FBI investigators conducting security clearance reviews wrongly asked agents and other witnesses about political and religious beliefs, the bureau’s inspector general said in a new 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.
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 clearance, didn’t have clear rules to rein in those sorts of inquiries.
“We have found that in some investigations, SecD [Security Division] 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 that sometimes intrusive questions about religious or political beliefs might be relevant to a security clearance probe, but the Security Division needed to be a lot more careful in 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 report is the latest in a string of audits to ding the FBI for its operations the past 10 years that some critics have said amounted to “weaponization” against Mr. Trump and his supporters.
That included the conduct of investigations into Mr. Trump himself.
The Washington Times has reached out to the FBI for comment on the new findings.
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investigators first spotted the inappropriate questions while reviewing the case of an agent whose security clearance was revoked for actions on Jan. 6, 2021, surrounding the pro-Trump mob intrusion of the U.S. Capitol.
Wednesday’s memo 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 probing the case, FBI investigators asked some witnesses if the agent had voiced support for Mr. Trump or had objections to taking the COVID-19 vaccine.
In searching other security clearance cases, they came across 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 [sic]?”
Mr. Berthiaume, in the alert, recommended 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 new rules requiring stricter approval for opening and conducting investigations against employees where constitutional activities are involved.
The FBI agreed with all of the recommendations, Mr. Berthiaume said.
