U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii), Chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Federal Services Subcommittee, applauded the Bush Administration today for its decision to extend full whistleblower rights to baggage screeners at the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) once they are transferred to the Department of Homeland Security.
During consideration of the Homeland Security bill, Senator Akaka and Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) offered an amendment, based on legislation introduced by Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), to guarantee that TSA baggage screeners would be provided full whistleblower rights. Despite a unanimous vote by the Governmental Affairs Committee to accept the amendment, the provision was not included in the bill passed by the House and Senate.
Under current law, the Under Secretary of the TSA has the authority to employ, terminate, and fix the conditions of employment for the screening workforce. This allowed baggage screeners to be given all or simply a few of the protections under Title 5. Given this flexibility, the Under Secretary decided against full whistleblower rights when creating the personnel system at TSA, which removed the ability to appeal alleged retaliation to the Merit Systems Protection Board. Rather, TSA employees were forced to rely on an internal system where TSA officials would make the final decision on whether corrective action would be needed to address allegations of retaliation for blowing the whistle.
"Whistleblower protection is a cornerstone of good government that allows federal employees to come forward to disclose government waste, fraud, and abuse without fear of retaliation. This is beneficial for the American public – ensuring that their tax dollars are not wasted on frivolous or corrupt programs, and disclosing information that could protect public health and safety. At a time when America is on heightened alert for terrorist activity, federal workers need the security of the Whistleblower Protection Act so that they can do their job to protect our great nation," Akaka said.
Legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security provides the Secretary of the new department personnel flexibilities similar to those extended to the TSA. Under the legislation, the Homeland Security Secretary and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) may establish a new human resources system for some or all of the organizational units of the new department. Employees under any new system created will have full whistleblower rights – including Office of Special Counsel enforcement and Merit Systems Protection Board appeal rights. However, the Secretary and the Director of OPM have the authority to decide which organizational units would fall under any new system and which would keep their current structure. As such, TSA baggage screeners could have remained without whistleblower rights without OPM's announcement, Akaka explained.
"Without specific guarantees, there was an uncertainty whether TSA baggage screeners would have full whistleblower protection in this new department especially since the Under Secretary of TSA had already denied full whistleblower rights to baggage screeners," Akaka said. "I am delighted by the actions of the Bush Administration regarding TSA baggage screeners. As the sponsor of several bills to strengthen whistleblower protections for federal employees in the 107th Congress, I will continue to work to restore the Congressional intent to the Whistleblower Protection Act and ensure that the protections afforded to the employees are substantive."
