GAO Launches Review of DHS OIG’s Whistleblower Handling After Low Validation Rates
By Michael Katz | Tuesday, 17 February 2026 10:39 PM EST
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—the congressional watchdog—requested Monday interviews with DHS whistleblowers who filed complaints between October 1, 2017, and September 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 specified that GAO will not “reassess” individual cases but instead seeks “complainants’ experiences with these processes to give us contextual background and help inform our review.” GAO typically issues a public report following such reviews, including recommendations for improvement.
According to the email, GAO aims to interview individuals 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, U.S. Office of Special Counsel, and Merit Systems Protection Board are authorized government bodies where civilian executive branch employees can file whistleblower reprisal complaints. The DHS OIG also receives such complaints from DHS contractor employees and uniformed Coast Guard members.
Two former DHS contractor employees, Barry Angeline and Dan McCabe, criticized the DHS OIG’s handling of whistleblower complaints in a December opinion piece published by the Washington Examiner. “From fiscal 2019 to fiscal 2025, the Office of Inspector General’s Whistleblower Protection Division reviewed 3,144 retaliation complaints,” they wrote. “It confirmed just 11—a validation rate of 0.35%. Other federal watchdogs corroborate 3%-8% of retaliation cases.”
“That makes the Office of Inspector General between 10 and 25 times less likely to confirm retaliation than comparable federal offices,” they continued.
The GAO confirmed the investigation.
