“Alice” is a medically retired CIA Officer with two decades of government service
After years of quiet advocacy, a CIA whistleblower is speaking publicly for the first time about mysterious symptoms known as “Havana Syndrome” and accusing the intelligence community of a “cover up.”
We recently sat down with the medically retired CIA officer – we agreed to call “Alice” to shield her identity -– after a House GOP report found “it appears increasingly likely” a foreign adversary is behind these debilitating cognitive and neurological conditions.
The Congressional Report also called out the intelligence community for frustrating congressional oversight efforts to uncover the facts.
Alice said of the intelligence community leadership, “If they’re politicizing this, what else are they not telling the president? ”
DEEP DIVE
Our reporting is based on conversations with more than a dozen individuals who have explored or experienced the mysterious set of symptoms that takes its name from a cluster of cases, reported in Cuba, in 2016. Though the evidence indicates the incidents were happening much earlier.
The US government refers to it as “Anomalous Health Incidents” or AHIs. A previously disclosed National Security Memo confirmed intelligence information about “a high-powered microwave system weapon that may have the ability to weaken, intimidate, or kill an enemy over time and without leaving evidence.”
Microwave System Weapon Memo: Courtesy National Security Lawyer Mark Zaid
The memo continued, “The 2012 intelligence information indicated that this weapon is designed to bathe a target’s living quarters in microwaves, causing numerous physical effects, including a damaged nervous system.”
Alice, who spent two decades in government service, says she experienced an AHI in 2021. In many respects, her experience mirrors the National Security memo.
Alice, once trusted with the nation’s secrets, now relies on a service dog to navigate daily life. She takes a cocktail of drugs to manage chronic headaches, balance issues, nerve pain, eye tracking disorders, memory lapses among others.
Much of Alice’s work at the CIA remains classified to this day.
While our investigation explores new claims about directed energy weapons and their possible use by a foreign adversary, it also documents allegations of government gaslighting.
And importantly, it underscores credible claims that the intelligence community, specifically the CIA, has failed to care for its own people after they reported directed energy attacks.
A new bipartisan Senate Intelligence report faulted the CIA, finding “many individuals faced obstacles to timely and sufficient care.” The report went further, criticizing the Agency for halting its collection of clinical research. Meanwhile, the Defense Department’s work is ongoing.
“…the Committee nevertheless assesses that CIA may not be well postured to respond to future AHI reports and to facilitate quick, accessible. high-quality medical care for those who need it, particularly in the case of another AHI cluster.”
CONTEXT: THE DISCONNECT
This is an extraordinary group of national security personnel. They are highly vetted and trusted with the US government’s most closely guarded secrets. But after they reported AHIs to their leadership, they say they were dismissed as crazy and unstable. Some officers report their security clearances were pulled, limiting their ability to work in the future.
I complained to an intelligence official about the apparent disconnect. “Either they have the worst vetting system and they only pick crazy people, or in fact, their really talented, very smart, very dedicated people are being hit.” And the official had no response for me.
GOP HOUSE INVESTIGATION
In early December, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, released an unclassified interim report. The CIA subcommittee chairman Rick Crawford (R-Arkansas) was highly critical of the Intelligence community leadership.
“I have discovered that there is reliable evidence to suggest that some Anomalous Health Incidents (AHIs) are the work of foreign adversaries,” Crawford said. “Sadly, the IC has actively attempted to impede our investigation, but we have nonetheless been able to gather significant evidence, and I have reason to believe that its claims of environmental or social factors explaining AHIs are false.”
Crawford, CIA Subcommittee Release Interim Report on Havana Syndrome
Asked if the House report findings amount to a government coverup, Alice did not hesitate. “It’s a coverup and it’s terrifying and it should be terrifying to all Americans.”
The new House congressional report conflicts with the 2023 Intelligence Community Assessment or ICA that found “..most IC agencies have concluded that it is ‘very unlikely’ a foreign adversary is responsible for the reported AHIs.”
