| Department of Justice (DOJ) Acting Inspector General William M. Blier announced today the release of a report to the Office of the Deputy Attorney General (ODAG) identifying concerns with the DOJ's compliance with the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012 (WPEA). Based on a March 2024 congressional request, we reviewed the portion of the WPEA that requires inclusion of a statement in any nondisclosure policy, form, or agreement (collectively, "nondisclosure documents") to notify federal employees of their protections when disclosing evidence of wrongdoing. The DOJ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) requested nondisclosure documents from eight DOJ components and found that the sampled components' responses varied greatly. We observed inconsistent interpretations among components of what documents required the WPEA statement, which is due in part to the lack of a definition of what constituted nondisclosure documents. Specifically, the OIG identified 89 relevant documents that may require inclusion of the WPEA-required statement. However, only three of those documents included the entire current WPEA-required statement when provided, while another 19 included an outdated version. During our review, 14 documents were revised to include the entire statement. Omitting all or portions of the WPEA-required statement in nondisclosure documents may lead employees to believe they cannot disclose certain information to permissible authorities such as Congress, the OIG, or Office of Special Council. As a result, employees may be unaware of how their protections under the WPEA apply, potentially discouraging whistleblowers from reporting allegations of misconduct or other concerns. It is important for employees to understand their right to report a violation of law, rule, regulation, gross mismanagement, gross waste of funds, abuse of authority, and substantial and specific danger to public health or safety, as well as the protections they are afforded when they make such protected disclosures. It is also important for DOJ to help components and component management determine when it is necessary to include the WPEA-required statement. The OIG made two recommendations to assist the Department in complying with the WPEA. ODAG concurred with both recommendations. | 
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