[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 87 (Wednesday, June 26, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S6130]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. GRASSLEY (for himself and Mr. Levin):
  S. 2686. A bill to strengthen national security by providing 
whistleblower protections to certain employees at airports, and for 
other purposes; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation.
  Mr. Grassley. Mr. President, I, along with Senator Levin, am pleased 
to introduce a bill, the Airport Employee Whistleblower Protection Act 
of 2002, that will enhance airport and air travel safety. It will do 
this by protecting all security screeners at all airports from reprisal 
for blowing the whistle on security violations, not just the select few 
who are currently protected. As my colleagues know, I have long 
believed that a good government is an accountable government, and 
whistleblower protection laws go a long way toward making government 
accountable.
  This is particularly true when it involves our nation's security. 
Just recently we saw enlightening disclosures of massive systemic 
problems at the FBI by a whistleblower, Special Agent Rowley, that will 
no doubt lead to improvements and better security for Americans. 
Although Director Mueller has promised Special Agent Rowley that she 
will not be discriminated against because of her disclosures, 
whistleblower protection laws do not currently apply to the FBI, a 
problem that I'm trying to fix. Likewise, whistleblower protection laws 
do not currently protect many baggage screeners and x-ray technicians 
who witness security breaches.
  In the Spring of 2000, Congress passed a law known as Air 21 that 
provided whistleblower protection to employees and contract employers 
to air carriers. At that time, when baggage screening was usually the 
responsibility of the airlines, screeners with whistleblower protection 
could alert their bosses or the Federal Aviation Administration about 
security violations. But that legislation didn't go far enough. That's 
because only employees of air carriers were protected from retribution 
under the law.
  Under Air 21, security screeners employed by state or municipal 
governments, or regional airport authorities, had to rely on a 
patchwork of state whistleblower protection laws, or just the good 
sense of their employers, when they decided to blow the whistle on 
security breaches.
  Worse still, when Congress passed the Aviation and Transportation 
Security Act last Fall, it specifically denied whistleblower protection 
to the new Federal baggage screeners. During the debates, I called for 
whistleblower protection for airport screeners because the best way to 
make an effective workforce is by creating an accountable government. 
But when Congress federalized the baggage screeners, it took Federal 
screeners out of the Air 21 air carrier whistleblower protections, and 
created a class of Federal contractors that perform security screening 
services, but are not covered by any whistleblower protections.
  This legislation will fix these problems. First, the bill will ensure 
that until airport security screener personnel are fully federalized, 
all airport security screeners are given whistleblower protection, 
regardless of whether they're employed by air carriers, state or local 
governments, regional airport authorities, or contractors. Second, the 
bill will close the loophole in the law so that Federal baggage 
screeners receive protection under the same Whistleblower Protection 
Act that protects many other Federal employees, and so that contractors 
for the Federal government also will get whistleblower protection.
  I note that the Secretary of the Department of Transportation has 
taken a good step toward supplying whistleblower protection to Federal 
screeners by signing a memorandum of understanding with the Office of 
Special Counsel, the office that enforces the Whistleblower Protection 
Act. The idea is that the OSC will agree to investigate cases of 
alleged whistleblower retaliation by the Transportation Safety 
Administration. But this agreement is not enough because it does not 
afford a right of appeal, so the TSA is free to ignore any OSC 
recommendation. Further, it does not provide whistleblower protection 
for contract screeners. Finally, unlike legislation, the agreement can 
be cancelled by either the TSA or the OSC on 90 day's notice. So the 
administration's agreement to provide whistleblower protection, though 
an admirable effort, is just not enough. We need statutory 
whistleblower protection for airport screeners.
  In all my years of doing oversight, I have found that it's pretty 
rare for an agency to identify and fix its own problems, especially 
security problems. Most of the time, it takes a whistleblower or an 
Inspector General or a Congressional investigation to expose and fix 
security problems.
  In conclusion, I urge my colleagues to support the Airport Employee 
Whistleblower Protection Act of 2002 to improve security at our 
nation's airports. Let's close the loophole and give all security 
screeners whistleblower protection so that our nation's aviation system 
is more safe and secure.
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