Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz is expected to testify before Congress this later month about his report flagging the FBI for stripping whistleblower agents of security clearances and pay without a timely appeals process.
Mr. Horowitz will testify before the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government on July 30, The Washington Times has learned.
Lawmakers want to learn more about the unfair treatment of employees at the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies, which were problems identified in Mr. Horowitz’s May 14 report.
The inspector general reported that the suspension policy for employees whose security clearances have been suspended, revoked or denied could leave them destitute and unable to return to their jobs or find alternative employment.
“This lack of appeal process is especially problematic at DOJ components that indefinitely suspend employees without pay for the duration of the security investigation and review process, which can sometimes last years,” Mr. Horowitz wrote in May.
The process, he said, can financially devastate the employee or force them to quit and find another job to earn a living.
“In many cases, it is financially unrealistic for an employee suspended without pay who claims retaliation ’to retain their government employment status while [the security clearance review] is pending,’ given the length of time a security clearance inquiry often takes,” Mr. Horowitz wrote. “As a practical matter, therefore, the ability of an employee who has been indefinitely suspended without pay to retain their employment status can be rendered meaningless when that suspension lasts for a substantial period of time.”
He found similar concerns in the security clearance policy at the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The FBI has been under scrutiny for its treatment of whistleblowers over the past two years after Congress received a flood of confidential disclosures about retaliation. The whistleblowers claimed FBI officials politicized investigations and targeted employees for their political views.
In his report, Mr. Horowitz said the Justice Department doesn’t consider “any practicable alternatives to indefinite suspension without pay during a security investigation for employees.”
The FBI indicated that 106 of its employees have had their clearances suspended for six months or longer in the past five years. Of those 106 employees, the average time between suspension and a decision to revoke or reinstate the clearance was 527 days, according to the inspector general.
In a series of exclusive reports, The Times described several cases in which FBI whistleblowers said agency officials retaliated against them or punished them for political views by revoking security clearances, resulting in their suspension without pay.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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