“Thank God they’re saying it, “ Alice said of the house interim report. “Thank God they were brave enough to stand up to the CIA.”
Alice went further, “If they’re politicizing this, what else are they not telling the president and that’s scary. That’s where it becomes more real.”
LEADING EXPERT WEIGHS IN
Dr. James Giordano served as the consulting forensic neuroscientist on the original cases of AHI in Havana, Cuba.
“The recognized likelihood that a foreign peer competitor nation can be attributed to AHI engagements is both unsurprising, and validating, given my original analysis of AHI cases in Havana.”
Giordano is the Pellegrino Center Professor of Neurology and Biochemistry, at Georgetown University; and Executive Director of the Institute for Biodefense Research, a federally funded think tank focusing upon global biosecurity.
“I believe that this (house) report substantively validates the research community’s efforts to demonstrate that directed energy technologies were the source of AHIs, and appropriately recognizes those victims of these engagements who have suffered for so long with both the resulting signs and symptoms, and difficulties in acquiring the care and support they so direly needed.”
MULTIPLE WEAPONS – ATTACKS REPORTED DOMESTICALLY AND ABROAD
Alice’s injuries are so debilitating, she relies on a service dog. She needed multiple breaks during our interview. At times, she wore dark glasses to blunt the studio lights.
Respecting classification and sensitive matters related to her intelligence work, Alice could only share the basic outlines of her AHI experience in 2021.
“I was serving in Africa and I experienced an anomalous health incident in my home on a Saturday night,” Alice explained.
“I heard a weird noise. It was a really weird sound that I’ll never, never forget it… and after about a second or two, I felt it in my feet, kind of like the reverb from a speaker.”
In military and intelligence circles, they call it the kill zone or the X. If you are under attack, you need to get off the X.
When she moved off the X to another room, Alice said her partner provided the initial hint something was terribly wrong.
“I went into the master bedroom..and I said, ‘Hey, do you hear that weird noise?’ And the first sign that something was off, I should have known, was when he said, ‘what noise?’”
Alice left the bedroom and then experienced the strange sound for a second time.
“Immediately, as soon as I reentered the space, I heard the noise again. My ear started hurting. I started having vertigo. The room was spinning, my head started pulsing. It hurt so badly and I had a ton of pain in my left ear and my ears started ringing and I thought I was going to pass out. “
Alice believes there are multiple weapons which explain varying symptoms and diagnoses among AHI survivors from traumatic brain injury to memory failure, balance issues, eye tracking disorders and nerve pain.
“I think there are weapons that can be fit in backpacks, ones that can be fit in the trunks of cars, ones that can be planted at a position with line of sight to people from across the street.”
Based on our investigative reporting, many US government personnel who experienced AHIs were assigned portfolios linked to Russian interests from cybersecurity to election interference and disinformation. Others had specialized language skills.
While Alice would not discuss her work in Africa, she said she thinks Moscow is to blame. “I believe the Russian GRU (Russian military intelligence) came to my house late at night and took me off the battlefield.”
Alice and other intelligence professionals who experienced AHIs describe their brains being fried. Think of a computer: the hardware is still there, but the software is corrupted. You no longer get updates, you can’t connect the dots anymore. System components, like your balance, and vision, don’t work together. We were told some intelligence officers had to learn to walk again.
While we don’t have the whole picture, we understood that many officers who experienced AHIs were on a leadership track. Some privately question if there may be an insider threat. We will explore those questions and others in follow up reporting.
Asked if her old self died the day she experienced an AHI, Alice responded, “A little bit. I was paid for my brain. I was paid for my ability to write well and to write for the president. I was paid to meet with foreigners and to get information that would help advance US security objectives …and I can’t do that anymore the way I used to and it’s really, that’s one of the hardest parts.”
