Aug 30, 2018
Sean Bigley (@smb_JD) is a national security
attorney who prosecutes intelligence community whistleblower
retaliation cases. His firm represents approximately 200 U.S.
intelligence officers, diplomats, armed forces members and other
security clearance holders each year.
But in Mr. Bigley's vast experience as a litigator and former
federal background investigator, one case of alleged brazen
political retaliation has topped them all.
This is the case of former distinguished Pentagon Office of Net
Assessment analyst and Trump National Security Council Director
Adam Lovinger. In defending Lovinger as a whistleblower of
malfeasance involving contracts provided to not only a close
confidante of the Clinton family, but the now-infamous informant in
the Trump campaign, Stefan Halper, Bigley has witnessed a case of
alleged political retribution by Obama administration holdovers the
likes of which should chill any American.
I had Bigley on the podcast to tell this story -- illustrative
of the bipartisan deep rot and corruption within our federal
bureaucracy -- and to discuss much more regarding politicization
and weaponization of security clearances and how to reform the
administrative state and protect its whistleblowers.
What We Discussed
- The historical politicization and weaponization of national
security clearances
- How the politicization and weaponization of national security
clearances by holdovers meant to block President Trump's nominees
and appointees from coming into the administration is an entirely
new pernicious tactic
- The story of how the highly rated 12-plus year Pentagon analyst
Adam Lovinger has had his career destroyed after blowing the
whistle on malfeasance within the Department of Defense's in-house
think-tank, the Office of Net Assessment (ONA), including:
- The issues Lovinger blew the whistle on to his superior, ONA
Director James Baker, a holdover from the Obama administration,
which touched on improper contracts being doled out to among others
a close friend of Chelsea Clinton and Stefan Halper, the informant
the U.S. government sicced on the Trump campaign to make contact
with officials vis-a-vis Russia
- The original probe into Lovinger, for which he was exonerated,
that arose shortly after he started writing about malfeasance
within his office -- the first such probe in Lovinger's career
- The subsequent investigations into Lovinger contemporaneous
with his being detailed to a prestigious role within the Trump
National Security Council -- run by investigators allegedly wholly
unequipped to do the investigating and tied to Lovinger's old boss
Mr. Baker, which would ultimately lead to the suspension and
revocation of Lovinger's security clearance and his losing his job
and pay
- The allegedly rigged process by which these investigations took
place, violating Lovinger's right to due process by not providing
the accused with basic information on the charges against him,
documentation, leaking of defamatory information on Lovinger to the
media, etc.
- Why Lovinger's attorney believes the charges raised against
Lovinger were "a total farce," "trial balloon charges" leaked in an
attempt to "figure out what would stick"
- How the adjudication process for action taken against Lovinger
ultimately may result in him having to make his case to a "panel of
unaccountable bureaucrats who report directly to the same woman who
has been leading the charge against him from Day One"
- Why Lovinger's attorney believes there is a political
motivation behind the pursuit of Lovinger, based in no small part
on his raising issues with contracts again doled out to a close
confidante of the Clintons -- for whom Hillary Clinton allegedly
lobbied -- and the informant into the Trump campaign Stefan
Halper
- Lovinger's message to President Trump
- What reforms Lovinger's attorney would recommend in order to
protect whistleblowers in the face of an intransigent
administrative state
Thanks for Listening!
Check out other episodes, show notes and transcripts at benweingarten.com/bigideas.
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___________
Backed Vibes (clean) Kevin MacLeod
(incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/