FBI investigators conducting security clearance reviews wrongly asked agents and other witnesses about their political and religious beliefs, the bureau’s inspector general said in a report Wednesday.
Intrusive questions included asking about attendance at a pro-Second Amendment rally, wondering why an agent “reconnected with the Catholic Church,” and whether agents supported President Trump or objected to vaccines against the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
The inspector general called such inquiries “concerning” and said they risked trampling on agents’ constitutional rights of expression, belief and association.
Investigators said the FBI’s Security Division, which handled the reviews of bureau employees’ security clearances, didn’t have clear rules to rein in those sorts of inquiries.
“We have found that in some investigations, SecD investigators asked or prepared vague and overly broad interview questions that, as worded, were not sufficiently tailored to address legitimate security concerns and unnecessarily intruded into potentially constitutionally protected activities,” Don R. Berthiaume, the acting inspector general, said in an alert sent to the FBI on Wednesday.
Mr. Berthiaume said intrusive questions about religious or political beliefs sometimes might be relevant to a security clearance inquiry but the Security Division needed to be much more careful about when and how it pursued those inquiries.
“To avoid inappropriate interview questions, training, policy guidance, supervisory oversight, and legal advice are necessary,” he said. “However, we found that SecD’s SOPs provide no guidance to assist supervisors or investigators with identifying and navigating these complex issues, and legal consultation regarding interviews in such investigations is lacking.”
The Washington Times reached out to the FBI for comment on the findings.
The report is the latest in a string of audits to ding the FBI for its operations over the past 10 years that some critics have said amounted to “weaponization” against Mr. Trump and his supporters.
That included investigations into Mr. Trump himself.
The FBI also has been faulted for what one senator called a “disturbing” anti-Catholic bias. That includes crafting and distributing a memo likening some traditional Catholic beliefs to violent extremism.
In the context of security investigations, Mr. Berthiaume said, bureau investigators first spotted the inappropriate questions while reviewing the case of an agent whose security clearance was revoked for actions on Jan. 6, 2021, surrounding the pro-Trump mob’s intrusion into the U.S. Capitol.
The memo Wednesday didn’t mention any name, but the facts match the case of Brett Gloss, an agent whose security clearance was revoked and who was suspended from the bureau after the FBI said he entered a restricted area of the Capitol that day.
While investigating the case, FBI investigators asked some witnesses whether the agent had voiced support for Mr. Trump or had objections to taking the COVID-19 vaccine.
In searching other security clearance cases, they found other intrusive questions.
Examples included:
- “Did you discuss your religion with co-workers?”
- “You previously mentioned you reconnected with the Catholic church. … What brought that on? Life changes?”
- “Did you read Mein Kempf?”
Empower Oversight, which represents FBI whistleblowers, said the report contradicts testimony given by FBI Director Christopher A. Wray to Congress last year, in which he claimed the offending questions were asked only by an outside contractor who was no longer working with the FBI.
Tristan Leavitt, the group’s president, said on social media that the report shows the questioning was more widespread than Mr. Wray acknowledged.
In the alert, Mr. Berthiaume recommended that the FBI provide specialized training to the security division to make clear it must tread lightly in constitutionally protected areas. He also urged the bureau to impose rules requiring stricter approval for opening and conducting investigations against employees in which constitutional activities are involved.
The FBI agreed with all the recommendations, Mr. Berthiaume said.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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