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Mr. Patrick W. Gookin serves as the Director of the Department of Defense (DoD) Hotline. He also served as the Whistleblower Protection Ombudsman for the DoD from 2013 to 2018.

Mr. Gookin became the Director of the DoD Hotline in March 2013. In this role, he oversees a staff of more than 50 professional investigators who are responsible for receiving, evaluating and investigating reports of fraud, waste, and abuse regarding programs and personnel under the purview of the DoD. In August 2013, Mr. Gookin was appointed as the Whistleblower Protection Ombudsman for the DoD. In this role, Mr. Gookin educated DoD employees about prohibitions on retaliation for protected disclosures; and educated employees who have made or contemplate making a protected disclosure, about the rights and remedies against retaliation.

Prior to joining the Office of the Inspector General, Mr. Gookin served in various roles with the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Office of Inspector General from 2005 to 2013, starting as a supervisory special agent and ending as the Acting Assistant Deputy Inspector General for Investigations.

Mr. Gookin began Federal service in 1984 when he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) as a military policeman. He was a commissioned police officer in the states of Arizona and Hawaii and became an accredited criminal investigator in 1989. He left active duty in 1998 and served as a Marine Corps civilian supervisory criminal investigator with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.