[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 6, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2256-S2258]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                    Nomination of William R. Evanina

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I rise to oppose the confirmation of 
William Evanina, whom we will be voting on shortly. Because of his 
failure to protect whistleblowers, leading whistleblower protection 
organizations support the opposition to Mr. Evanina's confirmation.
  I ask unanimous consent that the statements of two organizations, 
true advocates of whistleblower rights at this crucial time, be printed 
in the Record
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

       [From the Government Accountability Project, May 6, 2020]

 Senator Wyden Opposes Senior Intelligence Official's Nomination Over 
                             Whistleblowers

       Washington--Today, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) opposed William 
     Evanina's nomination to serve as the Senate-confirmed 
     Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security 
     Center (NCSC). Sen. Wyden's opposition comes days after 
     Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) lifted his 2018 hold on Mr. 
     Evanina, placed in part because ``Mr. Evanina was responsible 
     for developing policies and procedures to address retaliatory 
     security clearance actions'' taken against whistleblowers. 
     Mr. Evanina has yet to produce those policies and procedures, 
     leaving government investigators with little guidance.
       Government Accountability Project's National Security 
     Analyst Irvin McCullough said,
       ``Losing your security clearance means losing your 
     livelihood for many Intelligence Community employees. These 
     folks' whistleblowing protections were specifically designed 
     to give special care to whistleblowers whose security 
     clearances are revoked in retaliation for making protected 
     disclosures. However, the Director of National Intelligence 
     never implemented uniform policies and procedures for these 
     whistleblowers, meaning agencies can act as their own 
     fiefdoms when adjudicating these complaints. While a 
     whistleblower at the CIA has the same rights as a 
     whistleblower at the NSA, one may find it much harder to 
     enforce their rights simply because their agency is free to 
     apply harsher standards than the other. That is unacceptable. 
     Bill Evanina was directed to issue universal guidance for all 
     agencies to follow when investigating these types of 
     retaliation complaints, but he hasn't done it. While Mr. 
     Evanina is a dedicated public servant who has contributed 
     greatly to our country's national security, this is his job 
     and he needs to do it. We thank Senator Wyden for taking a 
     stand to protect whistleblowers and ensure accountability 
     inside the Intelligence Community.''
       Contact: Andrew Harman, Communications Director.
                                  ____


  Statement from Liz Hempowicz, Director of Public Policy, Project On 
                          Government Oversight

       ``POGO commends Senator Wyden for standing up for 
     whistleblowers by refusing to confirm Mr. Evanina until this 
     critical issue is resolved. Any security clearance action 
     must be based on the national interests of our country, not 
     personal bias or retaliation. Retaliatory security clearance 
     actions undermine the security clearance process, this is why 
     Congress made it unlawful to retaliate against a 
     whistleblower by restricting their access to classified 
     information. ODNI charged Mr. Evanina's office with the 
     creation of uniform guidance for investigating retaliatory 
     actions, but he has failed to fulfil that mandate even after 
     several years. Thank you to Senator Wyden for standing up for 
     whistleblowers and their right to a fair and equal 
     investigation.''

