September 15, 2023
Robert Malley, the Biden Administration point man for Iran, is gone from the government in one of the oddest ousters known to history.
He lost his access to classified documents April 21 and then was suspended from his job. The agency within the State Department that oversees security clearances the administrative process that allows one to see classified material said questions had been raised about his abiding by the rules governing the handling of secret material.
But no one was told he was gone from his post until two months later on June 29, when it eventually leaked out.
Malley said he expected to be back at his job shortly after some issues were cleared up. But in August he signed a contract to teach at Princeton University in both the fall 2023 and spring 2024 semesters, which meant he wouldn’t be returning any time soon.
Republicans in Congress have been having a field day, with some even talking about Malley possibly being guilty of treason. They are demanding to know what Malley did to warrant being put on leave. They are treating it as a political hot button that they can use against President Biden in the upcoming presidential election. The most common talk says he is guilty of talking to Iranian officials although that is part of what he was hired to do.
Soon after the story emerged about his forced leave, the Republicans in Congress demanded to know why he was being investigated and complained angrily when the State Department would give no explanation. However, it is normal to keep such allegations under wraps while they are being investigated. But it has now been more than four months since the Malley investigation began. One would expect the investigation to be over by now. But the State Department is still mute and the fact that Malley has gone onto another job suggests there was indeed a problem with his handling of classified material.
It is not uncommon for some officials to take classified documents home where they can have uninterrupted time to read them, although that is a major violation of the rules. And that is now an issue the Biden Administration cannot ignore, given that former President Donald Trump stands accused of walking out of the White House with dozens of classified documents.
But Republicans in Congress are not talking about such a violation. They are talking with no evidence whatsoever about Malley perhaps disclosing classified material to Iranian officials. Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has made a point of telling reporters that leaking classified secrets to foreign adversaries constitutes a serious crime. But he failed to say that was what Malley had done.
Sen. Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, went further, however. He tweeted, “Rob Malley was such a pro-Iran radical that he was FIRED from Biden admin & had his security clearance stripped for mishandling classified docs.” But Malley has not been fired and no one knows just why he lost his security clearance.
The State Department has cited the 1974 Privacy Act for refusing to tell Congress much about the case. But if his offense is a criminal one, the Privacy Act does not apply. And giving secrets to Iranian officials would be a criminal offense.
Republican congressman became further incensed when the English language Tehran Times published a photocopy of the letter Malley was sent in April suspending him. The fact that an Iranian publication had the letter that no one in the US had seen raised the temperature. However, the letter was not classified, so there was nothing illegal about the Tehran Times having a copy.
The letter, signed by Erin Smart, the woman who heads the State Department’s Office of Personnel Security and Suitability, said Malley was suspended for three reasons: “Personal Conduct,” “Handling of Protected Information” and “Use of Information Technology.”
The letter further says, “Your continued national eligibility is not clearly consistent with the interests of national security. Your national security eligibility, including your Top Secret security clearance, is suspended pending an ongoing investigation…. The suspension of your security clearance does not constitute a formal revocation and does not indicate that such action is planned.”
Separately, several Republicans are accusing Biden of having reached a secret agreement with Tehran to limit Iran’s nuclear work. The evidence for this is reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) saying Iran is enriching uranium at a slower speed and has diluted some of the uranium it previously enriched to 60 percent to a lower quality. The Republicans suspect Biden wants an unwritten agreement with Tehran so he does not have to submit the agreement to Congress.