CASES SPIKE IN 2021 BEFORE RUSSIA INVADES UKRAINE
As cases spiked in 2021 the same year, Alice says she was hit, multiple sources told us CIA director Burns said privately that it was his personal belief Russia was behind some of the attacks.
“I think he’s a really good person at his core. I think he was being honest when he said he thought it was Russia,” Alice explained. “He is a Russia expert. He was the US ambassador there….I mean, I think it’s a sign of how political this is that even he fell in line.”
While an Intelligence Community panel of experts had uncovered evidence suggesting a directed energy weapon may be responsible, in 2023 the intelligence community took a different position. It released a new intelligence community assessment or ICA that Alice and other AHI survivors called a “slap in the face.”
2023 Intelligence Community Assessment AHIs
The ICA reads in part, “..most IC agencies have concluded that it is ‘very unlikely’ a foreign adversary is responsible for the reported AHIs. IC agencies have varying confidence levels, with two agencies at moderate-to-high confidence while three are at moderate confidence.”
Alice said the 2023 ICA did not meet CIA standards.”If I had received the finished paper on my desk as a team chief, I would’ve sent it back to the analyst and said, ’you have to start over again’ It didn’t meet any of our most basic tradecraft standards.”
Alice emphasized analysts are trained not to frame arguments around a lack of information.
The intelligence community assessment on AHIs also stood out to me because the coordinated media rollout seemed designed to push the controversial findings.
GASLIGHTING
Miriam Webster defines gaslighting as psychological manipulation that “causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts.”
Alice said the CIA was gaslighting her and other AHI survivors. “It was designed to make us think, ourselves, are crazy and to question our own injuries.”
Alice said she expected more from the CIA. “We swore this oath and every day I watch them really continue to deny people’s humanity and their injuries. People that put themselves and their families on the line in horrible, horribly dangerous places and situations to protect this country.”
Asked if it is reasonable to think that the intelligence community doesn’t want to acknowledge a foreign adversary, because then, they would have to act?
“Yes and it’s complicated with Russia, right?” Alice responded. “One theory we bat around – is it possible that it’s Russia and China? Is it possible that one country created it, sold it, or gave it to another country.”
We were told that even the prospect of a directed energy weapon attacking US personnel was bad for recruitment and bad for employee retention.
While the CIA still questions the cause, based on government records, the Labor Department does accept Alice’s Traumatic Brain Injury or TBI as a “work injury.” Alice qualified for limited compensation through a law called the Havana Act but she and others told us it falls short.
100K OUT OF POCKET MEDICAL EXPENSES
“It is a full-time job to try to get medical treatment and is another full-time job to try to handle the bureaucracy of trying to access benefits,” Alice emphasized. I’ve gone over a hundred thousand dollars out of pocket.”
Alice said AHI survivors need specialized care that is not covered by insurance. In many cases, effective treatments are experimental.
“The reality is a normal physician cannot help us. This is different. AHIs are much more complicated and we’re basically ticking time bombs. Catherine, I have already started having to go to funerals. Friends of mine, I mean my friend that was with me the day I got my dog has already passed away..a fellow AHI survivor, of a rare form of cancer. I have friends in nursing homes. I have friends with dementia and Parkinson’s. In some ways, people have a heart attack and if you don’t die of it, we know how to fix a heart attack. We don’t know how to fix this.”
CIA PULLS ALICE’S SECURITY CLEARANCE CITING “PSYCHOLOGICAL CONDITIONS”
According to heavily redacted government records, reviewed by our investigative team, after Alice retired, the CIA pulled her security clearance citing “psychological conditions” among other alleged issues.
Alice believes the revocation of her clearance was retaliation, adding that women who came forward about AHIs were treated differently by the CIA.
“It’s like we’re in the 1950s. They brought up, Could you be pregnant? Are you upset because you’re not pregnant? Is it hormones? Is it menopause? Is it perimenopause? Do you have an anxiety disorder?
Alice said the men who reported AHIs were not treated well either, but added, “there hasn’t been a systemic action against them.”
