The Whistleblower Protection Act of 2007

The Whistleblower Enhancement Act of 2007 expanded protection to include federal intelligence agencies.

An amendment to the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989, the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2007 increases the protection afforded to federal employees. The enhancement extends protection to government entities not previously covered.

Trigger

According to OpenCongress.org, whistleblower protection was triggered by "a personnel action that was taken because of a protected disclosure made by a covered employee." This means punitive changes made to an employee's role, status or employment conditions in response to a disclosure of information. The original law did not apply to employees who deal with matters of national intelligence.

Enhancement

The Enhancement Act extended coverage to employees of the FBI, CIA, National Security Agency and any executive agency determined by the president to have as its principal function the conduct of foreign intelligence or counterintelligence activities, according to the Federation of American Scientists (FAS).

Science

Employees of science-based agencies enjoy protection under the new law. Protected disclosures include those of abuse of authority, which now includes any actions that compromise the quality of federally funded research. According to the FAS, this also includes "the dissemination of false or misleading scientific, medical or technical information."

References

• Open Congress: Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act
• Federation of American Scientists: Whistleblower Protection Act Overview