Because it wasn’t far and severe enough. Trump did fail in cleaning house.
Because it wasn’t far and severe enough. Trump did fail in cleaning house.
he Biden administration quickly rehired senior officials fired for serious security and financial lapses in the waning days of the Trump administration, according to documents reviewed by Just the News.
The U.S. Agency for Global Media, home to the Voice of America and funder of nonprofit broadcasters targeting Europe, Asia and the Middle East, also rehired an official who resigned shortly before his investigation was complete.
The media portrayed them as whistleblowers protecting journalistic integrity from political appointees who wanted to dictate their coverage. Official summaries of their investigations by an outside law firm, recently entered into the Congressional Record, complicate that narrative.
Many alleged violations were related to the agency's continued performance of background investigations on workers — often foreign nationals — for several years after it lost its "delegated authority" from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
The rehired officials were also granted their security clearances during that time, investigators from McGuireWoods law firm wrote in Dec. 9, 2020 memos. McGuireWoods was the law firm retained to perform an investigation into mismanagement or worse at USAGM.
Delegated authority is rare outside the intelligence community, according to Federal News Network. When OPM actively blocked the agency from doing its own reviews in 2020 after years of warnings, a spokesperson said it was the first such action in more than 20 years.
Security problems were compounded by USAGM's heavy use of the J-1 visa program — intended for au pairs, students and other "exchange visitors" — to fill its journalistic and technical ranks. Outgoing CEO Michael Pack told his inspector general the agency was "rubber stamping" these applications and renewals when he arrived in mid-2020.
A Trump political appointee emphasized to Just the News that career adjudicators made the recommendations to dismiss the employees, based not only on McGuireWoods reviews but USAGM's internal investigations.
"If I was a spy, where would I target?" the appointee asked rhetorically: "Obviously this agency" whose allegedly deficient background checks provide easy entry to other federal agencies, thanks to reciprocity agreements on security clearances.
Pack and his team were "flooded with actual whistleblowers" when they arrived, according to the appointee: Half were too afraid of retaliation to put their claims in writing, and those who did have faced actual retaliation since the Biden transition.
It's mind-blowing how the fired senior officials "paint themselves as whistleblowers when they're not," the appointee said.
USAGM declined to respond to specific findings in the McGuireWoods investigative summaries. Director of Public Affairs Laurie Moy pointed to a 2021 review by the State Department Office of Inspector General that found the agency "has taken actions to address long-standing deficiencies identified by OPM and [Office of the Director of National Intelligence] with the personnel suitability and national security determination processes."
That office also concluded "the individuals in question were wrongly targeted in retaliation for making protected disclosures," Moy wrote in an email, "and as a result their security clearances were improperly suspended. Consistent with OIG's finding, USAGM has reinstated the wrongly targeted individuals."
Taking conversations 'offline'
General counsel David Kligerman, the official who preemptively resigned, "resisted implementing the personnel security requirements" for a government-wide regulation on determining "national security positions," according to his investigative summary.
A security official had warned him that in the past "hostile foreign intelligence services have placed agents within [USAGM] to build credibility as a trusted federal employee" and apply for federal positions elsewhere that "deal with more sensitive matters."
Kligerman instead sought a waiver that "appears to have caused employees to receive background investigations at the wrong levels, and to have delayed the re-evaluation of grantees as well, raising concerns about foreign national personnel receiving higher clearance than may have been appropriate."
Investigators found "numerous examples" of Kligerman failing to respond, sometimes for months at a time, if ever, to employees who send him documents, agreements and policies to review. One of these concerned an official allegedly promoted as a reward for "cover[ing] for various illegalities."
he Biden administration quickly rehired senior officials fired for serious security and financial lapses in the waning days of the Trump administration, according to documents reviewed by Just the News.
The U.S. Agency for Global Media, home to the Voice of America and funder of nonprofit broadcasters targeting Europe, Asia and the Middle East, also rehired an official who resigned shortly before his investigation was complete.
The media portrayed them as whistleblowers protecting journalistic integrity from political appointees who wanted to dictate their coverage. Official summaries of their investigations by an outside law firm, recently entered into the Congressional Record, complicate that narrative.
Many alleged violations were related to the agency's continued performance of background investigations on workers — often foreign nationals — for several years after it lost its "delegated authority" from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
The rehired officials were also granted their security clearances during that time, investigators from McGuireWoods law firm wrote in Dec. 9, 2020 memos. McGuireWoods was the law firm retained to perform an investigation into mismanagement or worse at USAGM.
Delegated authority is rare outside the intelligence community, according to Federal News Network. When OPM actively blocked the agency from doing its own reviews in 2020 after years of warnings, a spokesperson said it was the first such action in more than 20 years.
Security problems were compounded by USAGM's heavy use of the J-1 visa program — intended for au pairs, students and other "exchange visitors" — to fill its journalistic and technical ranks. Outgoing CEO Michael Pack told his inspector general the agency was "rubber stamping" these applications and renewals when he arrived in mid-2020.
A Trump political appointee emphasized to Just the News that career adjudicators made the recommendations to dismiss the employees, based not only on McGuireWoods reviews but USAGM's internal investigations.
"If I was a spy, where would I target?" the appointee asked rhetorically: "Obviously this agency" whose allegedly deficient background checks provide easy entry to other federal agencies, thanks to reciprocity agreements on security clearances.
Pack and his team were "flooded with actual whistleblowers" when they arrived, according to the appointee: Half were too afraid of retaliation to put their claims in writing, and those who did have faced actual retaliation since the Biden transition.
It's mind-blowing how the fired senior officials "paint themselves as whistleblowers when they're not," the appointee said.
USAGM declined to respond to specific findings in the McGuireWoods investigative summaries. Director of Public Affairs Laurie Moy pointed to a 2021 review by the State Department Office of Inspector General that found the agency "has taken actions to address long-standing deficiencies identified by OPM and [Office of the Director of National Intelligence] with the personnel suitability and national security determination processes."
That office also concluded "the individuals in question were wrongly targeted in retaliation for making protected disclosures," Moy wrote in an email, "and as a result their security clearances were improperly suspended. Consistent with OIG's finding, USAGM has reinstated the wrongly targeted individuals."
Taking conversations 'offline'
General counsel David Kligerman, the official who preemptively resigned, "resisted implementing the personnel security requirements" for a government-wide regulation on determining "national security positions," according to his investigative summary.
A security official had warned him that in the past "hostile foreign intelligence services have placed agents within [USAGM] to build credibility as a trusted federal employee" and apply for federal positions elsewhere that "deal with more sensitive matters."
Kligerman instead sought a waiver that "appears to have caused employees to receive background investigations at the wrong levels, and to have delayed the re-evaluation of grantees as well, raising concerns about foreign national personnel receiving higher clearance than may have been appropriate."
Investigators found "numerous examples" of Kligerman failing to respond, sometimes for months at a time, if ever, to employees who send him documents, agreements and policies to review. One of these concerned an official allegedly promoted as a reward for "cover[ing] for various illegalities."
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