About the ICWPA

The ICWPA is a statute that provides a process by which employees, or contractor employees, of the Defense Intelligence Agency, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, National Reconnaissance Office, and the National Security Agency can report matters of "urgent concern" to the intelligence committees of Congress.  DoD OIG Instruction 7050.11, dated 15 February 2007, implements the ICWPA within the DoD Office of Inspector General.  

ICWPA Complaints

In order to submit an ICWPA complaint the following elements must be met:

• Eligible Originator:  Only applies to employees (civilian, military or contractor) assigned to the four DoD intelligence agencies (DIA, NSA, NRO, and NGA).  Does not apply to activities of the military services, combatant commands, or Office of Secretary of Defense.
• Urgent Concern:  Complaint must be of an "urgent concern" which is defined as follows:
  • A serious or flagrant problem, abuse, violation of law or Executive Order, or deficiency relating to the funding, administration, or operations of an intelligence activity involving classified information, but does not include differences of opinion concerning public policy matters;
  • A false statement to Congress, or a willful withholding from Congress, on an issue of material fact relating to the funding, administration, or operation of an intelligence activity; and/or
  • An action, including a personnel action described in section 2302(a)(2)(A) of Title 5, constituting reprisal or threat of reprisal prohibited under section 7(c) of the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended, in response to an employee reporting an urgent concern.

How to File an ICWPA Complaint

If you want to file a complaint under the ICWPA, please refer to the complaints processes for classified complaints below. It is also highly recommended that you contact the Defense Hotline at (800) 424-9098, where an investigator can advise you on filing procedures and timelines. 

Classified Complaints Involving up to SECRET Information:

You may submit your complaint via the following methods:

Classified Complaints Involving up to TOP SECRET Information:

To submit complaints involving TOP SECRET information or above, please visit the DoD Inspector General Hotline pages on the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System (JWICS), found at: http://www.dodig.ic.gov/hotline/index.html.  (Note: This link is not live and will not work from unclassified systems or unsecured internet connections.)