(Washington Times) More whistleblowers have stepped forward to tell Congress that high-ranking FBI officials are targeting agents, specifically former military members, for their political beliefs and trying to force them out of the bureau.
A Marine and other military veterans at the FBI have been accused of disloyalty to the U.S. because they fit the profile of a supporter of former President Donald Trump, according to two disclosures sent to lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee.
The Washington Times obtained copies of the disclosures.
The whistleblowers said Jeffrey Veltri, deputy assistant director of the bureau’s security division, and Dena Perkins, assistant section chief, specifically pursued employees who served in the Marine Corps or other military branches.
They stripped the agents of security clearances, which sidelined them on the job and pushed them toward the exit, according to the disclosures.
The whistleblower disclosures say Mr. Veltri and Ms. Perkins either declared or attempted to declare the Marine and other veterans as “disloyal to the United States of America.”
“In these cases there was no indication that any of the individuals had any affiliation to a foreign power or held any belief against the United States,” it said.
Other signs that an employee was a “right-wing radical and disloyal to the United States,” according to Ms. Perkins and Mr. Veltri, were failure to wear a face mask, refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccination and participating in religious activities.
In another instance, Ms. Perkins attempted to revoke the security clearance of a bureau employee she knew was a Marine veteran, but information showed that the initial allegations against the employee were unfounded, the disclosure says.
This did not stop Ms. Perkins from ordering her investigators to canvass at least 10 police departments where the employee lived for any allegations or violations of law.
“During the process, Perkins was attempting to provide evidence so she could terminate this employee because he was ‘Disloyal to the United States,’” the disclosure states.
“An employee advised that at least two of the publicly known FBI whistleblowers were former members of the military, specifically … Kyle Seraphin and Garret[t] O’Boyle,” according to one of the disclosures.
Another FBI whistleblower disclosure sent to the Judiciary Committee included an accusation from a security division employee who said the security clearance investigation of Mr. Seraphin did not follow the policy guidelines of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
The FBI initially declined to comment. A day after this article was posted online, the FBIprovided a statement rebuking The Times for reporting on the disclosures to Congress.
“It is wholly irresponsible of The Washington Times, and this reporter, to include outrageous and demonstrably false allegations that the FBI singled out former military employees. It is offensive that The Washington Times chose to publish, on Veteran’s Day, such baseless, unsubstantiated claims and include the names of FBI employees, one of which is a veteran. The FBI has not and will not retaliate against individuals who make protected whistleblower disclosures. We do not target or take adverse action against employees for exercising their First Amendment rights or for their political views. The FBIis proud to have many veterans in our workforce and we thank all veterans for their service,” the FBI said.
Mr. Seraphin was subjected to a security clearance investigation, according to the disclosure, after his field office notified Ms. Perkins that a police officer out of his jurisdiction confronted him about practicing with his gun at a shooting range.
Mr. O’Boyle lost his security clearance after he testified before the House Judiciary Committee panel investigating the weaponization of the federal government. His security clearance was suspended in September 2022 over allegations that he leaked information about a criminal investigation to Project Veritas that FBI officials said “compromised the case.”
Mr. O’Boyle ended up homeless after he lost his security clearance and was suspended without pay, according to the disclosures.
Officials in the FBI’s security division, or SecD in bureau lingo, suspended Mr. O’Boyle’s security clearance after his transfer to another field office. He and his family became financially stranded and homeless in their new city, it said.
The disclosure said FBI supervisor Sean Clark and Ms. Perkins were behind the scheme to punish Mr. O’Boyle. They allegedly transferred him across the country with the intent to suspend and financially devastate him.
“Clark bragged to at least one other FBI employee in SecD that he was going to really ‘screw’ O’Boyle,” the disclosure said.
In an interview with The Times, Mr. O’Boyle said he never met or knew Mr. Clark or Ms. Perkins. He said he learned about them only when The Times shared the information from the whistleblower disclosure with him.
“I didn’t even know these people, but they came after me anyway because that’s what tyrants do. They come after the people who they’re afraid of,” Mr. O’Boyle said. “They come after the people who speak the truth.”
He has sued the FBI. His security clearance has been suspended for 14 months, and the FBIforbids him to accept donations or find another job while suspended without pay, he said.
“My attorneys have advised me that if I quit, then the FBI will simply file a motion to dismiss the suit [and] my lawsuit would have no standing,” Mr. O’Boyle said.
Mr. Clark and Ms. Perkins likely knew Mr. O’Boyle did not pass the information to Project Veritas or other news media, according to the disclosure.
“At the time, the Security Division suspended FBI employee Garret O’Boyle, the supervisor in charge of O’Boyle’s Case, Sean Clark, had already determined that O’Boyle did not provide any information to either Project Veritas or the press,” the disclosure said.
