Signing Statement on Whistleblowers?

Last week, in a possibly troubling development, President Obama issued his first signing statement, attached to a spending bill, with concerns over federal employee whistleblower protections for those who report issues to Congress. From the NYT:

He also raised concerns about a section that establishes whistle-blower protections for federal employees who give information to Congress.

“I do not interpret this provision,” he wrote, “to detract from my authority to direct the heads of executive departments to supervise, control and correct employees’ communications with the Congress in cases where such communications would be unlawful or would reveal information that is properly privileged or otherwise confidential.”

There’s more coverage here: WSJ, Washington Examiner

As Congressional Quarterly pointed out over the weekend, this signal is contradictory from previous ones:

After all, Obama not only promised during the campaign to protect federal whistleblowers, he also included a directive to that effect in a memorandum to federal departments and agencies earlier this week aimed at preventing political interference in science. Obama told the departments to design procedures, “including any appropriate whistleblower protections,” to avoid the kind of interference that reportedly took place during the Bush administration.

GAP is monitoring the situation and will report back soon.

-- Dylan Blaylock

Comments

[Axel]

I also am concerned as President Obama and I presume many Members of our US Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branches of our hopefully and seemingly US Government and especially of 'We the People' are College Graduates and as with President Obama a highly regarded US Constitutional Educator(s) and Lawyer(s).

Even though to some extent I have none of these so-called and acknowledged as formal credentials, although in part I find the Sections unnecessary, ridiculous and concerning as within a so-called Signing Statement (also which additionally and apparently there is no legal provision under our US Constitution) as especially President Obama and our Legislatures and Judiciary have continued to allow the enactment of the death penalty, torture, illegal rendition, illegal secrecy, illegal signing statements, seemingly illegal, secret, unaccountable, serious conflict if interest and/or possibly other seemingly waste, fraud and/or abuse(s) within the ongoing Stimulus(s) and/or many other US Government allocations of Taxpayer Funds and presumably many other necessary for correction improprieties and/or serious concerns that our US Constitution, Bill of Rights Mandates for Transparency, 'Oversight and Accountability'.

This is not the hope for the 'Change We Can Believe In'. It appears seemingly similar to the same 'pack of lies' deranged, maniacal, dishonest, disingenuous, corrupt ongoings by these very exact same Individual(s)and exact and/or similar Practices, Policies and Procedures with the seemingly exact same and/or similar forbidden and/or uncorrected, secret and unwarrented illegal/legal Laws, Rules and Regulations.