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, it is currently open season on 
whistleblowers under the Trump administration. Donald Trump and those 
around him have made it clear that anyone who speaks up about waste, 
fraud, abuse, or lawbreaking can be punished. If you are a 
whistleblower under the Trump administration, Donald Trump himself and 
his echo chamber will publicly call you a liar. They will threaten to 
make your name public, even at the cost of your physical security. They 
will prevent your complaints from getting to the Congress, and they 
will fire the inspectors general who investigate your complaints.
  Now, more than ever, courageous whistleblowers deserve leaders who 
are going to protect them, defend them, and vigorously advocate and 
work for them. They deserve leaders who are going to stand up to Donald 
Trump and anybody else who tries to punish those who are going to speak 
truth--truth, especially, to those in power.
  I am rising today, taking this time of the Senate, to speak on behalf 
of whistleblowers who feel under siege right now. I am on the floor to 
oppose the confirmation of William Evanina's track record of inaction 
and why he should not be the Director of the National 
Counterintelligence and Security Center.
  The fact is that Mr. Evanina has failed, repeatedly, the key test on 
protecting whistleblower rights. Specifically, he failed to enact 
whistleblower protections that the Congress required in 2014. Think 
about that--all those years to get the job done and he didn't do it. 
That is a 6-year track record of letting down whistleblowers and 
failing to follow the law.
  Today, Congress ought to stand up for whistleblowers, protect our 
democracy, and the rule of law. And when Congress does act and pass 
whistleblowers' protection legislation the way this body did in 2014, 
the Congress must not reward those who ignore the whistleblower 
protection laws. Here, you have a case of exactly that, refusal to 
implement it for almost 6 years, and the person we are discussing with 
that track record of not being there for whistleblowers at a crucial 
time is being considered for a job promotion in the Senate.
  I want to unpack, for a few minutes, what the world looks like now to 
a potential whistleblower in today's intelligence community. One of the 
biggest threats faced by whistleblowers who work with classified 
information is that their bosses are going to retaliate against them by 
revoking their security clearances. Without clearances, they can't do 
their jobs, their livelihoods are ruined, and their families suffer. 
That threat has a chilling effect on potential whistleblowers and makes 
it less likely that abuses are going to be investigated and brought to 
light.
  The Congress has cared about this for years. It is why, in 2014, the 
Congress passed legislation specifically prohibiting the revocation of 
security clearances as a form of retaliation against whistleblowers.
  Here is what the questions were. What happens if a whistleblower's 
boss simply insists that they revoked the clearance for some other 
reason? What if they say it wasn't retaliation for being a 
whistleblower? Does the whistleblower have any recourse? Is there an 
appeals process? Or are whistleblowers, who stick their neck out to 
report waste, fraud, and abuse, just out of luck?
  The Congress then stood with whistleblowers. In that same 2014 law, 
Congress required the Director of National Intelligence, in 
consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of Defense, to 
develop and implement policies and practices to make that appeals 
process for whistleblowers a reality. In other words, the Congress 
recognized that if whistleblowers were truly going to be protected from 
retaliation, there had to be a meaningful process for them to defend 
themselves against agencies that always have all the power and always 
have an obvious incentive to silence and remove those who speak up 
about abuses
  This important law was passed by Congress in July 2014. As of that 
day in 2014, the Director of National Intelligence should have been 
drafting those

[[Page S2257]]

