Justice's Handling of Alleged Disclosure/Retaliation

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed allegations concerning retaliation against a complainant who reported the unauthorized disclosure of a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confidential informant to the appropriate Department of Justice (DOJ) officials. GAO noted that: (1) it could not substantiate that any DOJ employee had disclosed the informant's identity or had acted improperly during the investigations of the alleged leak and alleged retaliation; (2) defense attorneys in the case had concluded that there was a FBI informant from documents disclosed during the discovery process; (3) an audit of the complainant's travel vouchers was initiated because of a duplicate travel reimbursement to the complainant; (4) there was no evidence that the audit constituted a retaliatory act; (5) DOJ made changes to the complainant's performance appraisal in response to his complaints that it contained derogatory comments; and (6) the DOJ Offices of Special Counsel, Professional Responsibility, and Inspector General found no evidence of the alleged leak or retaliation during their investigations and believed that the travel audit was justified.