regulations at an agency-regulated [[Tyson Foods]] slaughter plant in Iowa. Serving as an inspector for 29 years, Schrier reported the violations involving market hogs, which included inadequate stunning techniques and conscious animals being shackled and slaughtered, to his supervisor.<ref>{{cite news|last=McGraw|first=Mike|title=Animal abuse persists at some slaughter plants|url=http://www.kansascity.com/2013/06/28/4320072/animal-abuse-persists-at-some.html|newspaper=Kansas City Star|date=June 28, 2013}}</ref>

GAP represented [[Edward Snowden]], a contractor with the [[National Security Agency]] (NSA), until 2015 when his lawyer [[Jesselyn Radack]] resigned from GAP and he followed her to the [[Institute for Public Accuracy]].<ref name="ex1"/> In early 2013, whistleblower [[Edward Snowden]] began working with journalists to reveal numerous mass surveillance programs conducted by the NSA.<ref>{{cite news|title=Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-surveillance|newspaper=The Guardian|date=June 9, 2013}}</ref> Articles based on Snowden's documents revealed the existence of [[global surveillance]] programs run by the NSA with the cooperation of telecommunication companies and European governments. In June 2013, Snowden became the sixth whistleblower charged under the Espionage Act by the Obama administration.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Finn |first1=Peter |title=U.S. Charges Snowden with Espionage |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-charges-snowden-with-espionage/2013/06/21/507497d8-dab1-11e2-a016-92547bf094cc_story.html |access-date=3 January 2025 |publisher=The Washington Post |date=21 June 2013}}</ref>

As an officer at the U.N. peacekeeping operation in Kosovo in 2007, [[James Wasserstrom]] blocked an alleged conspiracy to pay a $500 million kickback to senior U.N. and Kosovo officials in connection with the construction of a new coal mine and power plant. The [[United Nations Dispute Tribunal|UN Dispute Tribunal]] (UNDT) found he was subjected to serious and protracted retaliation which he faced without protection from the U.N. Ethics Office – the unit established to investigate and act against such reprisals. Wasserstrom faced relentless negative personal and professional consequences of the retaliation, while none of those who engaged in it suffered consequences themselves. He has since lobbied Congress successfully to strengthen [[United States Department of State|State Department]] oversight of UN whistleblower protections<ref>[http://whistleblower.org/press/state-department-now-required-certify-un-whistleblower-program oversight of UN whistleblower protections]</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=U.N. urged to protect whistleblowers – or pay the price|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/02/06/us-law-links-whistleblower-protections-un-funding/5268355/|newspaper=USA Today|date=February 7, 2014}}</ref>

In early 2007, the GAP was responsible for exposing fraud and abuse at the highest levels of the [[World Bank]].<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/27/AR2007032701953.html "Where the Money Is."] ''The Washington Post.'' March 28, 2007.</ref> In May 2007, World Bank President [[Paul Wolfowitz]] left the international organization in the wake of wide-ranging scandals based on multiple releases of documents over the previous two months by the GAP.<ref>[http://www.ft.com/cms/s/023bffd4-03cb-11dc-a931-000b5df10621,_i_rssPage=6700d4e4-6714-11da-a650-0000779e2340.html "Wolfowitz Steps Down as World Bank President."] ''Financial Times.'' May 17, 2007.</ref> Released evidence and exposed information showed that: Wolfowitz's companion, [[Shaha Riza]], received salary raises far in excess of those allowable under Bank rules; Riza received a questionable consulting position with a US defense contractor in 2003 at Wolfowitz' direction that has resulted in State and Defense Department inquiries; [[Juan José Daboub]], Bank Managing Director and Wolfowitz-hire, attempted to remove references and funding for "[[family planning]]" in Bank projects; Wolfowitz' office was responsible for weakening a "climate change" strategy document; Bank Senior Management delayed reporting to Bank staff that a fellow staffer had been seriously wounded in a shooting in Iraq; World Bank lending to Africa during Fiscal Year of 2007 has plummeted; and Wolfowitz was trying to broaden the Bank's portfolio in Iraq over Board opposition.

