# Whistleblower Protection Act

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Whistleblower Protection Act," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/whistleblower-protection-act/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*United States statute protecting federal employees who disclose government wrongdoing from retaliation; per John Kiriakou, national security employees, including those at the CIA, Pentagon, FBI, NSA, DEA, White House, and Homeland Security, are explicitly exempt from its protections, leaving them with no legally safe avenue to report illegal activity within their agencies.*

- **Type:** U.S. federal statute
- **Scope:** Civilian federal employees
- **Notable exclusion:** National security employees (CIA, NSA, FBI, DEA, Pentagon)
- **Kiriakou's position:** Calls for a legislative fix to extend protections to national security whistleblowers

The **Whistleblower Protection Act** is a United States statute that shields federal government employees who report waste, fraud, or abuse from retaliation by their employers. U.S. whistleblower protection statutes contain a specific exemption that limits protections for disclosures related to national security and intelligence matters.[1]

[John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) has described the law as containing a critical gap: national security employees are exempt from its protections. As Kiriakou explained, employees of agencies such as the [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia), the Pentagon, the FBI, the DEA, and congressional intelligence oversight committees have no legally protected path to disclose wrongdoing.[2] *"If you want to make a revelation, there is no way to make a protected revelation,"* Kiriakou said.[3]

Kiriakou noted that employees are officially directed to use their chain of command, but that avenue fails when the chain of command is itself the source of the illegal conduct. The only remaining option, going to the press, exposes the employee to criminal prosecution, financial ruin, and the destruction of their career.[4]

The case of [Thomas Drake](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/thomas-drake), a senior official at the NSA, illustrated the dysfunction of existing internal mechanisms. Drake exhausted every formal channel, the NSA inspector general, the general counsel, the Pentagon inspector general, and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, before being charged with nine felonies including seven counts of espionage.[5]

Kiriakou has called for a legislative fix that would extend meaningful protections to national security whistleblowers.[4] Kiriakou says he is separately working with the [AI Whistleblower Initiative](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/ai-whistleblower-initiative) on protections for the growing number of whistleblowers emerging from the AI industry.[6]

The Whistleblower Protection Act itself was written by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, whom Kiriakou calls the biggest champion of whistleblowers in Congress, but it exempts national security whistleblowers, including employees of the CIA, NSA, NSC, and DIA, from its protections.[7][8] Of the 435 members of the House and 100 senators, Kiriakou says only four can reliably be counted on to protect whistleblowers: Grassley, Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon.[9] He contrasts this with the Obama administration, which he says did nothing legislatively to help whistleblowers and instead actively prosecuted eight national security whistleblowers while in office, versus zero such prosecutions in all of U.S. history before that.[10]

Kiriakou notes that other countries, including Canada, Ireland, Greece, and Zambia, have whistleblower protection laws of their own. In the United States, an employee of an agency like the Department of Agriculture who exposes wrongdoing is protected and celebrated; an employee of the CIA, NSA, Homeland Security, or FBI who does the same is likely to go to prison.[11][12]

## National security carve-out (News Beat)

[John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) stresses that the [Whistleblower Protection Act](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/whistleblower-protection-act) specifically exempts national-security whistleblowers: report waste, fraud, abuse, illegality or threats to public safety while working for the CIA, FBI, NSA, DOD, White House or Homeland Security, and *"you're probably going to go to prison"*, likely under the Espionage Act.[13][14]

## Authorship

Kiriakou attributes both statutes to a single legislator. [Chuck Grassley](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/chuck-grassley) *"was the author of the Whistleblower Protection Act, he was the author of the National Security Whistleblower Protection Act,"* and in Kiriakou's assessment is the only member of Congress with the legislative authority to move such laws through the system and get them signed. *"That's why we have these whistleblower protection laws."*[15][16]

The practical shape of the protection shows in how it was invoked in 2019: [the Ukraine call whistleblower](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/ukraine-call-whistleblower) claimed the statute for himself, which in Kiriakou's reading left its author little choice but to defend him.[17]

