Congressional report: FDA surveillance was unlawful

Staff of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Senate Committee on the Judiciary said FDA's surveillance of employees the agency suspected of leaking confidential information was "not lawful, to the extent that it monitored communications with Congress and the Office of Special Counsel." The conclusion came in a joint staff report prepared for Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House committee, and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Senate committee. The report was released in conjunction with a House hearing of the Oversight Committee to discuss FDA's surveillance and whistleblowers at which Sen. Grassley testified. When FDA began its surveillance in 2010, the agency did not have a monitoring policy. FDA implemented an interim policy in September, but the staffers say it does not adequately protect whistleblowers from retaliation. ...