DOD LETTER “WE BELIEVE YOUR EXPERIENCES ARE REAL”
What’s striking is the lack of a coherent response across the US government. Alice and others who say they experienced AHIs get the greatest support and medical help from the Pentagon.
This March letter, obtained by our investigative team, was sent by the then head of the DoD AHI Cross-Functional team, Brigadier General Shannon O’Harren. The DoD Cross-Functional team addresses AHI medical needs and national security implications.
Brig Gen O’Harren, who now serves on the Joint Staff, wrote at the time, “We believe your experiences are real and we are unwaveringly committed to continue to provide quality care for you and those who are eligible.”
The March letter was sent to the AHI cohort after two reports found no medical explanation for their symptoms.
March 2024 Letter AHI Cross-Functional Team “Your Experiences Are Real.”
Alice told us the DoD letter was significant affirmation. “The Department of Defense believes us and has actually gone to bat for those of us from across the US government. I would not be getting care if it wasn’t for senior DOD leadership.”
It is hard to explain the apparent disconnect between the DoD letter and the Intelligence Community’s position that AHI symptoms were probably the result of “pre-existing conditions, conventional illnesses, and environmental factors.”
Alice argued the two are not hard to reconcile. “The brave people of the Department of Defense that have worked on this issue and were willing to stand up to the CIA.”
Asked why she is speaking up after years of quiet advocacy, Alice was blunt. “Because the CIA is betraying and not just betraying but making friends of mine and my life a living hell. I want them to stop hurting my friends. I want them to give everyone I care about medical care and Havana Act payments and to take care of us in the long term. I want them to stop denying what is happening to us and so there can be opportunities to collect the information that we need so that we can prevent this from happening to more people.”
Asked if a Trump/Vance administration can make a change, Alice was hopeful. “I’m not sure the phrase ‘cleaning up the swamp ‘is thrown around a lot in DC but at the bare minimum, I do not believe that those people that were involved in the earlier reports should be allowed to touch this. I think they need to actually recuse themselves or should be replaced.”
Alice predicted the CIA would respond to the allegations by saying “we take every reported case seriously and we’re committed to taking care of our people.” Alice said, “that’s what hurts so much because they’re not.”
Catherine Herridge@C__Herridge
FULL RESPONSES
In response to nearly a dozen questions, which included Alice’s claims of retaliation and sexist treatment of female officers, a CIA spokesperson provided the following statements.
“As the Director has said, we have no more profound obligation than to take care of our people and we have been determined to address this difficult challenge with honesty and compassion. To be clear, the IC’s findings do not call into question the experiences and real health issues that US Government personnel and their family members – including CIA’s own officers – have reported while serving our country. We will continue to remain alert to any risks to the health and wellbeing of Agency officers, to ensure access to care, and to provide officers with the compassion and respect they deserve.”
“CIA has not suspended officers or revoked their security clearances because of their reporting of AHIs.”
Because the CIA statements did not address our reporting that in 2021, CIA Director Burns said privately, it was his personal belief Russia was behind some AHIs, we followed up.
The CIA media office provided additional on the record comment.
“As the Director has said, he had his own assumptions when he became Director – so much so that he even warned his Russian counterparts in late 2021. But, as he has said, our analysts’ job is not to validate his assumptions, but to ensure an intensive and professional effort to get as close to ground truth as we can. And that is what we have done and continue to do.”the spokesperson provided a second statement.
The CIA spokesperson said of the bipartisan senate intelligence committee report that found CIA personnel faced delayed and insufficient care:
“We have no greater responsibility than to care for the health and safety of our people. Our dedication to fulfilling this obligation has been, and will continue to be, steadfast.
