The FBI is alleged to have been using its security clearance process to target and suspend political conservatives within the agency, as per recent whistleblower disclosures. A supervisory special agent, who is a registered Democrat and represented by the nonprofit Empower Oversight, claimed that high-ranking officials within the FBI’s Security Division believed conservatives were security concerns unworthy of employment at the bureau.
Marcus Allen, a former FBI staff operations specialist, was one of the affected employees. Allen was suspended without pay for over two years after expressing his unwillingness to take the COVID-19 vaccine. The investigation into Allen’s case revealed that his “Allegiance to the United States” was not in question, yet his clearance was suspended despite this finding.
Following Allen’s disclosure of the improper suspension and revocation of other employees’ security clearances, the whistleblower was allegedly retaliated against by his superiors. The FBI’s acting Deputy Assistant Director, Jeffrey Veltri, and acting Section Chief, Dena Perkins, reported to the Security Division’s assistant director, Jennifer Leigh Moore, who earlier denied under oath that the FBI retaliated against whistleblowers.
The Security Division’s clearance process was used to financially distress employees by suspending their clearance, suspending them from duty without pay, and delaying clearance adjudication indefinitely or for years. This, in effect, forced employees out of the FBI.
Empower Oversight’s President Tristan Leavitt urged members of Congress to corroborate the whistleblower’s disclosures and pass legislation to fix the abusive security clearance process to protect future whistleblowers. He also called for an investigation into Perkins, Veltri, and other officials in FBI leadership who allowed such abuses to persist.
