In Deep: The FBI, the CIA, and the Truth about America's "Deep State"

by David Rohde

As the whistleblower was supposed to do under the law, he or she had filed the complaint with the inspector general of the Intelligence Community, one of the independent watchdogs created in 1978 by Congress and Carter to counter waste, fraud, and abuse. Inspector General Michael Atkinson then deemed the whistleblower’s complaint “credible and urgent” and, again following the law, forwarded it to the acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire. Maguire, a former Navy SEAL, agreed with the inspector general that the complaint was credible. When Maguire attempted to take the next step in the process by law—sharing the complaint with the House and Senate intelligence committees—he was blocked by the White House and the Justice Department.