During the critical periods covered by this report, CIA had to design a response to a vexing problem as both our understanding of the problem and the problem itself evolved – including in the midst of the unprecedented global health pandemic that profoundly disrupted individuals’ access to standard healthcare, medical evaluations, and treatment. At the same time, CIA worked with the IC to conduct a deep and rigorous investigation into the possibility that foreign actors were harming US Government personnel and their families, while also working tirelessly to assist officers and their families in getting the care and support they needed and rightly deserved.
In that environment, supporting our officers and their families required us to dynamically adapt our programs and processes to changing needs and circumstances. Whether, in hindsight, we could have done better is for others to evaluate, but our commitment to ensuring that our officers and their families had access to the care they needed has never wavered.
In addition, while there was no consistent set of symptoms for those reporting possible AHIs, we nonetheless significantly shortened the timeline for individuals to access appropriate care and resources. CIA continues to provide support and access to facilitated treatment and resources.
CIA continues to approach every reported possible AHI with the utmost seriousness and compassion.”
Asked if the National Security Agency has intelligence in its holdings that cast doubt on the 2023 ICA findings that it was unlikely a foreign adversary was behind some attacks, a spokesperson said “we have nothing to give you on this topic, but would refer you to ODNI Media Relations.”
A spokesperson for the nation’s top intelligence official, the Director of National Intelligence or ODNI, strongly disagreed with the House GOP committee interim report among other issues.
The IC applied analytic objectivity and sound intelligence tradecraft to the 2023 ICA, complying with all IC analytic standards.
Most IC agencies assess that it is very unlikely a foreign adversary is responsible for the reported AHIs, and the assertion that we are withholding information that contradicts this analysis or would otherwise illuminate this complex subject is unfounded.
The IC has devoted significant effort to assessing potential causes of AHIs. Our investigation was among the most comprehensive in our history, bringing to bear the IC’s full operational, analytic, and technical capabilities and those of our partners.
The IC remains open to new intelligence and will continue to pursue new information. We will continue to do everything we can to protect the health and safety of our workforce and to care for our colleagues with compassion and professionalism.
We are fully committed to continuing to do everything we can to get our officers the care they need and to ensuring their safety – this is our highest priority.
Our analytic findings do not call into question the experiences and health issues that our colleagues, family members, and friends honestly reported.
(Regarding the HPSCI report) No, the IC does not agree with many of the report’s interim findings.
A DoD spokesperson for the Joint Staff said BG O’Harren did not dispute the authenticity of the March 2024 letter, obtained by our team, and he stands behind its contents.
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I’ve heard complaints from many whistleblowers who allege the “best way to bury government misconduct is to call in the Inspector General.”
This week’s report from the Justice Department’s internal watchdog delivers exhaustive detail, but it is light on accountability.
The Justice Department misled federal courts with no significant consequences.
DEEP DIVE
The new Justice Department Inspector General report suggests the federal courts rubber stamped DOJ subpoenas for phone records of congressional investigators – with no significant consequences to date.
In last week’s newsletter, I was among the first to predict the Justice Department IG would soon release its findings into government overreach, specifically the abuse of compulsory process (including subpoenas) to obtain phone and email records.
DOJ OIG Releases Report on DOJ Obtaining Records of Members of Congress, Congressional Staffers, and Members of the News Media using Compulsory Process
This is NOT the first time that FBI and DOJ officials have misled the federal courts to obtain evidence for criminal investigations. The FBI and Justice Department improperly used unsubstantiated claims, and news reports, to secure surveillance warrants for Trump campaign aide Carter Page.
A former FBI agent who has personally drafted FISA warrants told me he had never seen surveillance applications that cited news stories.
FBI VAULT – FISA Surveillance Warrant Cites Media Reports
I have reviewed the Inspector General’s report and singled out one of the most important findings on page 4. It found Justice Department officials obfuscated the true identity of their targets and the construct for their leak investigations which probed media outlets and congress.
Most IG reports pass with limited media attention, but this one titled “A Review of the Department of Justice’s Issuance of Compulsory Process to Obtain Records of Members of Congress, Congressional Staffers, and Members of the News Media,” drew attention across the board.
