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.

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