Michael Atkinson, the National Intelligence Inspector General at the center of the high-profile controversy related to the Ukraine whistleblower complaint, is under scrutiny for changing the requirement for intelligence workers to submit whistleblower tips, reports The Epoch Times.
The old version of IC IG ICWSP Form 401, also known as the Disclosure of Urgent Concern Form, prohibited workers from submitting complaints based on secondhand information.
That changed in early August, when Atkinson revised the form that reversed the policy.
"In the process of reviewing and clarifying those forms, and in response to recent press inquiries regarding the instant whistleblower complaint, the ICIG understood that certain language in those forms and, more specifically, the informational materials accompanying the forms, could be read – incorrectly – as suggesting that whistleblowers must possess first-hand information in order to file an urgent concern complaint with the congressional intelligence committees," reads a Sept. 30 statement published by Atkinson's office.
The complaint alleges President Donald Trump pressed Ukraine's leader to investigate Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
The whistleblower "stated on the form that he or she possessed both first-hand and other information," reads the news release. "The ICIG reviewed the information provided as well as other information gathered and determined that the complaint was both urgent and that it appeared credible."
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