The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 contains significant whistleblower protections; yet even after these were strengthened in 1989, the Merit System Protection Board reports that reprisals against whistleblowers are still common. Why do you think this is the case? What, if anything, can be done to reduce reprisals? Examples abound of whistleblowers having to take extreme measures to protect themselves, i.e. Andrew Snowden moving to Russia or Joseph Darby, the Army Sergeant who reported the torture at Abu Gharib Prison (he and his family had been placed in protective custody).
