FBI whistleblower claims retaliation for raising concerns about accuracy of Wray’s J6 testimony

A decorated FBI intelligence analyst has alleged to the Justice Department watchdog and Congress that he was retaliated against and his security clearance suspended for raising concerns about the factual accuracy of Director Christopher Wray's testimony to lawmakers about the investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, according to a letter obtained by Just the News.

The lawyer for Intelligence Analyst Marcus Allen told Congress his client, a retired Marine, was once named the FBI employee of the year in his Charlotte, N.C., office but today has found himself without a paycheck and sidelined after raising concerns about the accuracy of Wray’s testimony during a Senate hearing.

In fact, FBI leaders even questioned Allen’s “allegiance to the United States” before suspending his security clearance even though Allen served tours of duty during the Iraq war after the Sept. 11 attacks, wrote attorney Tristan Leavitt, the president of the Empower Oversight whistleblower center that is representing the analyst.

“These circumstances strongly suggest Mr. Allen’s leadership retaliated against him for disclosing his concerns about the veracity of Director Wray’s congressional testimony and suspended Mr. Allen’s security clearance as reprisal for that protected whistleblower disclosure to his supervisors,” Leavitt wrote in a letter sent to Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz on April 26 and obtained this week.

The letter recently was sent to multiple congressional committees that are looking at Allen’s allegations. The IG also is seriously investigating the analyst’s claims of reprisal, officials said.

The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Allen is expected to testify before Congress later this week about his travails.

At issue is testimony Wray gave in March 2021 at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing when, under questioning Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., he left the impression to some that the FBI or law enforcement had not infiltrated certain groups like the Proud Boys that were blamed for the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“They show up, we now know in this complaint, with encrypted two-way Chinese radios in military gear,” Klobuchar said in questioning Wray. “There must be moments where you think, “If we would have known, if we could have infiltrated this group or found out what they were doing . . .” Do you have those moments?”

“Absolutely, Wray answered. “I will tell you Senator, and this is something I feel passionately about, that any time there is an attack, our standard at the FBI is we aim to bat a thousand, right? And we aim to thwart every attack that’s out there.

“So any time there’s an attack, especially one that’s this horrific, that strikes right at the heart of our system of government, right at the time the transfer of power is being discussed, you can be darn tooting that we are focused very, very hard on how can we get better sources, better information, better analysis so that we can make sure something like what happened on January 6 never happens again,” he added.

Months later in his capacity as an intelligence analyst supporting the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Charlotte, Allen came across a New York Times article that alleged an FBI informant had infiltrated the Proud Boys and an analysis of that article by conservative journalist and Revolver News editor Darren Beattie.

“Mr. Allen’s leadership changed their posture towards him dramatically on September 29, 2021,” Leavitt wrote the DOJ IG. “At 7:51 AM that morning, Mr. Allen sent an email with the subject “6 Jan awareness vid link” to nine of his colleagues.

In that and a subsequent conversation that day, Allen warned his supervisors in writing  that “there is a significant counter-story to the events of 6 January 2021 at the US Capitol. There is a good possibility the DC elements of our organization are not being forthright about the events of the day or the influence of government assets”

“Mr. Allen recommended in his email that his office 'exercise extreme caution and discretion in pursuit of any investigative inquiries or leads pertaining to the events of the day,'” according to Leavitt’s letter.

Allen met to clear the air with some supervisors after learning his communication questioning Wray’s testimony had ruffled feathers. A few months later he got a "massive shock,” his lawyer alleged.

“Despite being told the matter had been resolved, on January 10, 2022, the FBI proposed to suspend Mr. Allen’s Top Secret clearance on the basis of security concerns related to Adjudicative Guideline A – ‘Allegiance to the United States,’” Leavitt wrote. “The letter stated: ‘The Security Division has learned you have espoused conspiratorial views both orally and in writing and promoted unreliable information which indicates support for the events of January 6th.’”

Leavitt wrote that the “FBI’s suspension of Mr. Allen’s security clearance, which directly cited his protected disclosure, is a clear violation” of federal law protecting whistleblowers."

The lawyer also noted that Allen has consistently received an “Exceeds Fully Successful” rating on his FBI performance evaluations and in 2019 that the Charlotte Field Office recognized him with its Employee of the Year Award.

In addition to the Empower Oversight whistleblower center, Allen’s case has been championed by Judicial Watch, a nonprofit government watchdog, over concerns that the process of suspending his clearance did not give the analyst a fair chance to contest the bureau’s concerns.

“Judicial Watch contends that the FBI did not give Allen a chance to clear himself, despite his repeated inquiries,” the group said. “In early May 2022, however, the FBI requested that Allen appear for an interview. He promptly complied. The interview request came only days after FBI Director Wray was confronted by members of Congress over concerns that the FBI was weaponizing the security clearance process to target politically conservative employees. Since that time, Allen has received no further word on the status of the FBI’s investigation.”