To require a conflict of interest certification for Inspector General investigations relating to whistleblower retaliation.

SA 1739. Mrs. McCASKILL submitted an amendment intended to be
proposed to amendment SA 1463 proposed by Mr. McCain to the bill H.R.
1735, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2016 for military
activities of the Department of Defense and for military construction,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place, insert the following:

SEC. __. CONFLICT OF INTEREST CERTIFICATION FOR
INVESTIGATIONS RELATING TO WHISTLEBLOWER
RETALIATION.

(a) Definition.--In this section--
(1) the term ``covered employee'' means a whistleblower who
is an employee of the Department of Defense or a military
department, or an employee of a contractor, subcontractor,
grantee, or subgrantee thereof;
(2) the term ``covered investigation'' means an
investigation carried out by an Inspector General of a
military department or the Inspector General of the
Department of Defense relating to--
(A) a retaliatory personnel action taken against a member
of the Armed Forces under section 1034 of title 10, United
States Code; or
(B) any retaliatory action taken against a covered
employee; and
(3) the term ``military department'' means each of the
departments described in section 104 of title 5, United
States Code.
(b) Certification Requirement.--
(1) In general.--Each investigator involved in a covered
investigation shall submit to the Inspector General of the
Department of Defense or the Inspector General of the
military department, as applicable, a certification that
there was no conflict of interest between the investigator,
any witness involved in the covered investigation, and the
covered employee or member of the Armed Forces, as
applicable, during the conduct of the covered investigation.
(2) Standardized form.--The Inspector General of the
Department of Defense shall develop a standardized form to be
used by each investigator to submit the certification
required under paragraph (1).
(3) Investigative file.--Each certification submitted under
paragraph (1) shall be included in the file of the applicable
covered investigation.
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