## See also

- [Tom Drake](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/thomas-drake)
- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)
- [Enhanced interrogation techniques](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/enhanced-interrogation)

## Sources

1. War & Military · Exposing Crimes is Not a Crime  · John Kiriakou, Jesselyn Radack... · (2026-03-20), at 34:05. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8HH4U7_tKo&t=2045s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-20-disruption-network-lab-war-military-exposing-crimes-is-not-a-crime-jo/
2. Secrets, Lies, and the Price of Truth: The CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou | Part 2 (2025-04-23), at 3:37. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYK16WJ1WsU&t=217s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-04-23-dr-phil-podcast-secrets-lies-price-of-truth-part2/
3. Secrets, Lies, and the Price of Truth: The CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou | Part 2 (2025-04-23), at 4:11. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYK16WJ1WsU&t=251s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-04-23-dr-phil-podcast-secrets-lies-price-of-truth-part2/
4. Secrets, Lies, and the Price of Truth: The CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou | Part 2 (2025-04-23), at 4:42. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYK16WJ1WsU&t=282s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-04-23-dr-phil-podcast-secrets-lies-price-of-truth-part2/
5. Secrets, Lies, and the Price of Truth: The CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou | Part 2 (2025-04-23), at 5:13. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYK16WJ1WsU&t=313s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-04-23-dr-phil-podcast-secrets-lies-price-of-truth-part2/
6. War & Military · Exposing Crimes is Not a Crime  · John Kiriakou, Jesselyn Radack... · (2026-03-20), at 1:35:20. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8HH4U7_tKo&t=5720s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-20-disruption-network-lab-war-military-exposing-crimes-is-not-a-crime-jo/
7. John Kiriakou — Whistleblower Protections, Torture, and Ju (2020-11-23), at 51:23. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7Uq2aYrR5w&t=3083s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2020-11-23-revolutionary-change/
8. 10-2-19 Nicole Sandler Show - The Public Trust with John K (2019-10-02), at 38:15. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3IkX9p5LqA&t=2295s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-10-02-nicole-sandler/
9. “CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou: Torture, Truth & Traum (2025-07-17), at 37:16. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Oi61wpeGnA&t=2236s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-07-17-barracks-media-inc/
10. John Kiriakou, CIA Whistleblower, Doing Time Like a Spy, (2017-05-23), at 47:52. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twDSUsMh2ws&t=2872s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2017-05-23-podcast-ufo-live-shows/
11. 5-26-17 Nicole Sandler Show - Our Dangerous World with J (2017-05-26), at 43:23. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLiupCJPu_I&t=2603s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2017-05-26-nicole-sandler/
12. 5-26-17 Nicole Sandler Show - Our Dangerous World with J (2017-05-26), at 43:53. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLiupCJPu_I&t=2633s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2017-05-26-nicole-sandler/
13. John Kiriakou: CIA Whistleblower on Julian Assange, Israel, Security State & More (2024-07-29), at 03:02. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mEtU_O62j8&t=182s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-07-29-news-beat-assange-israel-security-state/
14. John Kiriakou: CIA Whistleblower on Julian Assange, Israel, Security State & More (2024-07-29), at 03:35. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mEtU_O62j8&t=215s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-07-29-news-beat-assange-israel-security-state/
15. Discusses Ukraine Phone Call (2019-10-03), at 21:35. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCZWqXneXfY&t=1295s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-10-03-rob-kall-bottom-up-show-discusses-ukraine-phone-call/
16. Discusses Ukraine Phone Call (2019-10-03), at 22:06. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCZWqXneXfY&t=1326s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-10-03-rob-kall-bottom-up-show-discusses-ukraine-phone-call/
17. Discusses Ukraine Phone Call (2019-10-03), at 22:38. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCZWqXneXfY&t=1358s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-10-03-rob-kall-bottom-up-show-discusses-ukraine-phone-call/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/whistleblower-protection-act/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt