Whistleblowing Osmosis

Although, there are numerous organizations, federal acts, and state laws designed to protect whistleblowers from retaliation, most of them provide only superficial protection.  Naturally, because the government is often the victim of leaks, they are a biased party in the judicial process.  The existing laws provide only very limited protection; many of the federal laws are far outdated, and more recent acts have been rejected by Congress.  Most whistleblowers are primarily protected by an extensive patchwork of state laws that vary greatly in strength.  The Military Whistleblower Protection Act only protects the right of enlisted members to report dishonorable or dangerous activities, but does nothing to protect the whistleblower after the fact.  The Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act provides some incentives to report malpractice on Wall Street, but is often insufficient due to the vastly larger rewards that can be earned by keeping quiet about such activities.  As these graphs demonstrate, much change is needed before whistleblowing can be both safe and effective.


(graphs here)