Yesterday, I pointed out here how you can help federal whistleblowers get the stronger protections they need. That way, they can protect American citizens from government mismanagement that now includes security or terrorist threats.

Now, it looks like there's another reason to protect whistleblowers: The Office of Special Counsel, the agency that's supposed to represent federal whistleblowers' interests, apparently doesn't have much to do these days.

According to today's Washington Post, the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) recently got into hot water when it published dress code tips for its employees in an internal newsletter.

Well, Congress returns from its August recess this week and, judging from what I'm reading in the newspapers, both parties are going to tell you a lot about security and how they're going to make you safe from terrorism as we enter our sixth year after 9/11. No doubt you've heard a lot from the president about this topic in the past couple of days.

Yet our nation still faces significant security threats. And while some threats come from enemies willing to strike at us, others come from unsafe government practices. Many times, the employees who could blow the whistle on these unsafe practices don't do it because they are afraid of retaliation that includes losing their security clearance -- or even their job.

Here are several examples of what national security whistleblowers can face: