Government Accountability Project has offered assistance to thousands of whistleblowers since our founding over 40 years ago. This page features some of our current clients. Note: this is not a complete list; some clients prefer to remain anonymous during or after litigation.
Dr. Scott Allen and Dr. Pamela McPherson
Dr. Scott Allen and Dr. Pamela McPherson In July 2018, Government Accountability Project clients Dr. Scott Allen and Dr. Pamela McPherson, medical and mental health subject matter experts for the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (DHS/CRCL), made the brave decision to blow the whistle on the government’s child detention practices. Through their disclosures, they sought to prevent the ongoing risk of harm to children and families posed [...]
Ellen Gallagher
Ellen Gallagher Ellen Gallagher is a former policy adviser at the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (DHS-CRCL) and current employee at DHS’ Office of the Inspector General. She has blown the whistle on Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) use of solitary confinement on mentally ill and medically vulnerable adults across the 200+ immigration detention facilities in clear violation of federal laws and detention standards. Gallagher first reported her [...]
Doug Stephens
Doug Stephens Doug Stephens is a former Asylum Officer who resigned from USCIS in August 2019. He worked as an Asylum Officer in the San Francisco Aslyum ffice from September 2017 until August 31, 2019. Prior to his service in the asylum corps, he was a Deaprtment of Justice (DOJ) staff attorney for the San Francisco Immigration Court from September 2015 to September 2017. While at the Immigration Court, he reviewed 195 cases [...]
Brandon Coleman
Brandon Coleman A Marine Corps veteran and Addiction Therapist for the Phoenix Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Brandon Coleman witnessed a variety of improper and possibly unlawful practices. In 2014, Coleman disclosed to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) that suicidal veterans had been neglected, and left to walk out of the VA hospital without proper care. Following his disclosure, Coleman learned that his own medical records had been illegally accessed by a [...]
Robert MacLean
Robert MacLean In 2003, Federal Air Marshal Robert MacLean learned that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was planning to make up for budget shortfalls by temporarily canceling long-distance air marshall coverage, including during a known threat on the anniversary of 9/11. MacLean brought his concerns to a supervisor and three DHS Office of Inspector General field offices, but they all declined to act and told him to drop the issue. With no other [...]
Shea Wilkes
Shea Wilkes Shea Wilkes is an Army Veteran and a pioneer VA whistleblower who exposed secret waiting lists at VA hospitals in 2014, while he was a Local Recovery Coordinator at Overton Brooks VA Medical Center in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Office of Special Counsel substantiated his disclosures, but the Special Counsel later lambasted the VA Inspector General and the VA Office of Accountability Review for an obviously whitewashed investigation of the breakdowns in patient [...]
Dr. Katherine Mitchell
Dr. Katherine Mitchell Dr. Mitchell is a full-time VA physician who works at the Veterans Integrated Service Network office in Gilbert, Arizona. While working at the Phoenix VA from 2009-2014, hospital officials ignored Dr. Mitchell’s repeated warnings about grossly unsafe conditions including understaffing, poor triage training, and delayed access to care. In May 2014, Dr. Mitchell chose to publicly disclose those conditions in an attempt to save Veteran’s lives. In July 2014, she testified [...]
Paula Pedene
Paula Pedene Ms. Pedene is an award-winning public relations professional with 28 years of experience at the VA. She served honorably in the U.S. Navy as a broadcast journalist for over eleven years. At present, Ms. Pedene serves as a Senior Communications Specialist assigned to VA Central Office. She made her first protected disclosures in 2010, revealing evidence of a hostile work environment and funds mismanagement. Those allegations were sustained by the VA [...]
Kuauhtemoc “K-Rod” Rodriguez
Kuauhtemoc “K-Rod” Rodriguez Kuauhtemoc “K-Rod” Rodriguez has worked for the VA since 2010. Before that he was an Army Officer for five years, including service in the Iraq War, and he has been an Air Force reservist for seven years. From 2015 to 2018, Mr. Rodriguez was the Chief of Specialty Care at the Phoenix VA Health Care System (PVAHCS), where he supervised over 100 employees. Mr. Rodriguez has been tireless in his advocacy for veterans, when he [...]
James Hundt
James Hundt Mr. James Hundt is an Associate Director in the Veterans Engineering Resource Center (VERC). He is a West Point graduate, disabled veteran, and 24-year military and federal government employee with seven years of experience in three presidential administrations within the Executive Office of the President (EOP). VERC is a part of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), which in turn is one of the large subdivisions of the VA. VERC integrates healthcare [...]
Brandon Coleman
Brandon Coleman A Marine Corps veteran and Addiction Therapist for the Phoenix Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Brandon Coleman witnessed a variety of improper and possibly unlawful practices. In 2014, Coleman disclosed to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) that suicidal veterans had been neglected, and left to walk out of the VA hospital without proper care. Following his disclosure, Coleman learned that his own medical records had been illegally accessed by a [...]