The FBI is under scrutiny after an FBI whistleblower had his security clearance pulled for sharing news articles from sources like “RealClearPolitics. Marcus Allen, an FBI staff operations specialist, was suspended in January 2022 after emailing links from “questionable sources” to supervisors and colleagues. The suspension came four months after he forwarded the emails that labeled him as an insider threat. Empower Oversight, a whistleblower nonprofit group, claims that the FBI used these actions to launch an investigation into Allen’s political beliefs and his views on the prosecution of Jan 6th rioters.
Allen’s email also cited reports from The New York Times that confidential informants were present at the Capitol riots. Former FBI Washington Field Office Assistant Director in Charge, Steven D’Antuono, testified to a Judiciary panel that the bureau lost count of informants and had to audit how many were in Washington DC to attend a “Stop the Steal” rally thrown by former President Donald Trump. The FBI’s assessment found that Allen might pose an insider threat due to his increasing hostility and attempts to persuade co-workers and supervisors to reject legal precedents and protocols.
The FBI’s characterization of RealClearPolitics, a popular aggregator, is also under scrutiny as the website was deemed a “questionable source” based on an analyst’s research from a ranking provided by mediabiasfactcheck.com. Despite this, the FBI had used the same links in their Daily News Bulletins earlier that month. Allen’s security clearance was suspended due to concerns about his allegiance to the United States, and although it was based in part on his COVID-19 vaccination status, it occurred just over a week before a federal court issued an injunction against the Biden administration’s government-wide vaccine mandate.
Allen resigned from the bureau after winning full back pay and benefits he had been denied during the investigation. He was recognized as Employee of the Year in 2019 for his work on the Joint Terrorism Task Force at the FBI’s Charlotte Field Office. Other FBI whistleblowers have alleged that then-Security Division Acting Deputy Assistant Director Jeffrey Veltri used litmus tests to “purge” political conservatives like Allen from the bureau. Veltri, now Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Miami Field Office, is also overseeing an investigation into a second assassination attempt against Trump. His appointment had been delayed due to an investigation of his retaliation against FBI whistleblowers.
Allen, Leavitt and Horowitz are scheduled to testify on September 25th before the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government about alleged FBI abuses.
