Grusch claimed early on that he had tried to reach out to AARO for years before the whistleblower hotline came available. He also claims he tried repeatedly leading up to his tapping the hotline, and he was routinely ignored. This unfortunately tracks with AARO’s public face; they have expressed more than once that they do not follow up on the majority of tips they receive as they discount them as “not credible.”

It’s his word against Kirkpatrick, in this case, and Kirkpatrick has not shown a great deal of willing, or even interest, in this regard.