Washington, D.C. – Citing a long history of whistleblowing dating back to shortly after the United States declared its independence in July 1776, Empower Oversight is urging the Department of Defense Inspector General (DOD IG) to confirm that Lieutenant Colonel Jacob R. Berry may lawfully speak with Congress and ensure that any restrictions placed upon him by the department do not violate federal whistleblower protections.
Lt. Col. Berry, who serves with the 78th Medical Group at Robins Air Force Base, was invited by the Minority staff of the House Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs to participate in a July 9 roundtable on toxic exposures at U.S. military bases. Although his command initially sought to block his participation, they later permitted him to appear—only to subsequently issue an order severely limiting his involvement.
The Air Force order directed Lt. Col. Berry not to use official data or information acquired during his service, barred him from speaking as a subject matter expert without prior approval, and required any remarks to be cleared for public release.
“By protecting all lawful communications with Congress, the statute goes beyond the protections for disclosing to various other recipients violations of law or regulation, gross mismanagement, gross waste of funds, abuse of authority, or substantial and specific dangers to public health or safety—all of which would involve ‘non-public information,’ and the last of which is the very subject of the July 9 House roundtable,” Empower Oversight President Tristan Leavitt wrote to Acting DOD IG Steven Stebbins.
The letter draws on the long tradition of military whistleblowing in American history, referencing the 1778 resolution of the Continental Congress encouraging service members to report misconduct.
Leavitt wrote, “Less than a year after the United States of America declared its independence in 1776—249 years ago yesterday—eleven sailors aboard the USS Warren filed a petition with the Second Continental Congress to report abuses they saw. This led to Congress on July 30, 1778 adopting the first whistleblower law of our new Nation.”
To read the letter to Stebbins, click here.