The tide may have turned for an FBI whistleblower who has been battling the bureau for more than two years since he was stripped of security clearance and suspended without pay.
Lawyers for Special Agent Garret O’Boyle see a chance for him to start rebuilding his life now that President Trump has installed a new regime at FBI headquarters.
Mr. O’Boyle’s lawyers filed an appeal Wednesday to the FBI seeking a review of the disciplinary action against him, arguing it was retaliation against a protected whistleblower.
They want the FBI to immediately reinstate his security clearance and restore him to full employment status, ending a 30-month ordeal in which he could not quit the bureau or find gainful employment elsewhere.
The Washington Times reached out to the FBI for comment.
Mr. O’Boyle’s lawyers, which include the whistleblower advocates at Empower Oversight, the American Center for Law and Justice and the Binnall Law Group, also petitioned Congress and the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General to investigate the misuse of the security clearance process to punish whistleblowers during the previous administration.
“The president and the attorney general have ordered agencies to find and fix exactly the kind of government weaponization our FBI clients have suffered, and they shouldn’t have to wait forever for more reviews. Regardless of the process or authority used — our clients deserve justice now, not months from now,” said Empower Oversight Chairman Jason Foster.
ACLJ Executive Director Jordan Sekulow called on FBI Director Kash Patel to reinstate Mr. O’Boyle’s security clearance.
“On behalf of our client, we urge Director Patel to take this opportunity to right the unconscionable wrongs of the Biden Deep State and its politicized FBI by reinstating Garret O’Boyle’s security clearance and returning him to service,” he said. “Garret has not only a demonstrated record of stellar performance but also of conviction, bravery, and courage. He is precisely the kind of hero we need in our FBI, and we hope Director Patel agrees.”
Mr. O’Boyle was indefinitely suspended without pay following a surprise interview at his new duty station in Virginia in September 2022.
He had just finished a cross-country move with his family, which included a newborn, when his security clearance was suddenly suspended, leaving the family homeless and without income.
The appeal outlines several protected whistleblower disclosures made by Mr. O’Boyle from 2020 to 2022 regarding:
• FBI COVID-19 policies and violations of civil rights.
• Politicized investigations.
• Misuse of resources, including inflated domestic terrorism case counts.
• Improper targeting of religious and pro-life individuals.
• Retaliation against employees expressing constitutionally protected views.
The appeal letter also says that the FBI’s Security Division, known as SecD, suspended and ultimately revoked Mr. O’Boyle’s clearance in direct violation of Presidential Policy Directive 19 (PPD-19) and federal whistleblower protections.
It also charges that the revocation was based on misleading assumptions, incomplete context, and politically motivated retaliation as opposed to legitimate national security concerns.
Empower Oversight also submitted a letter to the FBI’s new general counsel, Samuel Ramer, seeking remedies for Mr. O’Boyle and nine other similarly situated FBI whistleblower clients, including Stephen Friend, Marcus Allen, Zachary Schoffstall, Monica Shillingburg and Michael Zummer.
“Our clients seek only fair and just treatment on the merits, but normal bureaucratic processes
often fail to achieve that goal on any reasonable timeline. Our FBI whistleblower clients have suffered years of unjust and unchecked abuse, forced into indefinite limbo with no pay and no due process,” Mr. Foster said in a statement. “As Treasury Secretary Bessent has shown, there are faster ways to get justice for those who have already waited far too long. Regardless of the process or authority is used — our clients deserve justice now, not months from now.”
Mr. Bessent on Tuesday promoted to senior advisers two IRS whistleblowers who revealed the Biden administration’s lenient treatment of Hunter Biden. Their revelations undermined a sweetheart plea deal for Hunter Biden, eventually leading to tax fraud prosecutions and a conviction on firearm offenses for the president’s son, though the elder Mr. Biden pardoned his son before leaving office.
Mr. Foster said the new administration was taking action instead of “waiting on permission from permanent D.C. bureaucrats to stop the retaliation.”