Two Factors: the report impacts reporter records, and it found that the FBI and DOJ collected phone records on then GOP-congressional staffer Kash Patel who is now nominated by President Trump to lead the FBI.
Pg. 8 Inspector General Report — DOJ/FBI Records Requests
What’s clear from the findings is that the Justice Department relied on “boilerplate” language in its Non-Disclosure Order applications to the court. NDOs can block reporters and congress, as the report notes, from “learning about the use of compulsory process” to seek their records. That delays, and in some cases prevents, the subjects from challenging the process in the federal judiciary.
The courts did not have the full picture from the Justice Department, and the blame squarely falls on the DOJ. The DOJ was not transparent about its efforts to secure records from members of Congress and their investigators who were probing the origins of the FBI’s probe into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
On its face, the DOJ’s withholding of information from the courts appears to be an act of commission. If the courts had known the FBI and DOJ were seeking records from congressional investigators, the federal judges might have pushed back requiring immediate notification to the parties.
Patel seemed a prime target. Because of his extensive experience at the Justice Department, he understood and could expose defects in the surveillance (FISA) warrants for Trump campaign aide Carter Page, among other irregularities in the FBI/DOJ case.
According to Kash Patel’s 2023 lawsuit against Justice Department officials and FBI Director Wray, he didn’t learn about the subpoena for his google records until several years after the fact.
As I reported in last week’s newsletter, I faced severe push back, including the threat of attacks on my journalistic integrity from a justice department official when I reported allegations that in 2018 then Deputy Attorney Rosenstein threatened to subpoena Patel and others.
While the FBI and DOJ officials disputed the characterization of the 2018 clash between these two branches of government, this week’s report confirms that Justice Department had already sought the records for Patel and others months earlier.
Buried at the back of the report on page 81 are the top line recommendations. The first recommendation calls for the expansion of protections and internal review protocols for obtaining records from the news media. The second and third recommendations call for greater transparency when the DOJ investigates Congress which has oversight for the Justice Department.
Summary Recommendations
WHEN KASH PATEL GOT THE CBS NEWS TREATMENT
Kash Patel has always been a political lightning rod.
When I arrived at CBS News in November 2019, a senior executive told me that I brought a “fresh dimension” to the Network’s news gathering because I had deep contacts on both sides of the aisle.
We interviewed Kash Patel for a story in December 2019. CBS News titled the report, “White House staffer Kash Patel denies he was back channel to Trump on Ukraine.”
The interview was roundly rejected by the CBS broadcast shows. A senior producer on the CBS Evening News told me the interview wasn’t “newsy enough” to qualify for their broadcast.
The story was eventually posted to the CBS News website. At the time, I was taken aback by what seemed internal resistance to presentingall points of view on the Impeachment story.
At CBS News, I was surprised and disappointed to find a culture where many colleagues seemed content to confirm the reporting of other networks, rather than break news first. There were exceptions, but when it came to politics, I experienced a “follow the pack” mentality.
I’ll have more to say about the blowback over the Kash Patel reporting.
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With Kash Patel’s nomination to lead the FBI, an independent watchdog may soon bring needed transparency to allegations of government overreach targeting GOP congressional investigators, including Patel, probing the origins of the FBI’s Russia probe, “Crossfire Hurricane.”
The findings may tell us a lot about the power of Washington’s unelected bureaucracy.
DEEP DIVE:
There are some stories you don’t forget because of the pressure that is brought to bear on you by the government bureaucracy to walk away from the reporting.
One of those stories came in 2018, when a review of congressional emails revealed a senior justice department official Rod Rosenstein had allegedly threatened staffers on the House intelligence committee, among them Kash Patel.
Context matters: At the time, Patel and his team were systematically dismantling the premise for the FBI’s 2016 “Crossfire Hurricane” probe that investigated alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Because Patel had deep experience at the Justice Department, he understood and could expose defects in the surveillance (FISA) warrants for Trump campaign aide Carter Page, among other irregularities in the FBI/DOJ case.
