By Toby McIntosh
The United States is continuing to withhold about $2 million from the International Civil Aviation Organization because of “continuing concerns” that ICAO is not implementing whistleblower protections and ethics reforms agreed on last June, according to a State Department spokesperson.
The financial pressure began in early 2019 as the US pressed for reforms (See November 2019 Eye article.) The governing ICAO Council approved adding protections for whistleblowers to its “Service Code” and ICAO promised to hire a new ethics officer.
Nevertheless, the US in December indicated continuing dissatisfaction, looking for “implementation” actions and the hiring of the ethics officer. (See December 2019 Eye article.) Similar objections were raised in a State Department statement to EYE July 1.
State said the US is “withholding 15% of our 2019 contributions … due to continuing concerns about the organization’s inability to effectively implement whistleblower protections and ethics reforms agreed upon by the ICAO Council.”
The specifics of the dispute are hard to discern. It remains unclear if the revised Service Code has been published and documents about the Council meeting have not been made public. According to the ICAO website, the ethics officer is “acting.” ICAO’s media office did not return an e-mail requesting comment. State would not go into more detail.
State also said in its statement:
The United States is deeply committed to advancing oversight, ethics, and accountability through our continuous support of independent ethics offices, enhanced oversight functions, and effective accountability mechanisms, including strong whistleblower protection policies. We will continue to work with ICAO and our fellow member states to create a safe environment for staff and to increase transparency on issues of ethical conduct.
The controversy has its roots in revelations by whistleblowers over the past several years. Most prominent was attention brought to Chinese hacking of ICAO’s computers in 2016 and questions about the adequacy of ICAO’s response.
One whistleblower, Vincent Smith, a high-ranking ICAO official, was fired in December of 2019.
Under US law (Section 7048(a) of the FY 2019 Appropriations Act), the government can withhold contributions to international entities that do not meet best practices related to access to audit reports, protection of whistleblowers from retaliation, and appropriate use of travel funds.
In recent years, the US has contributed about 20 percent of ICAO’s annual budget (Projected for 2020 at $76 million, according to ICAO budget document). The Trump administration proposed a $16.2 million contribution for fiscal 2020, slightly below previous levels ($16.3 million was the actual contribution in fiscal 2018, the last year for which an actual spending number is available and was projected at $16.032 for fiscal 2019, according to a US budget document). No precise dollar figure was provided for the amount being withheld, but a 15 percent reduction of $16 million would be $2.4 million.
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