The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been misleading employees about how to internally report agency wrongdoing, leaving whistleblowers vulnerable to retaliation.

The Government Accountability Office warned of a “chilling effect” on conscientious and quietly outspoken FBI employees in a new report released on Monday.

In an examination of Justice Department whistleblower retaliation claims lodged over the course of one year, GAO found on several occasions that the department dismissed complaints because the employee, per official guidelines, had initially reported the abuse incorrectly.

“Dismissing retaliation complaints made to an employee’s supervisor or someone in his or her chain of command who is not a designated entity leaves some FBI whistleblowers with no recourse if they experience retaliation,” GAO noted, finding “at least 17 whistleblowers whose cases were dismissed—at least in part—for making a disclosure of wrongdoing to someone in their chain of command or management.”

Whistleblower advocates and attorneys interviewed by the GAO warned that the current doesn’t jive with “common practice,” which is for employees to report wrongdoing to a supervisor before going to an official designated by the DOJ to receive complaints.

More troubling, the watchdog found “instances of DOJ guidance that could lead FBI employees to believe that reporting an allegation of wrongdoing to a supervisor in their chain of command would be a protected disclosure when that is not the case.”

For example, one memo sent by the department to FBI employees instructing them to watch a video on whistleblower rights stated that “employees may report waste, fraud, or abuse within the department to supervisors within their offices or the OIG, or outside the department to [the US Office of Special Counsel].”

“The memo did not clarify that FBI employees who report such allegations to their supervisors or OSC may not have the right to pursue corrective action should they experience retaliation for their disclosure,” GAO noted,

The watchdog called on Congress to reform whistleblower laws to include protections for FBI employees who report wrongdoing to supervisors. It also called on the Attorney General to “clarify in all current relevant DOJ guidance and communications…to whom FBI employees may make protected disclosures.”

DOJ responded to the report with plans to add more senior officials in FBI field offices to the list of designated officials that can receive protected disclosures. GAO said “the timing and outcome of this stated plan are uncertain.”

Whistleblower protections are offered to most government workers who report wrongdoing to their supervisors, with the exception of employees at the FBI and the nation’s intelligence agencies. At these levels, it has been claimed that whistleblower regulations should be custom-crafted to take into account the secret nature of work performed. Under regulations created by the Department of Justice, FBI employees are only protected when they make complaints to nine individuals and offices, which often do not include employees’ superiors

This policy, according to the GAO, “risks dismissing, and potentially not addressing, instances of actual retaliation against individuals who reported their disclosure to their supervisors, or another entity not designated in the regulations.”

Beyond confusion about proper procedure at the FBI, the Justice Department has broader problems arbitrating whistleblower retaliation complaints in a timely manner. Out of 62 cases reviewed, GAO found that the department only saw four of them to adjudication, and the length of time it took to resolve those cases ranged from between two years to more than 10 years.

The vast majority of whistleblower retaliation complaints (71 percent) were dismissed by the DOJ because they did not meet certain requirements – many of which came from FBI employees who, as described above, took their complaints to someone not authorized to receive them.

Read the full GAO report here.