For five years in the 1990s, my job was to run an oversight committee – staff director and counsel – doing deep-dive investigations into federal waste and fraud, Justice, Defense, State, and others. Fun, it was like swimming up a waterfall, emptying a lake by teaspoon, not to be done alone. Whistleblowers were vital – and noble.
Truth be told, when government gets big, especially if it grows too fast, it tips toward corruption. Oversight gets hard, real accountability harder. Freelance bureaucrats get cozy with paid contractors, complicit with legislators who give money to agencies for contracting services. Also, mistakes get more common.
The oversight professional looks for signs of corruption, patterns of activity by administrative heads, procurement officers, program managers, and bureaucrats “gaming the system,” suddenly more money by re-upping contracts, widening contract scopes, adding task orders, maybe even seeking future employment.
One step down from criminal behavior – all of which is intentional – are reckless and negligent acts, people getting lazy, not checking contract language, not looking to see if the things being purchased are needed, or if services are even performed.
Again, as government gets bigger – especially controlled by one political party –chances of public corruption, recklessness, and negligence go up. Those in power want to stay in power. They start to believe they are entitled to the paycheck.
This is where whistleblowers are absolutely vital. With 500 federal agencies, the federal government has millions of employees and contractors, and lots of potential for abuse. Even a highly motivated oversight investigation team is hard-pressed.
With the help of courageous, morally-centered, noble whistleblowers, things get easier. We used to invite those who saw or suspected wrongdoing to report it. We would offer “whistleblower protection,” then hear them out, and if necessary, begin serving subpoenas, doing interviews, conducting depositions, and preparing hearings.
In time, when the whistleblowers were vindicated, they not only got recognition for their integrity – protecting taxpayer dollars and restoring trust – but would often get backpay, lost benefits, restored job security, and sometimes more.
In some cases, a whistleblower who knew of significant dollars being diverted, stolen, or syphoned off unlawfully could pursue a so-called qui tam award.
This involves a private person suing the government, typically under the “False Claims Act,” after finding public waste or fraud – then getting 15 to 30 percent of the money recovered. The idea is to reward courage – and deter bad acts.
All this said, whistleblowers – a term that comes from the late 1800s, created for referees and police who “blow the whistle” on bad behavior – were vital. Their courage in speaking truth to power, whatever else motivated them, was noble.
Factually, all investigations run by my team depended on credible, courageous whistleblowers – including our one-year WACO investigation (see C-SPAN 1995), counternarcotics oversight, illegal immigration hearings, Chinese money to Clinton-Gore campaign, NASA operations, Defense inventory mismanagement, Clinton White House Communications Agency (WHCA) failures, and countless other acts of federal mis-, mal-, and non-feasance involving billions of dollars.
Lord Acton wrote: “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” That is why teaching moral compass and professional ethics to those who serve in government – not woke training, but high-integrity decision-making – is key.
A couple of decades back, we all had a moral compass, taught by life, adversity, family, church, the Greatest Generation, honoring laws, wanting them obeyed, and feeling obligated to obey them. We had what they called honor, and we need it again.
Just as President Trump had his Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) crack down on waste, fraud, and abuse, state governors should be doing that – inviting whistleblowers to step up.
Those entrusted with high office owe a sacred duty to the people. The government has enormous power; leaders must keep the government limited (minimal), accountable (honest), and efficient. The noble whistleblower helps. Maybe Thomas Jefferson said it best, as a Founder, writer of our Declaration, third president, and farmer: “The whole art of government…consists in the art of being honest.”
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is the National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor (please visit BobbyforMaine.com to learn more)!