policies, but they didn't do it in 2014, or in 2015, or in 2016, or in 
2017, or 2018, or 2019--all those years of inaction--and certainly they 
haven't done it in 2020, especially because of the pandemic, because 
this is a crucial time when whistleblower protection is needed, now 
more than ever, because we need those folks to be speaking truth to 
policymakers.
  I ask the Senate: Who is at the helm every single one of those years 
of inaction? The person the Senate is thinking about promoting today, 
William Evanina. Six years have passed, and Mr. Evanina has not 
produced those whistleblower protection policies required by law.
  During that time, there had been five Directors of National 
Intelligence. The Congress made the Director of the NCSC a Senate-
confirmed position. Mr. Evanina kept his job, becoming both Acting 
Director and the nominee. Meanwhile, Congress reached out to ask: What 
is the story on these policies? Is anybody actually moving to protect 
the whistleblowers, as Congress required in 2014?
  I want to say it again. On Mr. Evanina's watch, nothing happened in 
2014, nothing happened in 2015, nothing happened in 2016, and nothing 
happened in 2017, 2018, 2019, and not in 2020--no policies, lots of 
empty rhetoric and no policies. Without the actual policies, 
whistleblowers are vulnerable, and when they tell the truth and push 
for accountability, they suffer.
  Every day, Donald Trump steps up his attacks on whistleblowers, on 
inspectors general, and on the whole system of accountability that has 
traditionally been bipartisan. Congress has pushed back, passing laws 
to protect whistleblowers, but the laws have to mean something for the 
sake of whistleblowers and the rule of law. Congress should not reward 
those who ignore the law and leave whistleblowers vulnerable. That is 
what Mr. Evanina has done for 6 years. That is why I cannot support his 
confirmation. He has defied the law and failed to protect 
whistleblowers.
  I am going to state the obvious. When the Congress passes a law, it 
has to be implemented. When Congress directs the government to protect 
whistleblowers, that is something that is priority business. In 2014, 
this body tried to protect whistleblowers. A law was passed. Mr. 
Evanina has ignored it all these years. That is just not acceptable.
  Now, with Donald Trump and his administration feeling free to 
publicly attack whistleblowers again and again and conduct an 
unremitting assault on the entire whistleblower system, laws to protect 
them are especially important to our democracy. Day after day, we see 
the costs of a campaign to silence people who speak up about abuses. We 
see it in his efforts to cover up his failed, often corrupt, responses 
to the COVID-19 crisis. We see it across the board.
  Now is when this country needs officials who are going to demonstrate 
leadership, who are going to stand up for the brave and the people who 
are willing to put their neck out to report misconduct. Whistleblowers 
deserve it, and the country deserves it.
  Now, the last point I am going to make--my colleagues probably have 
heard it, and they are going to hear it, I believe, again--is that Mr. 
Evanina is going to promise once more, after 6 years of empty promises, 
to complete these critical whistleblower protection policies. What I 
would ask Senators is this: Enough is enough, right? After 6 years--6 
years of unfulfilled promises--the Senate ought to say: The country 
deserves better. The country deserves action, and the country deserves 
real protection for whistleblowers.
  Mr. Evanina remains the Acting Director. I want him--even after he 
hasn't done it for 6 years, I want him to complete those whistleblower 
protection policies. When they are completed and the law Congress 
passed is implemented, it seems to me that is the time for the Senate 
to discuss again whether Mr. Evanina should get a promotion.
  Now, last, I just want to come back to how I started. I am not the 
only one who feels this way. The country's leading whistleblower 
organizations have made it clear they oppose Mr. Evanina's confirmation 
due to his failure to produce policies. They include such organizations 
as the Government Accountability Project, the Project on Government 
Oversight, Whistleblower Aid, and National Security Counselors. It is 
not just one Member of the U.S. Senate who is here to say that it is 
time to finally ensure that these courageous Americans, these patriots, 
who are willing to come forward when all the incentives in American 
Government are to stay quiet, not put yourself at risk, don't put your 
career in jeopardy--when all the incentives are for them to stay quiet, 
in this country right now, we need them speaking truth more than ever 
before. I oppose this nomination because there is a long, long track 
record of not being willing to stand up for these courageous 
whistleblowers, and I intend to vote against the nominee
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I rise today in strong support of William 
Evanina to be the first Senate-confirmed Director of the National 
Counterintelligence and Security Center, or NCSC. I believe Bill is an 
American patriot and an American success story.
  He was raised in Peckville, PA, with very modest means. He was the 
first in his family to go to college. Prior to joining the FBI in 1996, 
his first job was with the General Services Administration in 
Philadelphia. Over his 24-year long career with the FBI, Bill 
investigated organized crime and violent crimes. He investigated the 9/
11 terrorist attacks, the anthrax attacks, and the Daniel Pearl 
kidnapping. Bill also led the counterespionage group at the Central 
Intelligence Agency. He earned a reputation as the consummate 
counterintelligence and security professional, fiercely dedicated to 
the mission with unquestionable honor.
  Then, in June 2014, then-Director of National Intelligence, Jim 
Clapper--someone whom I know and respect very much--appointed Bill to 
serve as the Director of the NCSC. Many technical and complex 
activities fall under NCSC, including personnel security policy, 
information technology protection standards, CI cyber operations, 
supply chain risk management, threat awareness for the U.S. critical 
infrastructure, and damage assessments from spies and unauthorized 
disclosures. I have partnered, in my role as vice chairman, with Bill 
on many topics, to include educating industry about the threats posed 
by China and reforming an antiquated personnel vetting system.
  The Intelligence Authorization Act for fiscal year 2016 recognized 
the vital work that NCSC does and made the position subject to 
Presidential nomination and Senate confirmation. In February 2018, 
President Trump nominated Bill to be the first Senate-confirmed 
Director. The Senate Intelligence Committee considered the nomination 
in May of 2018 and unanimously--unanimously, with some concerns from my 
colleague from Oregon, but unanimously--recommended his confirmation to 
the full Senate.
  His nomination didn't get taken up because a Member on the opposite 
side had a concern. We considered his nomination again in February 2019 
in the new Congress, and, again, our committee voted unanimously in 
favor of his nomination.
  Unfortunately, over the last 2 years, despite universal recognition 
of Bill's qualifications for the position, his nomination became 
entangled in unrelated matters. Despite the delay--and I think Bill had 
plenty of opportunities to leave the government--Bill stayed the 
course, committed to the mission above all else.
  Now, I share my colleague from Oregon's concerns about 
whistleblowers. I have seen this administration and this White House's 
disregard for whistleblowers. I tell you this: I believe I have Bill's 
commitment that the matter of processing the procedures on 
whistleblower protections will be dealt with. I also feel 
extraordinarily strongly that at this moment in time, when there is not 
a single Senate-confirmed appointee in the whole Office of Director of 
National Intelligence, now more than ever, we need at least one career 
intelligence professional with a good record, confirmed by this Senate, 
standing guard over an operation that right now, unfortunately, seems 
to be directed too often by political appointees that, both, disregard 
protection for whistleblowers and, in my

[[Page S2258]]

mind, too often disregard protections for our whole intelligence 
community.
  With the fact that we have now gotten rid of the unrelated matters 
that were precluding Bill's confirmation by my colleague on the 
majority, I think we deserve to give this nominee what he and the 
country deserves--a vote. And my hope is a very strong vote of 
confirmation so that we can send someone who, as a career professional, 
has a commitment to holding truth first and foremost above political 
interference. We need Bill Evanina confirmed in this position.
  I look forward to Mr. Evanina's confirmation today so that he can 
continue addressing the many important counterintelligence and security 
challenges facing our Nation.
  I yield the floor.