Patriots: For over 26 years, your generosity has made it possible to offer The Patriot Post without a subscription fee to military personnel, students, and those with limited means. Please support the 2024 Year-End Campaign today.

October 1, 2019

About the Altered Whistleblower Reporting Form

Who altered the CIA complaint form, and when?

Last week, a writer with The Federalist published a potential bombshell story alleging that “the intelligence community secretly” changed a whistleblower complaint form to eliminate “a requirement that whistleblowers provide direct, first-hand knowledge of wrongdoings.” The story ignited a firestorm of accusations after President Donald Trump demanded to know “WHO CHANGED THE LONG STANDING WHISTLEBLOWER RULES JUST BEFORE SUBMITTAL OF THE FAKE WHISTLEBLOWER REPORT? DRAIN THE SWAMP!”

On Monday, top House Republicans sent a letter to Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG) Michael Atkinson seeking answers: “Based on the language on [the May 24, 2018] form, it appears that the requirement for first-hand information has been an ICIG policy regardless of how a whistleblower makes an urgent concern report. Curiously the urgent disclosure form that now appears on the Office of the Director of National Intelligence website has recently changed and no longer contains this explicit first-hand information requirement. … The timing of the removal of the first-hand information requirement raises questions about potential connections to this whistleblower’s complaint. This timing, along with numerous apparent leaks of classified information about the contents of this complaint, also raise questions about potential criminality in the handling of these matters.”

There has been pushback over the Federalist’s claim of an altered document, including a statement from the office of the ICIG noting that the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act (ICWPA) does not specify that a whistleblower must have direct knowledge to make a complaint. Furthermore, the statement says, “The whistleblower stated on the form that he or she possessed both first-hand and other information.” No specific date was given for when the original form was altered.

The questions are these: When was the form altered and why? Could it have been altered to either A) fast-track the complaint to Congress, or B) provide greater anonymity protection to the whistleblower, or both? But the biggest question is this: Who is this “whistleblower”? This is especially relevant because the whistleblower’s complaint of a quid pro quo has been refuted by the transcript of the phone call in question. This should have ended the issue, but now the Democrats are only doubling down even harder on impeachment.

Meanwhile, as more information comes to light, it appears clear that Trump and other administration officials were, and remain, intent on investigating the origins of the Democrats’ first Russia-collusion political charade. Both Trump’s calls to the Ukrainian president and his communication with Australia’s president bear this out. He’s not seeking dirt on his 2020 campaign rivals; he’s looking into who is responsible for obstructing his presidency from Day 1.

Finally, what do Democrats actually have here? The best they’ve got — and this is stretching it to the extreme — is a violation of campaign-finance laws. In other words, they have nothing to justify their impeachment demands. However, the Democrats aren’t worried about facts or even laws. It’s all about projection of the narrative that Trump is corrupt and unfit for office, and Democrats aim to keep that narrative front and center through the 2020 election campaign. And they can depend on their Leftmedia propagandists to do just that — as is apparent in the recent media-driven shift in public sentiments about impeachment.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.