Jeff Ruch
Senior Counsel

Jeff Ruch

Jeff serves as Senior Counsel to PEER, where he specializes in civil service, scientific integrity, and whistleblower protection issues. Jeff was PEER’s Executive Director from 1997 to 2019 and its Pacific Director from 2019 to 2025. Previously, he was the Policy Director and a staff attorney at the Government Accountability Project, representing whistleblowers from both the public and private sectors. Before coming to DC, Jeff worked in California state government for 17 years, mostly in the State Legislature as counsel to various committees where he drafted hundreds of laws on topics ranging from energy conservation to the rights of employed inventors. Jeff served stints as a deputy district attorney and an appellate court clerk. He is a graduate of the California Correctional Officers Academy.

COMMENTARY | Beefalo Befuddlement in Grand Canyon

by Jeff Ruch | May 17, 2021
Grand Canyon's plan to "lethally remove" 12 beefalo from its herd is fraught with ambiguity and lacking in scientific rationale ...

Op-Ed | The Park Service Has Lost Its Conservation Compass

by Jeff Ruch |
The Park Service has cut programmatic work on conservation of species like endangered sea turtles - what will it take for NPS to turn itself around ...

PEERMail | Something Extraordinary – A Whistleblower Wins

by Jeff Ruch | April 15, 2021
After years of legal wrangling with the USGS and the Merit Systems Protection Board, a career microbiologist turned whislteblower is reinstated ...

Scientific integrity, or more hot air?

by Jeff Ruch | April 4, 2021
“On Jan. 27, President Biden issued a more than 10-page executive memo to all agencies on the topic of scientific integrity. In an accompanying fact sheet, the White House claimed this action sends “a clear message that the Biden-Harris Administration will protect scientists ...

BLOG | Supreme Court FOIA Decision and Official Candor

by Jeff Ruch | March 16, 2021
The recent Supreme Court decision makes government less transparent by shielding scientific conclusions from disclosure unless they are finally adopted by agency decision-makers ...
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