Government Accountability Project, Inc.

Government Accountability Project’s National Security team works with whistleblowers to expose and confront illegal and unconstitutional actions at the highest levels of government. In addition to exposing cases of excessive government secrecy, torture and assassination, and government surveillance, the National Security team ensures democratic principles are not sacrificed in the name of security.

Through legislative advocacy and independent investigations, the National Security team has championed the rights of whistleblowers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, Department of Homeland Security, military, and State Department. Notable national security clients have included Edward Snowden, Babak Pasar, and the “Trailblazer” whistleblowers including William Binney, Thomas Drake, Kirk Wiebe, and Ed Loomis.

Our Environment, Energy, and Climate Change program reflects the deeply intertwined nature of these three broad topic areas and the critical importance of an interdisciplinary approach to problem-solving, interagency government cooperation, and interconnected grassroots efforts to force positive change. The EE&CC team works with brave whistleblowers who expose unlawful and corrupt activity in order to right environmental wrongs and achieve greater accountability and transparency. We address myriad problems associated with industrial pollution; nuclear energy safety; over-dependence on fossil fuels; global climate change; and the critical need to shift to a sustainable energy future.

Climate Science & Policy Watch is a government and corporate watchdog and advocacy program founded in 2005 by whistleblower Rick Piltz. We are dedicated to holding public officials accountable for responsibly using climate science research in policymaking with integrity. CSPW fights against climate science denial and exposes the pernicious role of Big Oil in spreading disinformation regarding the causal link between fossil fuel use and the existential threat of global climatic disruption. Our goal is to see society integrating science and policy to bolster national preparedness by improving our collective abilities to avoid the unmanageable, and manage the unavoidable, impacts of climate change.

Government Accountability Project, through its International Whistleblower Rights work, champions the creation, implementation, and monitoring of rights and best practices to support whistleblowers around the world. Since the mid-1990s, our team has drafted whistleblower policies for international organizations, including the World Bank, the Organization of American States, and the United Nations, hosted hundreds of international delegations through the State Department, and participated in speaking tours promoting whistleblower rights in over two dozen countries. The State Department has dubbed our legal director, Tom Devine, the ambassador of whistleblowing.

Our international team provides expert assessments on countries’ whistleblower laws and conducts trainings in host nations for various stakeholders, including judges, prosecutors, law enforcement, Inspectors General, government agencies, nonprofits, and academics. The program has assisted in drafting proposed whistleblower legislation in over a dozen countries including Ghana, Serbia, and Tunisia.

Our International Whistleblower Rights team investigates international organizations from the World Trade Organization to the UN, researches and publishes reports on international agencies and organizations, and supports international scholarship on whistleblowing and accountability through the Getulio P. Carvalho Fellowship.

Through a combination of investigation, litigation, advocacy, and educational outreach, Government Accountability Project has helped clients at all levels expose criminal activity and abuse from various federal agencies and departments. Frequently, we work with government investigators, regulators, and law enforcement agencies to convey client concerns.

Additionally, our team trains managers and staff on whistleblowing law and procedure both domestically and abroad. Over the course of our history, we have trained tens of thousands of employees, governmental leaders, and policy makers from around the globe.

For more than ten years, Government Accountability Project led a bipartisan coalition of over 400 organizations and companies in a campaign to restore whistleblower rights for federal government employees and contractors. On November 27, 2012, Government Accountability Project’s tireless work paid off and the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA) was signed into law.

Government Accountability Project’s Public Health program empowers whistleblowers to protect the public from dangerous drugs, medical devices, environmental contaminants, and threats to food integrity. The Public Health team advocates strong legal and regulatory protections for truth-tellers, presents disclosures to the government and the public, and vigorously defends whistleblowers against retaliation.

In the modern world, most people don’t have time to monitor everything that goes into the food we eat – to make sure it’s grown and produced safely. The reality is that there are those who refuse to play by the rules we’ve created as a society: to ensure the health and welfare of animals, to protect the environment, to treat our food workers with respect, and to keep the food we eat safe for our families. Luckily, there are whistleblowers who speak out and tell us the truth – even when threatened and intimidated.

Government Accountability Project’s Food Integrity Campaign was born in 2009 out of a critical need to create an accountable and transparent agricultural industry.

Since 1977, Government Accountability Project has been on the frontlines, representing over 8,000 whistleblowers while also enacting and defending the laws that protect them. Through Government Accountability Project’s Education and Partnerships initiative, we seek to share this expertise to support whistleblowers across the globe. Our programs build broad public support for the essential role whistleblowers play in protecting the public interest.

Our Education and Partnership initiatives work in tandem. We produce resources about whistleblowing for both employees considering reporting abuses and for key whistleblower allies, such as journalists and public interest advocates, who often work with employees and receive valuable information about misconduct. We also share our expertise on whistleblowing through frequent talks, trainings, and workshops to a wide range of audiences, including students, activists, professional associations, Congressional or agency staff, unions, corporate leadership, and the general public. We work closely with academics on whistleblowing-related research and scholarship. And by building partnerships with diverse stakeholders, including public interest organizations, journalists, lawyers, and academics, we create a network of support that helps eradicate the reasons employees stay silent: fear of reprisal and fear of futility. Our Education and Partnerships efforts ensure that whistleblowers are protected and make a difference, thus increasing the flow of information that is the fuel of accountability.