Security clearance is restored for ex-FBI employee who testified on politicization claims

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former FBI employee who accused the bureau of politicizing its work when he testified to Congress has seen his security clearance restored, his lawyers said Tuesday.

Marcus Allen was one of three men who alleged overreach and retaliation by the FBI in May 2023 testimony to a special House committee investigating what Republicans call the “weaponization” of the federal government against conservatives.

His security clearance had been revoked over concerns about how his views of the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, affected his work, according to a letter the FBI sent to Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the Republican chairman of the committee.

Allen’s clearance was restored after the concerns were investigated and “sufficiently mitigated,” according to a letter from the FBI’s human resources branch. He also reached a settlement with the bureau restoring his back pay and benefits from the 27-month suspension, his attorneys said in a statement.

Allen, a former operations specialist at the FBI field office in Charlotte, North Carolina, formally resigned from the FBI on Monday.

He also filed a complaint with the Justice Department’s Inspector General alleging his suspension was retaliation against a whistleblower. The watchdog faulted the FBI for not having a process for employees to appeal a suspension as retaliatory before it’s formally revoked, a potentially lengthy process for employees without pay.

The FBI said the two sides agreed to resolve the matter without either admitting wrongdoing. The bureau said it takes seriously its “responsibility to FBI employees who make protected disclosures under whistleblower regulations.”