Thread by @Olivia_Gazis

NEW AND IMPORTANT. The IC IG releases lengthy statement in apparent response to some news reports (and all-caps tweets) about rules for filing whistleblower disclosures.

Long story short, the whistleblower did everything right.

Excerpts to follow.

dni.gov/files/ICIG/Doc…

The Disclosure of Urgent Concern form the Complainant submitted on August 12, 2019 "is the same form the ICIG has had in place since May 24, 2018, which went into effect before Inspector General Atkinson entered on duty" as the IC IG on May 29, 2018, following his swearing in

Although the form requests information about whether
the Complainant possesses first-hand knowledge about the matter about which he or she is lodging the complaint, **there is no such requirement set forth in the statute** (emphasis mine)

By law the Complainant–or any individual in the IC who wants to report information with respect to an urgent concern to the congressional intel committees-"**need not possess first-hand information in order to file a complaint or information with respect to an urgent concern**"

The Complainant **on the form he/she submitted in fact "checked two relevant boxes: The first box stated that, “I have personal and/or direct knowledge of events or records involved”; and the second box stated that, “Other employees have told me about events or records involved.”

The IC IG determined that the Complainant had **"official and authorized access to the information and sources referenced in the Complainant’s Letter and Classified Appendix, including direct knowledge of certain alleged conduct..."

"... and that the Complainant has subject matter expertise related to much of the material information provided in the Complainant’s Letter and Classified Appendix."

The ICIG did not find that the Complainant could “provide nothing more than second-hand or unsubstantiated assertions,” which would have made it much harder...for the IG to determine in a 14-calendar day review period that the complaint “appeared credible,” as required by statute

Although Complainant’s Letter acknowledged s/he was not a direct witness to the President’s July 25 call with the Ukrainian President, the ICIG determined that **"other information obtained during the ICIG’s preliminary review supported the Complainant’s allegations"**

"The Complainant followed the law in filing the urgent concern complaint, and the ICIG followed the law in
transmitting the information to the Acting Director of National Intelligence on August 26, 2019."

On the forms.

ICIG understood that "certain language in those forms and, more specifically, the informational materials accompanying them, could be read–incorrectly–as suggesting that whistleblowers must possess first-hand information" to file an urgent concern complaint

... The ICIG will "continue to update and clarify its forms and its websites to ensure its guidance to whistleblowers is clear" and strictly complies with statutory requirements.

"Consistent with the law, the new forms do not require whistleblowers to possess first-hand information in order to file a complaint or information with respect to an urgent concern"

And if you read nothing else, just this concluding paragraph should do: