Did Congress Mistakenly ‘Out’ Secret Whistle-Blowers?

A clerical error by a congressional staffer may have revealed the e-mail addresses of government whistle-blowers. The addresses were from a list of respondents to a congressional "anonymous" tip line set up to ferret out malfeasance within the Department of Justice. This summer, after a series of explosive allegations of wrongdoing by Justice Department officials, the Democrat-controlled House Judiciary Committee set up the online tip system to encourage Justice employees to come forward if they had any more information. Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage. Last week, a nonpartisan clerk involved in administering the project sent an e-mail to the people who had written in — inadvertently including all of the roughly 150 e-mail addresses in the "To" line of the message. The clerk compounded the error, which was first reported by the Web site TPMmuckraker.com, by sending a second "recall" message after the first. That note, too, included all of the addresses. A statement released yesterday by Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., explained the clerk’s error and apologized for it. "The Committee. . . is making every effort to protect the confidentiality of those who chose to provide information," the statement said, noting that the whistle-blowers "are entitled to full
legal protection," and that the panel was "determined to ensure they receive that protection[.]" A copy of the e-mail provided to ABC News showed a number of e-mails that used individuals’ full names. The public e-mail address of Vice President Dick Cheney was also on the list, as well as Conyers’ own address. Several other addresses "contained profanity," as Conyers’ statement described them, and appeared to be "fictitious." Do you have a tip for Brian Ross and the Investigative Team?