I've been quieter on Twitter than usual, but POGO's policy team has been toiling away to advance reforms through Congress to protect #whistleblowers and empower inspectors general. Those reforms are desperately needed to prevent waste and fraud:
marketwatch.com/story/5-of-the… Next week, the @HSGAC will hold a hearing to consider three bills that would empower nonpartisan inspectors general to aggressively carry out their anti fraud and waste mission, without fear that it will lead to their firing. hsgac.senate.gov/hearings/09/29…

The House has begun consideration of the #IG Independence and Empowerment Act. The bill would protect our nonpartisan watchdogs from political interference and give them the tools they need to oversee the executive branch. For example, did you know IGs can't compel former agency employees to cooperate with their investigations? That means someone abusing the powers of government or wasting taxpayer resources can evade accountability by simply taking another job. This bill would fix that.

🧵Are you worried about government corruption?

Well let me introduce you to Inspectors General, the independent watchdogs that exist to identify government corruption. I'll also explain why Congress must give them removal protections to preserve their independence. 1/18 As I testified in the House yesterday, Congress created federal inspectors general because the previous approach of letting government agencies oversee themselves for waste and corruption was a failure. 2/18

Ranking Member @TomColeOK04 starts the Rules committee hearing on congressional authorities by remarking that in most hearings the committee is split 9-4, talking about the party breakdown, but today it is a united 13-0. c-span.org/video/?469936-… @TomColeOK04 Immediately before, @RepMcGovern explained that all witnesses were chosen on a bipartisan basis and the briefing for the committee members was conducted by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. The issue is nonpartisan and the solutions should be nonpartisan as well.

There is a lot of misinformation out there about what makes someone a #whistleblower - specifically in the intelligence community (not sure why, just kidding yes I do). I'm hoping to clear some of that up. A thread: Importantly, the word whistleblower has two meanings and it's good to be clear about which one you're using. One is a legal definition, rooted in the various statutes Congress has passed, and the other is a broader definition. In this thread, I'm using the legal definition.

It's the moment that approximately 2 of you have been waiting for! We at @POGOBlog released our Baker’s Dozen at the end of January – so it’s about time I do a tweet thread about it. pogo.org/report/2019/01… The Baker’s Dozen is our biennial publication, where we provide a 30 thousand foot view of the issues POGO’s great team of investigators has uncovered and the recommendations that our Policy team has made to address those issues.