A lately released inspector general statement, in addition to just released records of one FBI diplomat’s 2023 meeting with the House Judiciary Committee, demonstrate that the FBI’s plan to punish whistleblowers involved suspending their security clearances without giving any justification or caution.
Jennifer Leigh Moore, who served as the FBI’s people resources branch’s executive assistant director until her pension in June 2023, told legislative investigators that her “whole control principle is about become kind.”
” No matter what we’re doing, if we’re suspending a clearing, if we’re bringing on board an individual, or if we’re at a pension, we are constantly kind”, she told the House Judiciary Committee in April 2023.
Moore and her company’s steps regarding retaliation against reporters, yet, suggest otherwise.
Jim Jordan, the chairman of the House Judiciary, expressed deep concern that the FBI last year conducted a qualified “purge” of workers with divisive views. Moore first addressed the council about the subject in April 2023, but she never commented when questioned about the numerous agencies who had experienced suspensions.
She claimed that she was” not permitted to discuss continuing security investigations,” which caused the House Judiciary Committee to summons her for “refusing to answer questions about the FBI’s retribution against courageous reporters who have come ahead” in a transcript of her interview.
In earlier 2023, Special Agent Garret O’Boyle, Special Agent Stephen Friend, Supervisory Intelligence Analyst George Hill, and Staff Operations Specialist Marcus Allen testified before Congress to claim that the FBI had used its own resources to intimidate its political rivals and punished people who attempted to decipher the problem.
One moment before she left her job at the ministry, Moore testified once more in June 2023, soon after the reporters publicly shared their stories. In that sitdown, she admitted that, as the safety program director, she was the “ultimate decisionmaker when it comes to suspending a security clearing”.
When asked to explain the” constant increase in referrals” for ,” safety incidents and safety investigations” in recent years, Moore claimed it was because the FBI’s Security Division began “really emphasizing activity securities throughout the business”.
” We do regular mailings, and they have advertisements that go up throughout the workplace, and individuals better understand the process. People were more likely to , statement. It’s across the table. We see it, I believe, even in our domestic exploration referrals”, she continued.  ,
Moore also suggested that the agency “bifurcated or trifurcated” our analytical group into three distinct parts and “increased the staffing” to make it more economical to revoke security clearances.
Moore absolutely refuted claims that the FBI targeted some agents because they held views opposed to the democratic program.
She also asserted in an interview from April that the FBI not suspended any agents” for executing valid and lawful First Amendment rights as it pertains to January 6th.”
Yet Moore later admitted that Marcus Allen, a former Marine , and staff businesses specialist who testified to Congress about his company’s partisan layoffs, was rooted in his” conspiratorial , opinions” on Jan. 6, 2021, which she defined as “alternative opinions to what was known as public , information”.
Additionally, Moore confirmed that the FBI designated agents who disobeyed President Joe Biden’s Covid jab demands in September 2021 as AWOL until a preliminary injunction was granted against the order in January 2022.
Horowitz Confirms Retaliation
The release of Moore’s 2023 transcripts coincides with a report from Department of Justice ( DOJ) Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz on Tuesday confirming that the FBI abused and delayed its security clearance evaluation procedures in order to punish employees who exposed the bureau’s corruption.
After receiving numerous complaints from” DOJ component employees, alleging that their security clearances were suspended in retaliation for protected whistleblowing activity,” Horowitz launched an investigation.
Employees whose security clearance has been suspended for more than a year are not permitted to file a retaliation complaint under current FBI policy. According to information provided to the OIG by the FBI, 106 employees over the past five years have been denied their security clearances for longer than six months, on average, for 17.5 months. This indefinite suspension, Horowitz noted, completely inhibits agents ‘ ability to formally claim retribution.
” As this data reflects, it is unlikely that security clearance reviews, from suspension to a final decision to revoke, are being completed in 1 year”, the report notes.
Government agencies are prohibited from restricting an employee’s access to classified information because they made a “protected disclosure,” according to federal whistleblower protection laws.
In their May 2023 report, the FBI “violated federal whistleblower protection laws and abused its security clearance review process to hamstring the brave agents who make protected disclosures to Congress or who dared to question agency leadership,” according to the Judiciary Committee and Weaponization Subcommittee.
” Whistleblower testimony establishes that the FBI systematically eliminated its employees who dared to do so.
speak out against FBI leadership or to raise good- faith concerns about FBI operations”, the report notes.
The FBI’s partisan leadership is currently “pursing” of agents who adhere to conservative political beliefs, according to the report’s conclusion.
More than half of the population, according to polls, wants the FBI to face some form of punishment for its partisan weaponization campaign against Americans.
Jordan Boyd is a co-producer of The Federalist Radio Hour and a staff writer at The Federalist. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire, Fox News, and RealClearPolitics. Jordanian completed her political science major at Baylor University and minored in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @jordanboydtx.
