Senators Warn CIA Director Not to Retaliate Against Whistleblower

The warning came after operations officer James Erdman testified during a public hearing.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) speaks during a Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Oct. 31, 2023. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

Senators are warning the CIA’s director not to take action against an operations officer who told the Senate on May 13 that CIA personnel believed COVID-19 came from a laboratory in China, but agency leaders changed those conclusions.

Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), the chairman and a member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, respectively, said in a letter to CIA Director John Ratcliffe on May 14 that “we expect no retaliatory action of any kind to be taken against [James Erdman III] in connection with his appearance before the Committee.”