The Government Accountability Office is investigating the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General's handling of whistleblower complaints across the Trump and Biden administrations.
According to a government email obtained by the Project on Government Oversight, GAO, Congress' watchdog arm, requested Monday interviews with DHS whistleblowers who filed complaints between Oct. 1, 2017, and Sept. 30, 2025.
"The purpose of these interviews is to hear your firsthand perspectives about the whistleblower retaliation complaint and investigation process and how, if at all, whistleblower protections were communicated to you," the email stated.
"We are also interested in hearing about your experiences reporting the underlying allegation of wrongdoing."
The email said GAO will not "reassess" individual cases but instead is seeking "complainants' experiences with these processes to give us contextual background and help inform our review."
GAO typically issues a public report following a review, including recommendations for improvement.
According to the email, GAO "would like to talk with people whose whistleblower retaliation allegations were investigated by DHS's Office of Inspector General or the Office of Special Counsel — or whose appeals were heard by the Merit Systems Protection Board."
The DHS Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, and the Merit Systems Protection Board are authorized government bodies with which civilian executive branch employees can file whistleblower reprisal complaints.
The DHS OIG can also receive reprisal complaints from DHS contractor employees and uniformed members of the Coast Guard.
Two former DHS contractor employees, Barry Angeline and Dan McCabe, criticized the DHS OIG's handling of whistleblower complaints in a December opinion piece in the Washington Examiner.
"From fiscal 2019 to fiscal 2025, the Office of Inspector General's Whistleblower Protection Division reviewed 3,144 retaliation complaints," Angeline and McCabe wrote.
"It confirmed just 11 — a validation rate of 0.35%. Other federal watchdogs corroborate 3%-8% of retaliation cases," they continued.
"That makes the Office of Inspector General between 10 and 25 times less likely to confirm retaliation than comparable federal offices."
The GAO confirmed the investigation, The Hill reported.
The development follows DHS saying it had asked Inspector General Joseph Cuffari, an appointee from President Donald Trump's first term, to turn over a list of his active investigations.
The review was spurred by a request in October from two Democrat lawmakers, Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, and Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, according to The Hill.
Newsmax reached out to DHS and the DHS OIG for comment.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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