An FBI employee blew the whistle on the unit that investigates counterespionage inside the bureau, accusing it of “gross misconduct, fraud and potentially criminal activities.”
Members of the FBI Senior Executive Service have conspired at various times to ensure they are shielded from internal espionage or counterintelligence investigations, according to the whistleblower disclosure provided to the House Judiciary Committee.
The FBI employee said the “executive exemption” from internal investigations was an unwritten policy and practice of the Internal Counterespionage Cell within the Global Operations Section, which is based at FBI headquarters in Washington.
Rep. Thomas Massie, Kentucky Republican and committee member, reviewed the disclosure.
“It appears the bureau has intentionally and unwisely created its own blind spot, which has compromised our national security. I’m hopeful this administration will take steps to remedy the situation,” he told The Washington Times.
The whistleblower reported the failure of Internal Counterespionage Cell investigators to the FBI’s Internal Affairs Section of the Inspection Division, but then experienced retaliation, said the whistleblower’s attorney, Kurt Siuzdak, who prepared the disclosure.
“After this FBI employee reported the misconduct of ICEC to the Inspection Division, the Inspection Division allowed the Counterintelligence executives to retaliate against the reporting employee by transferring him/her to another office. Retaliatory transfers are prohibited by law and regulation,” he said. “Another employee in ICEC was also threatened after he complained about the issues in ICEC. The Inspection Division took no action to stop the reprisal against this FBI employee.”
The FBI did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Siuzdak, who has represented other FBI whistleblowers, said a recently retired FBI supervisor who conducted security revocation reviews also provided a protected disclosure to Congress about misconduct within the Security Division.
Under the FBI’s protocol for internal investigation, one of the first steps when a bureau executive is the subject of a counterintelligence investigation is a review of the executive’s security clearance.
“The retired supervisor advised that he does not remember ever receiving any SES security review request from ICEC. He also did not remember any SES having their security clearance revoked by the Security Division,” Mr. Siuzdak said.
The retired supervisor said he would be willing to be reinterviewed by Congress regarding the lack of requests from the Internal Counterespionage Cell.
The “executive exception” is not a recent practice for FBI brass, the disclosure said. It has been in effect for a long time, spanning several FBI directors, and “protects the families and friends of SES executives.”
According to the disclosure, the FBI has the authority to investigate the family and cohabitants of FBI employees, but “does not open these investigations against the families or cohabitants of FBI SES executives.”
“In effect, FBI SES executives are exempt from the type of counterintelligence investigations that have been conducted against other public officials, including President Donald Trump,” it said. “For instance, the FBI received information that a retired FBI assistant director had classified information at his home.”
The disclosure said a senior counterintelligence official decided not to initiate an operation against the retired FBI executive, and no action was taken.
Several employees in the Internal Counterespionage Cell attempted to persuade a second senior counterintelligence official of the Global Operation Section “to open the investigation against the retired SES executive who illegally stole and possessed the classified information,” the disclosure said. The second senior counterintelligence official refused to proceed with the investigation.
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