Biden admin hastily reinstates officials fired by Trump for serious security flaws

The Biden administration has quickly reinstated a number of officials who were fired in the Trump administration’s declining days for serious violations and security breaches.

According to an analysis by Just the News, the US Agency for Global Media, a Voice of America-based and non-profit broadcaster financing in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, has also re-hired a man who resigned before the investigation. It was complete.

“The media has portrayed them as whistleblowers defending the integrity of journalism from political employers who want to direct their coverage. The official summary of their investigation by a foreign law firm, which has recently entered the congressional record, complicates that statement, “Just the News reported, adding:

For several years after the loss of “delegated authority” from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), many allegations of breach were related to the agency’s continued effectiveness in conducting background investigations into employees – often foreign nationals.

Investigators at McGuardwood Law Firm wrote in a December 9, 2020 memo that re-employed officers at the time were also granted their security clearance. McGuardwoods was the law firm that was placed in the USAGM to investigate mismanagement or worse.

Authorities outside the intelligence community are rare, according to the Federal News Network. When OPM actively blocked the agency from conducting its own review in 2020 after years of caution, a spokesman said it was the first such move in more than 20 years.

Security issues have been exacerbated by the heavy use of USAGM’s J-1 visa program, which is primarily designed for AU couples, students and other “exchange visitors” to cater to journalistic and technical opportunities. According to outgoing CEO Michael Peck, he told his inspector general that by the time he got there in mid-2020, the company had only “rubber-stamping” applications and renewals.

A political employer in the previous administration insisted to Just The News that career judges had recommended dismissal of employees based on the McGuardwood review but also on the basis of an internal investigation by the USAGM.

“If I were a spy, where would I aim?” The employer asked rhetorically: “Of course this agency” because of its alleged deficit background check, which then provides ready access to many other federal agencies, thanks to a mutual agreement on security clearances.

When he and his team arrived, Pack said they were “flooded with real whistleblowers,” Trump’s political recruiter told the news outlet, who said half of them were worried about retaliation for putting their allegations in writing, and those who did since the Biden administration came to power. Actually faced retaliation.

The recruiter told Just The News that it was “amazing” how the fired senior officers “would have portrayed themselves as whistle blowers if they hadn’t been there.”

The USAGM will not respond to specific findings in the McGuardwood investigative summary, Just The News noted.

Director of Public Affairs Laurie Moy, meanwhile, pointed to a 2021 review by the State Department’s Office of the Inspector General that found that the agency had “taken steps to address the long-standing deficiencies identified by OPM and [Office of the Director of National Intelligence] With personnel competency and the national security determination process. “

The office further concluded that “the persons in question were mistakenly targeted for retaliatory disclosure, and consequently their security clearances were erroneously suspended. Consistent with OIG’s investigation, USAGM reinstated incorrectly targeted individuals,” Moy noted in an email.

General Counsel David Kligerman, who had previously resigned, said in an investigative summary that he had “prevented the implementation of workers’ safety requirements” for a government-wide rule to determine “national security positions”.

Earlier, a security official warned him that “agents have been placed in hostile foreign intelligence agencies. [USAGM] To build credibility as a trusted federal employee “and” apply elsewhere for federal positions that deal with more sensitive issues. “

Instead, Kligermann applied for a waiver that “appears to have led to a background check on staff misconduct, and delays in the reassessment of grantees, raising concerns about getting more exemptions than may be appropriate for foreign nationals.”

Post-Biden admin Quickly reinstated officials fired by Trump for serious security breaches