Introduction:

Government Accountability Project is a leading organization dedicated to protecting whistleblowers and promoting accountability in both corporate and government sectors. With over 40 years of experience, Government Accountability Project has defended more than 8,000 whistleblowers.

They have a strong focus on legal work–both representation andlitigation–and regulatory advocacy. If you hence find yourself facing especially legal questions, Government Accountability Project might be a good place for you.

They handle a wide range of whistleblowing cases, including:

1. Corporate Misconduct: Whistleblowing related to fraud, safety violations, or unethical practices in private companies.

2. Environmental Violations: Exposing actions that harm the environment or violate environmental regulations.

3. National Security: Exposing illegal and unconstitutional actions at the highest levels of government/military and defending democratic principles from security overreach.

4. Civil Rights Violations: Reporting violations of civil rights or discriminatory practices.

5. Government Malfeasance: Cases involving abuse of power, corruption, or illegal activities within government agencies.

Government Accountability Project does not have a strong background in tech or AI whistleblowing. This does not mean that they do not care about the topic (many of their previous investigations e.g. included a tech-angle), and in fact they have previously investigated legal protections in the frontier AI space. However, they are rather generalist in their work and especially bring:

1. Comprehensive Legal Support: Government Accountability Project offers a wide range of services, including legal representation, advocacy, and mediation. They help whistleblowers navigate the complexities of their cases and ensure their rights are protected.

2. Expertise and Experience: With over 40 years of experience, Government Accountability Project has defended more than 8,000 whistleblowers. Their team includes specialized attorneys and policy analysts who are well-versed in various fields such as public health, national security, and corporate accountability.

3. Investigative Power: Government Accountability Project conducts thorough investigations to substantiate whistleblower claims, collaborating with journalists and other partners to expose corruption and drive reform.

4. Global Network: Government Accountability Project connects whistleblowers with a network of non-governmental organizations and regional coalitions, providing additional resources and support.

Dana Gold, Director of Advocacy and Strategy, in 2024:

“Tech workers who work in privately held companies like OpenAI are, unfortunately, very vulnerable legally. There is no one law that protects corporate or private employees for reporting the range of serious abuses.”

Gold noted that while Congress passed the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act in 2022, which requires reporting of certain cyber incidents and threats, “there is no whistleblower protection section which would support employee enforcement of the act,” she said.

Gold said she would like to see more leadership in the tech sector and “more proactively embracing the role of employees as early-warning mechanisms to prevent problems that they acknowledge are enormous.”

Given the unlikelihood of a legislative fix, Gold said, “the tech industry can lead in implementing professional ethics standards like engineers, lawyers and doctors have to regulate the tech industry as a profession.”