Nor is there adequate outside oversight. For instance, a 1988 congressional mandate that required the DOE to set up a system of penalties for contractors who violate safety and environmental regulations has been implemented only partially. After 12 years, the department has promulgated only two of the 11 proposed rules, and the office established to enforce the program at dozens of DOE facilities nationwide is staffed by only nine people, who rely on contractors to self-report. Firing is only one form of retaliation contractors use against whistleblowers. Other methods include poor performance evaluations, enforced isolation, claims of security breaches, and blacklisting.
Some companies even use psychiatrists to misdiagnose whistleblowers as having mental disorders.
The diagnosis cost the whistleblower her security clearance and her job. The practice of DOE litigation-reimbursement goes back to the Cold War. In those years, an emphasis on weapons production and secrecy encouraged a fortress mentality that saw all grievances as threats to national security. Since the vast majority of the work performed under DOE auspices is done by private contractors, it followed that the government had to back them up against disgruntled workers. They're administrative types.