In 2016, the GAP represented [[World Bank]] whistleblower [[Fabrice Houdart]] when the Bank opened an investigation in his human rights advocacy after he obtained from [[Jim Yong Kim]] that he withdraw an unethical bonus awarded to CFO [[Bertrand Badre]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/04/27/is-jim-yong-kim-destroying-the-world-bank-development-finance/ |title=Is Jim Yong Kim Destroying the World Bank? |publisher=Foreign Policy |date=April 27, 2016 |access-date=2024-03-30}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cigionline.org/articles/bonus-cost-cutting-world-bank-cfo-badre-mystifies-staff/ |title=Bonus for Cost-Cutting: World Bank CFO Badré Mystifies Staff |author=Sandrine Rastello |date=October 1, 2014 |work=News Release |publisher=Centre for International Governance Innovation |access-date=2024-03-30}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Moloney |first1=Kim |last2=Bowman |first2=James S.|last3=West |first3=Jonathan P.|title=Challenges Confronting Whistleblowing and the International Civil Servant |journal=Public Personnel Management |volume=39 |issue=4 |year=2018 |pages=611–634 |doi=10.1177/0734371X18767247 |url=https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X18767247|access-date=2024-03-30}}</ref>

== The Democracy Protection Initiative ==
The Democracy Protection Initiative was launched by the GAP in October 2020. The initiative aimed to encourage and provide support to whistleblowers who came forward with information relating to alleged interference in the [[2020 United States elections]] and during a potential subsequent transition of power.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Advocacy groups form coalition to urge whistleblowers to expose election interference|url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/oct/13/advocacy-coalition-whistleblowers-expose-election-/|access-date=2020-10-20|newspaper=The Washington Times|language=en-US}}</ref> Partners in the initiative included the [[American Constitution Society]], American Oversight, [[Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington]], Georgetown Law's Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, Protect Democracy, [[Public Citizen]], and We The Action.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Schneekloth|first=Abby|date=2020-10-13|title=Top Advocacy Organizations Partner to Represent Whistleblowers and Protect the Election|url=https://whistleblower.org/press-release/press-release-top-advocacy-organizations-partner-to-represent-whistleblowers-and-protect-the-election/|access-date=2020-10-20|website=Government Accountability Project|language=en-US}}</ref>

==Legislation==
The GAP advocated in favor of the [[All Circuit Review Extension Act (H.R. 4197; 113th Congress)|All Circuit Review Extension Act]], a bill that would extend for three years the authority for federal employees who appeal a judgment of the [[Merit Systems Protection Board]] (MSPB) to file their appeal at any federal court, instead of only the [[United States courts of appeals|US Court of Appeals]].<ref name=cbo4197>{{cite web|title=CBO – H.R. 4197|date=April 2014 |url=http://www.cbo.gov/publication/45233|publisher=Congressional Budget Office|access-date=15 July 2014}}</ref> The pilot program was established in the [[Whistleblower Protection Act#Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act and Presidential Policy Directive 19|Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012]] (WPEA) to last only two years. The GAP called the program a "landmark" and said that it was "the WPEA's most significant structural reform",<ref name=GAPpendLeg>{{cite web|title=Pending Legislation|url=http://www.whistleblower.org/pending-legislation|publisher=Government Accountability Project|access-date=15 July 2014}}</ref> and argued that an extension of the program was needed in order to ensure that the [[Government Accountability Office]] (GAO) and Congress had enough time to see the results before deciding whether to make it permanent.<ref name="GAPpendLeg"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Portal|United States}}
* {{Official website|http://www.whistleblower.org}}
* [https://www.c-span.org/organization/?23297/Government-Accountability-Project Government Accountability Project footage on C-SPAN]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Whistleblower support organizations]]
[[Category:Non-profit organizations based in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1977]]