Joint Base Charleston, S.C. –
I recently had the privilege of attending the ribbon cutting for our beautiful new base housing. The ceremony made me a little melancholy as the location was just across the street from a now vacant field where my family first moved into base housing almost 30 years ago. A lot of changes have taken place, but as I consider the differences from then to now I am always encouraged that the one constant, the one thing that made, and still makes, the mission happen in a world class way are the people. Joint Base Charleston is blessed to have a group of talented professionals that on a daily basis make the difficult look easy. Sometimes problems arise hindering the effective accomplishment of our mission. When these problems seemingly can't be resolved, then the Inspector General's office can help.
For the IG to effectively resolve complaints, all personnel must understand they have unrestricted access to the IG. Title 10 USC § 1034, commonly referred to as the "Whistleblower Protection Act," states no one may restrict or reprise against anyone, in any way, for bringing an issue to the IG or their congressman. This ensures people have the freedom to speak up about wrongs without fear of retaliation. Sounds simple enough, but what are reprisal and restriction?
Air Force Instruction 90-301 defines restriction as "preventing or attempting to prevent members of the Armed Forces from making or preparing to make lawful communications to members of Congress and/or an IG." The instruction states, "Restriction may be communicated by a variety of means (e.g., verbal, written policy, regulation, order, procedure, counseling or public statement) and creates a chilling effect." A "chilling effect" is further defined as, "Those actions, through words or behavior, that would tend to prevent an individual(s) from taking a proposed course of action," with that "proposed course of action" being communicating or attempting to communicate with members of Congress and/or an IG.
AFI 90-301 defines reprisal as "taking or threatening to take an unfavorable personnel action or withholding or threatening to withhold a favorable personnel action on a military member for making or preparing to make a Protected Communication." A PC is any communication made to a member of Congress or an IG. Additionally, a PC is also created when a member reports anything they reasonably believe is a wrong doing to anyone in their chain of command, chiefs, first sergeants, inspectors and auditors.
All reports of reprisal or restriction must be investigated by the Inspector General's office with oversight and direction from the Headquarters Air Mobility Command IG office, the Secretary of the Air Force IG and the Department of Defense IG. This process ensures members of the military community can confidently present their concerns to the Inspector General without fear of retaliation. Although members should attempt to resolve issues at the lowest level, the IG office is available to provide assistance. These same rights apply to government civilian employees as well; however, government civilians file their complaints directly with the DoD IG office. The IG office can assist civilians on how to file a complaint. If you have questions or need further clarification, please contact us. The Joint Base Charleston IG office is located on the second floor of Bldg. 246, at 205 S. Davis Dr. and our phone numbers are 963-3552 and 963-5036.