September 10, 2014

VIA ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION

Ms. Jamila Frone
Acting Director
Office of Attorney Recruitment and Management
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530
Dear Ms. Frone:
Inspector General Michael Horowitz recently provided me with a report of all
closed investigations between October 1, 2013 and March 31, 2014 that had not been
disclosed to the public. One of the summaries regarded whistleblower retaliation. As a
co-author of the Whistleblower Protection Act, which celebrated its 25th anniversary this
year, I am deeply concerned about what the Office of Inspector General (OIG)
discovered.
In March of this year, the OIG issued a report regarding the operations of the
Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) Fusion Center (OFC).1 The
OIG review identified several deficiencies in the OFCs operations,2 including the fact
that a dispute between the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI) led to the Director of the OFC suspending all FBI
employees access to the OFC database for approximately six weeks.3 The OIG
concluded: We believe that a dispute of this significance is a cause for serious concern
and it should never have been allowed to affect the operations of the OFC.4
Further, it appears that federal employees who blew the whistle on this particular
problem suffered reprisal. The reports Executive Summary states: [T]wo Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI) employees detailed to the OFC, who met with us to
describe their concerns about the OFCs operations, told us that thereafter they had
been subjected to retaliation by the OFC Director.5 The OIG provided more detail on
this case in its recent summary of closed investigations:
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, Evaluation and Inspections Division,
Review of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces Fusion Center, I-2014-002, Mar. 2014,
available at http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/2014/e1402.pdf.
2 Id. at 11.
3 Id. at ii.
4 Id.
5 Id. at i.
1

Ms. Jamila Frone

September 10, 2014
Page 2 of 3

The OIG conducted an investigation into allegations that FBI and [Drug
Enforcement Administration] managers retaliated against an FBI SSA
[Supervisory Special Agent] for making protected disclosures regarding
alleged misconduct and mismanagement at the [OCDETF] Fusion Center.
The OIG found that there were reasonable grounds to believe that the
SSAs removal from the Fusion Center and his failure to be named Acting
Director were in reprisal for his protected disclosures.
As you know, 5 U.S.C. App. 7(c) prohibits reprisal against any federal employee
for disclosing information to an Inspector General. It is extremely important that
Inspectors General be able to receive information from federal employees without the
fear of reprisal. As the Justice Department OIG report noted of its findings in relation to
reprisal at OFC, Given this troubling conduct, we cannot be sure we obtained complete
information from or about the OFC or that other OFC employees may not have been
deterred from coming forward and speaking candidly with us.6
According to the recent OIG summary, it provided its Report of Investigation to
your office on November 6, 2013. It noted that as of June 20, 2014, your office had
informed them that the matter remained pending. In the past I have expressed concern
to the Department about the extremely lengthy amount of time your office takes to make
decisions.7 Victims of reprisal should not have to wait years for vindication. These cases
need to be resolved swiftly.
Therefore, I request that you provide my office with an update on the status of
this case, including an estimate of when you expect it to be resolved. I would appreciate
receiving your written reply by October 1, 2014. Should you have any questions
regarding this request, please contact Tristan Leavitt of my Committee staff at
(202) 224-5225.
Sincerely,

Charles E. Grassley
Ranking Member
Committee on the Judiciary
cc:

6
7

The Honorable Patrick J. Leahy, Chairman

Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate

Id.
For example, see letters to Attorney General Holder of Jan. 28, 2014, Nov. 1, 2012, Nov. 14, 2011, etc.

Ms. Jamila Frone

September 10, 2014
Page 3 of 3

The Honorable Michael Horowitz, Inspector General

U.S. Department of Justice
The Honorable James M. Cole, Deputy Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
The Honorable James B. Comey, Jr., Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Honorable Michelle M. Leonhart, Administrator
Drug Enforcement Administration