One FBI informant Allegations that the bureau improperly suspended security clearances for agents with “conservative views”.
Fox News obtained a complaint sent last week to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the DOJ Inspector General from a whistleblower — a supervisor and a registered Democrat — alleging that “the FBI’s Security Division improperly suspended or revoked the security clearances of employees whose political views, medical views or even ethnicity were questioned by Security Division leadership.” The whistleblower’s representative, Tristan Levitt, who is president of the right-wing public integrity group Empower Oversight, also notified Fox News. House and Senate Judiciary Committees Of the complaint.
“The outcomes of clearance investigations and decisions were often predetermined by the division’s acting deputy assistant director and acting section chief responsible for security clearance investigations and decisions, who often bypassed line staff and even dictated the wording of documents in the clearance process,” the complaint states.
“Over the past few years, the FBI has used the clearance process to force employees out of the FBI by placing them in severe financial jeopardy: suspending their clearances, suspending them from duty without pay, requiring them to obtain permission to hold another job while stuck in this unpaid uncertainty, and delaying their final clearance decision indefinitely — even for years,” Levitt wrote.
“As I have written before, the FBI is not a private club where FBI officers can create their own image,” Levitt said in a letter to Congress.
They requested that the committees “work expeditiously to independently corroborate the information in the attached disclosure with other witnesses, publicly document their findings, hold Director Wray and any responsible FBI officials accountable, and pass legislation to fix the abusive security clearance process and successfully protect whistleblowers in the future.”
A new FBI whistleblower has accused the bureau of violating federal law by suspending the security clearances of agents with “conservative views.” (iStock)
Another letter, addressed to DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz and attorney Jeffrey Ragsdale, requested an investigation into whether the FBI improperly transferred an Empower Oversight client, later suspended him indefinitely without pay, and suspended his security clearance “in retaliation for protected whistleblower disclosures,” a violation of federal statute and Presidential Policy Directive 19.
The letters said the supervisory special agent’s security clearance was suspended “because he disclosed the improper suspension and revocation of security clearances of other employees.”
“Given the pattern of abuse of the security clearance process by SecD (the FBI’s security division) and retaliation against SecD employees who attempt to prevent those abuses, I also request that the OIG conduct a full review of the FBI’s security clearance process, how it has been abused — particularly by Dana Perkins and Jeffrey Veltri — and the role of FBI leadership in allowing these abuses to occur,” Levitt wrote.
“The SSA client participated in numerous discussions in which it became clear that Veltri and Perkins’ view was that if an FBI employee fit a certain profile as a political conservative, they were viewed as a security concern and deemed unfit to work at the FBI,” the complaint states. “Despite issues such as support for former President Trump or vaccine hesitancy being a common theme in discussions about suitability for access to classified information, those issues were almost never mentioned in the written clearance suspension and revocation notices issued to FBI employees.”
Read the letter written by the whistleblower’s lawyer to DOJ – App users, click here:
“Sadly, from my perspective as a former FBI special agent, these ‘bombshell’ allegations about the purge of conservative employees at the FBI are not bombshells at all,” former FBI special agent Nicole Parker told Fox News Digital. “For many, this became the standard way of life and culture at the FBI. I didn’t like it and neither did thousands of others – both current and former FBI employees. I walked away from a career I once loved as a special agent. I, and countless other FBI agents and support staff, felt that if you disagreed with certain matters and expressed your concerns, you would be targeted.”
“Thus, only a small percentage of those who feel the same way ever speak up,” said Parker, a Fox News contributor. “From my perspective, the FBI became politically armed at the top with executive management in Washington, D.C., and trickling down to the various field offices. Political weaponization The report was not just about who the FBI investigated externally, but also how they treated internal employees.”
Its seal can be seen outside the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s headquarters in Washington, DC, on August 15, 2022. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
The complaint details how FBI staff operations specialist Marcus Allen questioned whether FBI Director Chris Wray “had committed perjury before Congress and indicated he would not comply with the FBI’s COVID-19 vaccination requirements.” Although security division staff found this was not sufficient grounds to suspend a security clearance, the division’s leadership “nevertheless suspended SOS Allen’s clearance, claiming these issues indicated he was not loyal to the United States — even though SOS Allen had served honorably as a U.S. Marine in Iraq,” the letter states.
FBI Director Christopher Wray speaks during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, July 12, 2023, in Washington, DC. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Levitt said that Security Division leadership “later hastened to revoke the clearance of SOS Allen and Special Agent Steve Friend so that they could present their report.” May 18, 2023, Testimony before the House Select Subcommittee on Arming the Federal Government,” and those revocations “apparently led to the FBI sharing details about its cases — some of which have been proven false — in a letter to Congress that was promptly leaked to the press.” Empower Oversight assisted Allen in filing a retaliation complaint with the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General and getting his security clearance reinstated through May 31, 2024.
The complaint said Allen was suspended without pay for more than two years before the proceedings were settled.
The new whistleblower “informed Security Division leadership that the revocation of SOS Allen’s clearance was a violation of regulations — and that he faced retaliation for this disclosure,” and “he also knows that at least two other Security Division employees also suffered retaliation at the hands of Division leadership because they disclosed the improper suspension or failure to reinstate SOS Allen’s clearance,” Levitt wrote.
Despite efforts by Congress to shed light on the “abuses” of the Security Division over the past two years, the complaint argues that “the same officials at the center of this improper behavior are either still leading the Division or have been rewarded with senior leadership positions in the FBI,” and “Whereas despite efforts by Congress to shed light on the “abuses” of the Security Division over the past two years, the complaint argues that “the same officials at the center of this improper behavior are either still leading the Division or have been rewarded with senior leadership positions in the FBI,” and “Whereas “abuses” of the Security Division over the past two years have been highlighted by Congress … Deputy Director Paul Abate The February 2021 threat that anyone who disagreed with his management decisions ‘does not belong in the FBI and should find a different job,’ raises larger questions about how Director Wray has enabled this abuse by not holding officers accountable.”
Click here to get the Fox News app
Fox News Digital reached out to the FBI for comment on Wednesday.
