Scott Bloch didn’t know much about the U.S. Office of Special Counsel until he was nominated to lead it.

Now, just a year later, the office is grabbing headlines for hot-button issues such as border patrols, airline baggage screening and nuclear weapons labs.

“It was kind of a well-kept secret in Washington and outside Washington,” Bloch said. “Clearly, our office has seen an increase in cases being in the limelight. We’re becoming more high-profile because of it.”

Bloch, 46, graduated from Kansas University with a bachelor’s degree in 1980 and a law degree in 1986. He practiced law for 15 years at the Lawrence firm Stevens & Brand before joining the U.S. Department of Justice in 2001.

He returned to Lawrence this week to speak and conduct interviews with students at the KU School of Law.

Bloch has been at the center of controversial issues since he arrived in Washington, D.C. At the Justice Department, he led the government’s oversight of faith-based programs.

He said the Bush administration had been wrongly criticized for making federal funds available for faith programs. Instead, he said, the administration has made funds available for secular activities of churches — such as homeless shelters — while prior administrations didn’t make that distinction and allowed some federal money for worship and other sacred purposes.

“Ironically, the Bush administration has clarified the rules, while they’re criticized for loosening the rules,” he said.

He also found himself in discussions with other attorneys about issues such as the USA Patriot Act, terrorist detainees and the University of Michigan affirmative action cases.

Scott Bloch, head of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, meets with Kansas University students at KU's law school. Bloch, a former Lawrence attorney, currently lives in Washington, D.C., where he works as a self-described watchdog over federal employees.

In his current job, which he started in January, Bloch oversees the government’s protection of federal whistle-blowers, protection of veterans’ rights and enforcement of the Hatch Act, which restricts the political activities of government employees. His term runs for five years.

“It’s about the integrity of the executive branch,” he said. “It’s a watchdog agency, essentially. It’s a very mission-driven office. It’s a noble cause.”

The office handles more than 2,500 cases annually. One recent high-profile case involved Glenn Walp, an official at the Los Alamos National Laboratory who was fired in retaliation for documenting security breaches and other mismanagement. He received a $930,000 settlement from the University of California.

Bloch also gained headlines early in his tenure when he said he didn’t think laws guiding the special counsel’s office protected workers against discrimination based on sexual orientation, because those laws guided discrimination based solely on actions of other individuals. The opinion drew the ire of gay rights groups.

U.S. Office of Special Counsel

Subsequently, the office announced it would continue enforcement of protections offered for workers thought to be gay.

“We simply said, ‘We’re going to enforce the law as written,'” Bloch said. “There was a huge, unnecessary hullabaloo about it.”

Though he said he missed Lawrence, Bloch said he, his wife and seven children enjoyed living in Washington.

“I practiced law for 15 years in this town,” Bloch said. “I loved it. But I saw an opportunity to do something I’d always wanted to do, and I didn’t think it would come up again.”