At the time, I was the chief intelligence correspondent for Fox News based in Washington D.C. The Fox story was headlined “(Rod) Rosenstein threatened to ‘subpoena’ GOP-led committee in ‘chilling’ clash over records, emails show”
It was straightforward, document driven reporting, but the response from the DOJ was severe and, in my experience, disproportionate. We had reviewed emails that memorialized a January 2018 closed-door meeting between senior FBI and DOJ officials and members of the House Intelligence committee.
The 2018 report read, “The DAG [Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein] criticized the Committee for sending our requests in writing and was further critical of the Committee’s request to have DOJ/FBI do the same when responding,” the committee’s then-senior counsel for counterterrorism Kash Patel wrote to the House Office of General Counsel.”
The report continued, “Going so far as to say that if the Committee likes being litigators, then ‘we [DOJ] too [are] litigators, and we will subpoena your records and your emails,’ referring to HPSCI [House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence] and Congress overall.”
The pushback to the story was swift and severe. Reps for the FBI and DOJ disputed the email account. “The FBI disagrees with a number of characterizations of the meeting as described in the excerpts of a staffer’s emails provided to us by Fox News.”
“A DOJ official insisted Rosenstein ‘never threatened anyone in the room with a criminal investigation.’ The official added that department and bureau officials in the room ‘are all quite clear that the characterization of events laid out here is false,” adding that Rosenstein was responding to a threat of contempt.’’”
My understanding of the 2018 meeting would change when new claims were made public in a 2023 lawsuit brought by Patel against FBI Director Wray and former Justice Department officials.
At the time, I was working as a senior investigative correspondent for CBS News in Washington D.C. According to the 2023 lawsuit, a subpoena for Patel’s “personal information” had already been obtained before the confrontational 2018 meeting.
According to court records, “On November 20, 2017, while Mr. Patel was still in his role as Senior Counsel and Chief Investigator for the HPSCI (House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence), the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) secretly sought a grand jury subpoena to compel Google to turn over Mr. Patel’s private email account data. They did so in complete contravention of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees against unreasonable search and seizure.”
The lawsuit continued, “DOJ sought the subpoena for Mr. Patel’s private accounts without a legitimate basis in a chilling attempt to surveil the person leading the Legislative Branch’s investigation into the Department of Justice’s conduct during the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. This was a blatant abuse and violation of the separation of powers by DOJ, a violation of Mr. Patel’s constitutional rights, and an attempt to find a way to silence an investigation into DOJ’s questionable conduct, as detailed below. DOJ couldn’t subpoena Mr. Patel’s official accounts without sparking a public, political and legal battle; thus, they went for his personal accounts, in a non-public and unconstitutional manner, seeking dirt on Mr. Patel.”
Timing matters: Based on the lawsuit, the DOJ sought Patel’s records BEFORE the 2018 meeting. The lawsuit described it as a “politically motivated investigation.”
According to the 2023 lawsuit, Patel learned about the subpoena several years later, in 2022, when Google notified him the DOJ had sought information related to his personal accounts.
The court records state, “Mr. Patel was wholly unaware of this subpoena until December 12, 2022, when, in line with its policy, Google notified Mr. Patel that DOJ issued it a subpoena for information related to his personal accounts.”
In September this year, a Memorandum Opinion from the court, said the defendants motion to dismiss the complaint was granted. Among the arguments, that these officials are “entitled to qualified immunity…”
A separate watchdog report may soon bring needed transparency to these allegations of government overreach. In this case, claims that some senior FBI and DOJ officials abused their authority to gather information on congressional investigators scrutinizing the origins of the FBI Russia collusion probe.
I will have more to say, in the future, about my experience reporting the story and the personal blowback from government officials.
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Thank you for the consideration and, most of all, for supporting our work!
