The Intelligence Community Protection Act was passed in 1998. It amended the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949. Someone subject to the law who has an urgent concern involving intelligence may report the complaint or information to the Intelligence Community Inspector General. The IG has 14 days to determine the possibility of credibility. If the complaint or information is found not to be credible, the whistle blower, after informing the Inspector General, may contact Congressional Intelligence Committees so long as appropriate procedures are followed. If the complain is found to be credible, the information is transferred to the Attorney General who must submit the information to the Congressional Intelligence Committees.
We appear to have a whistleblower. Who, according to rumor, has made a complaint about the President. The IG appears to have ruled that the information is credible. He appears to have reported the the complaint to the Attorney General. The Attorney General is supposed to submit the report to the Congressional Intelligence Committees.
Not happening. The Inspector General Michael Atkinson has written to the House Intelligence Committee stating that the acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire refuses to release the report to the Committee and refuses to provide information to the complainant about how to submit a report directly to the Committee. I’m not sure how the DNI got into the mix. Presumably, the AG consulted with the acting Director of National Intelligence.
We’ve got rumors. The complaint is about the President. The complaint is about a phone call. The complaint is about a series of actions. The complaint may have something to do with Ukraine. The complaint may have something to do with linking aid to Ukraine with information about a Democratic political candidate.
We’ll see. Maybe we won’t see. It is not at all clear that we are a government of laws these days. Or that people in government obey the law.