FDA Asked To Explain Email Monitoring Policies
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA) sent a letter to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about their monitoring of nine employees who worked for the agency. The letter demands a comprehensive explanation of all FDA monitoring policies after the agency kept tabs on emails sent by the nine workers to federal watchdog agencies.
In the letter, sent to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Acting Budget Director Jeffery Zients, Grassley and Issa state that FDA's monitoring of the actions of its employees "was not lawful."
"To the extent that it monitored communications with the Congress and the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), the FDA was not legitimately investigating wrongdoing or tracing a security breach. Disclosures to OSC and Congress are authorized and protected by law," continued Grassley and Issa.
Their letter goes on to request that OMB collect information on whether or not FDA employees-and those of other agencies-are permitted minimal use of personal email at work, whether FDA has an official policy for monitoring employee email, what communications are legally protected, the extent of monitoring activities, the titles of FDA officials authorized to order or conduct surveillance and statistics on monitoring activities.
Read more:
Letter - To The Honorable Jeffery D. Zients
Regulatory Focus - Investigation into FDA Handling of Whistleblowers Widens
The Hill - Republicans question extent of agencies' spying on federal employees