DOVER, Del. (AP) - An independent federal investigative agency says supervisors at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware engaged in a campaign of retaliation against whistleblowers who disclosed poor management of the mortuary, including the mishandling of human remains.

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel released a report Friday, saying officials retaliated against four employees who sought to expose wrongdoing. The report found that in one case, a senior Air Force attorney who reviewed a plan to fire one of the whistleblowers found that "it is almost certain that any reviewing authority would conclude any such discipline was reprisal/retaliation."

The report says Col. Robert Edmondson set the tone for retaliation and was the force behind the actions against the whistleblowers.

The Air Force is taking steps to further discipline Edmondson and another supervisor. The third has resigned.

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