RICHARD V. MEYER 355 Congress reacted to these issues with a series of increasing demands on the military. In FY13 NDAA they pulled the authority to involuntarily separate sexual assault victims who had filed a report14 from all non-flag officers.15 In FY14 NDAA they: tasked the military services with creating punitive regulations16 that would criminalize retaliatory acts against whistleblowers; ordered the DoD to study the possibility of adding a specific punitive article to the UCMJ to cover retaliation;17 and expand the definition of retaliatory acts to include changes in the whistleblower's duties to ones beneath their rank or threats to do so.18 In FY2016 Congress tasked DoD to do a comprehensive study of the retaliation problem19 and then followed that up one year later by incorporating the provisions of the MRPA in the NDAA of FY2017. In sum, the MRPA significantly expands the criminal liability of those who act to retaliate against a whistleblower;20 enlarges the scope of conduct that could be considered retaliatory by a considerable margin;21 and mandates a detailed tracking and reporting system for all whistleblower complaints.22 Although motivated by a desire to protect sexual assault victims, the first two of these innovations will provide significant protection all whistleblowers within the military. I - INCREASED CRIMINAL LIABILITY FOR RETALIATORS Criminal liability for acts of retaliation against whistleblowers is a comparatively recent phenomenon in the United States. For example, the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 established that protecting victims from the effects of retaliation was the priority rather than 'disciplining' the retaliators. 23 only after the Sarbanes-oxley Act of 2002 was retaliation against a whistleblower 14. FY13 NDAA §572. 15. FY13 NDAA §578 A flag officer is a senior officer that has achieved one of the general ranks in the Army, Air Force, or Marine Corps, or one of the admiral ranks in the Navy. They are the most senior/highest ranking officers in the military. 16. FY14 NDAA §1709(c). 17. FY14 NDAA §1709. 18. FY14 NDAA §1714. 19. FY16 NDAA §539. 20. FY2017 NDAA §5450. 21. Id. 22. FY2017 NDAA §§543-545. 23. Pub. L. No. 101-12, 103 Stat. 16 (1989) (codified in scattered sections of 5 U.S.C.A.). "... while disciplining those who commit prohibited personnel practices may be used as a means by which to help accomplish that goal, the protection of individuals who are the subject of prohibited personnel practices remains the paramount consideration." Id. at §2(b)(2)(C).