After review and consideration of feedback received in response to his transparency and accountability proposal, Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger today announced updates to OSC's procedures. These changes are intended to enhance government accountability and provide more public visibility when agencies' review of potential misconduct takes longer than Congressional expectations.
Public Summaries of Whistleblower Allegations:
The law authorizing OSC to direct agencies to investigate possible wrongdoing based on whistleblower allegations expects an agency response within 60 days of OSC's referral. While the law allows OSC to grant an extension of that deadline for an agency to complete its investigation, too often agencies are taking far longer to provide a satisfactory response.
OSC last year began providing statistics of allegations that have been referred for investigation after more than 60 days have passed, including the name of the department at issue as well as the date the referral was made.
For referrals over 90 days old, OSC will now publicly provide a short, high-level summary of the allegations. The 90-day summaries represent a compromise position from the initial proposal to post summaries of allegations after 60 days. Decisions on whether to post a summary will be made on a case-by-case basis in consultation with whistleblowers. Summaries will be posted in instances where the whistleblower consents and the posting should not threaten the integrity of the agency's review or otherwise not be in the public interest.
“I greatly appreciate all the comments and feedback we received in response to my proposal," said Dellinger. “While I believe there is a solid basis grounded on the relevant statutory text for publicly releasing the full referral after 60 days have elapsed, a mere summary posted after 90 days is a reasonable compromise to address the inability of agencies to meet the presumptive deadline established by Congress."
To see an initial posted summary, please visit the work in progress webpage.
Agency Head 'Review and Sign' Requirement:
The Special Counsel's view is that agency heads are statutorily required to review and sign investigative reports of whistleblower allegations submitted to OSC. The statutory text clearly assigns agency heads this responsibility pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 1213, the law that gives OSC authority to mandate investigations of whistleblower allegations. This clarification is in response to some agency heads electing to delegate signing authority to subordinate agency officials.
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