Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles E. Grassley is calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel to review and take corrective action in the cases of Justice Department and FBI whistleblowers whose security clearances were revoked by the Biden administration.
Mr. Grassley, Iowa Republican, told Ms. Bondi and Mr. Patel in a letter Thursday that his office has received allegations for years about the Biden Justice Department and FBI “taking adverse personnel action against several of its employees in retaliation for making legally protected whistleblower disclosures or because their political beliefs didn’t align with the Biden administration.”
“My office has been told that, in many of these cases, the suspension of their security clearances resulted in immediate, indefinite suspensions without pay while the FBI improperly and intentionally delayed the process for these individuals to contest the adverse action,” said Mr. Grassley, who is long known to champion whistleblowers who have faced retaliation by their government employers.
The lawmaker wrote, “This tyrannical government conduct caused significant financial hardship. The retaliatory government action also placed them in the impossible decision to either resign their position without completing their legal challenge or continue challenging the suspension or revocation of their clearance while suspended without pay with no prospect of obtaining new employment.”
The Washington Times reached out to the Justice Department and the FBI for comment.
Mr. Grassley said the Biden administration’s political weaponization of the Justice Department and FBI has caused “significant damage to these institutions and its employees, but you’re in the position to right the ship.”
“Accordingly, I request that you personally review the adverse personnel matters for these individuals, which I will send under separate cover, and take all appropriate corrective actions, including restoring their security clearances and employment and firing or otherwise disciplining those who retaliated against them, if warranted.”
Mr. Grassley requested Ms. Bondi and Mr. Patel to provide his office with an update no later than March 27.
His letter was sent one day after Special Agent Garret O’Boyle’s lawyers from Empower Oversight filed an appeal to the FBI seeking a review of the disciplinary action against him, arguing it was retaliation against a protected whistleblower.
His attorneys say 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.
They also submitted a letter to the FBI’s new general counsel, Samuel Ramer, seeking remedies for nine other similarly situated FBI whistleblower clients, including Stephen Friend, Marcus Allen, Zachary Schoffstall, Monica Shillingburg and Michael Zummer.
During Mr. Patel’s Senate confirmation, Mr. Grassley previously named several of these FBI whistleblowers and called for their circumstances to be corrected.
