After Stonewalling Whistleblower Reprisal Inquiry, Grassley Presses Defense Dept. for Information
WASHINGTON
– Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, is continuing to press the Department of Defense (DoD) on questions
regarding the alleged retaliatory revocation of a former U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID) employee’s security clearance, leading to his
eventual departure from the agency in 2019.
Grassley
began
investigating the circumstances surrounding former USAID employee Dr. Mark Moyar’s
security clearance suspension last year, and has yet to receive fulsome
cooperation on all requests for information from government agencies, including
the Defense Department.
Moyar,
a former director at USAID, had his security clearance initially suspended after
one or more officials at Special Operations Command (SOCOM) ambiguously alleged
that he had leaked classified information in a book Moyar published in 2017.
Because Moyar’s work required an active security clearance, USAID informed him
that he would no longer be able to perform the duties of his post—leading to
his voluntary resignation.
Moyar’s
security clearance was eventually reinstated by DoD in July 2020. However,
just months later, DoD revoked Dr. Moyar’s security clearance without warning, for
seemingly new or different reasons. It is unclear whether DoD revoked
Moyar’s security clearance on their own volition, or whether DoD was prompted
to revoke it at the request of USAID officials.
“It is perplexing to me that [the
Department of Defense] could reinstate someone’s security clearance ‘in error’
after that individual was alleged to have leaked classified information, and
then without explanation, revoke that individual’s security clearance for
seemingly different or new reasons,” Grassley wrote to Secretary of Defense
Lloyd Austin.
The
Defense Department office charged with prepublication review of books never
informed Moyar nor his publisher that his book allegedly contained classified
information. This allegation only arose after Moyar had, on multiple occasions,
reported several of his subordinates for wasteful, fraudulent, or abusive
activities at USAID.
Full
text of Grassley’s letter to Austin follows or can be found HERE.
RELATED:
April 13, 2021
VIA ELECTRONIC
TRANSMISSION
Lloyd
Austin
Secretary
U.S.
Department of Defense
Dear
Secretary Austin:
I
write to you today to express my concerns about the Department of Defense’s
(DoD) apparent lack of cooperation with my investigation into potential
whistleblower reprisal against former U.S. Agency for International Development
(USAID) employee, Dr. Mark Moyar. My
office has made repeated requests for information to the Office of the Under
Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security (OUSD (I&S)), seeking
information with respect to DoD’s potential involvement in the revocation of
Dr. Mark Moyar’s security clearance, after the DoD Consolidated Adjudications
Facility (DoDCAF) reinstated Dr. Moyar’s clearance in July 2020.[1] DoD has made repeated promises to be
responsive to my staff’s requests, but continues to fail to deliver on those
promises.[2]
My
concerns center around the revocation of Dr. Moyar’s security clearance,
delivered the same day that I sent letters to USAID and USAID Office of
Inspector General, on December 23, 2020, after DoD had already reinstated Dr.
Moyar’s security clearance in July 2020.
It is unclear who made the decision to revoke Dr. Moyar’s security
clearance, why it was revoked, and how DoD came to make the decision to revoke
his clearance. It is further unclear
whether the decision to revoke Dr. Moyar’s security clearance originated from
within DoD, or whether DoD made the decision at the behest of USAID staff. In a USAID response to my office, USAID alleged
that an individual at DoD stated that Dr. Moyar’s security clearance was reinstated
“in error.” [3] It is perplexing to me that DoDCAF could
reinstate someone’s security clearance “in error” after that individual was alleged
to have leaked classified information, and then without explanation, revoke
that individual’s security clearance for seemingly different or new reasons.
My
office has provided the DoD a Privacy Act Waiver, signed by Dr. Moyar, and your
office has concurred that this waiver is sufficient to satisfy my request for
the below information.[4] This information is necessary to my
investigation into potential whistleblower reprisal against Dr. Moyar. To that end, I reiterate the following request
for information, and I ask that DoD respond to this request no later than April
21, 2021.
1. Please
provide a timeline regarding DoD’s decision-making process with respect to the adjudication
of Dr. Moyar’s security clearance, beginning with the initial suspension. Please include documents, communications, and
memoranda from both DoDCAF and WHS that substantiate the timeline, if
applicable.
2. Why
did DoDCAF reinstate Dr. Moyar’s security clearance in July 2020?
3. What
additional information, if any, did DoDCAF consider, review, or receive that
led to its decision to revoke Dr. Moyar’s security clearance just months after
reinstating it?
4. It
is my understanding that DoDCAF has refused to provide its justification for
reinstating Dr. Moyar’s security clearance in July 2020 to Dr. Moyar’s
attorney. It is further my understanding
that DoDCAF has refused to comply with Dr. Moyar’s, and his attorney’s, requests
for information on the reinstatement, and Dr. Moyar’s attorney has been told
that DoD cannot communicate this information because it is internal WHS policy
not to.
a. Please
provide all communications, to include a timeline of communications, with Dr.
Moyar’s attorney.
b. Please
provide the legal justification, if any, on which WHS or DoD is relying to not
deliver information to Dr. Moyar or his attorney regarding the reinstatement and
subsequent revocation of Dr. Moyar’s security clearance.
5. Has
any office in the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) or WHS
ever been advised or instructed to “loss of jurisdiction” (LOJ) Dr. Moyar? Please provide all email communications
between WHS and DCSA with respect to Dr. Moyar’s security clearance status.
a. If
DCSA, or WHS, was advised or instructed to LOJ Dr. Moyar, who advised or instructed
DCSA, or WHS, to LOJ Dr. Moyar?
b. Is
it DoD policy to ever LOJ an individual for any reason?
6. Did
any component of WHS ever inform DoDCAF that Dr. Moyar was no longer being
considered for appointment at the DoD?
a. If
so, who made this assertion, and why was this assertion being made?
b. Please
describe the agency process and rationale to make the determination that Dr.
Moyar was no longer in consideration for an appointment despite his appointment
being made on December 16, 2020, and the supposed decision that he was no
longer in consideration on or about January 21, 2021.
7. Did
any individual from USAID ever advise or instruct DoD, WHS, or DoDCAF that Dr.
Moyar’s security clearance should be revoked?
If so, who at USAID gave this advice or instruction?
8. Did
any individual from USAID ever advise or instruct DoD, WHS, or DoDCAF that Dr.
Moyar should be LOJ’d? If so, who at
USAID gave this advice or instruction and to whom?
9. Did
any individual at DoD ever advise or instruct either WHS or DoDCAF that Dr.
Moyar should be LOJ’d? If so, who gave
this advice or instruction and to whom?
a. How
did DoD come to the decision to LOJ Dr. Moyar, and why?
10. Is
it DoD’s official position that Dr. Moyar’s security clearance was reinstated
“in error”?[5]
a. If
so, who made this error to reinstate Dr. Moyar’s security clearance? And based on what information, or lack
thereof, was this error made?
b. If
so, has DoD ever reinstated any other security clearance in error? How were these errors remedied?
I
look forward to DoD’s cooperation with my investigation into alleged whistleblower
reprisal against Dr. Moyar. Should you
have questions, please contact Quinton Brady of my Committee staff at (202)
224-5225. Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
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