A senior auditor with the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) was subjected to years of reprisal in violation of the Whistleblower Protection Act after she blew the whistle on flawed audits produced by DCAA, according to an April 2010 Office of Special Counsel (OSC) investigative report made available today by the Project On Government Oversight (POGO). According to a press release issued Friday, DCAA has made several corrective actions in response to the OSC report substantiating that the auditor was retaliated against. The auditor, Diem Thi Le, works in DCAA’s Santa Ana, California branch office.
Le’s disclosures catalyzed a chain reaction that radically transformed DCAA and led to the demise of a metrics-oriented culture there that focused on quantity of audits done quickly over quality.
“I’m grateful to Diem-Thi Le for her courage to speak out. Whistleblowers like Diem-Thi Le put their careers on the line when they expose this kind of fraud and abuse,” said Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner in a written statement. OSC issued the press release this month because corrective actions had been taken recently, according to an OSC spokeswoman.
