The Federal Bureau of Investigation essentially made an Iraq and Afghanistan War on Terror veteran and longtime agent “homeless” in retaliation for making whistleblower claims, the agent testified to Congress Thursday.
Garret O’Boyle, an FBI special agent, veteran, and former police officer, made whistleblower complaints to his superior and Congress, which culminated in him being placed on “unpaid, indefinite suspension,” according to a report released by Republicans on the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. The FBI issued the suspension while O’Boyle was in the process of moving from Kansas to Virginia, leaving his family and belongings in limbo, he testified. The agent previously alleged that FBI officials created a threat tag applied to anti-abortion activists and that the bureau improperly increased domestic terrorism case totals for political purposes.
“In weaponized fashion, the FBI allowed me to accept orders to a new position halfway across the country. They allowed us to sell my family’s home. They ordered me to report to the new unit when our youngest daughter was two weeks old. Then, on my first day on the new assignment, they suspended me, rendering my family homeless. They refused to release our goods, including our clothes, for weeks. All I wanted to do is serve my country by stopping bad guys and protecting the innocent. To my chagrin, bad guys have begun running parts of the government, making it difficult to continues to serve this nation and protect the innocent,” O’Boyle testified.
FBI Special Agent Garret O’Boyle was transferred across the country only to be suspended on his first day.
The FBI’s actions forced his family to beg and borrow warm coats for their children because the family’s belongings were locked in an FBI-controlled storage facility. pic.twitter.com/T7BseKr0cf
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) May 18, 2023
O’Boyle told Republicans on the subcommittee in February that a threat tag created after the leak of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision evolved into one targeting opponents of abortion. Under the threat tag, FBI agents were instructed to look into crisis pregnancy centers, he said in an interview. Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU), a left-wing anti-abortion group, later alleged that the FBI inserted an informant to investigate its operations.
The FBI also encourages special agents-in-charge to meet certain investigative metrics, offering them cash bonuses if they do so, according to the majority report. O’Boyle told committee Republicans that the bonus system “raises grave constitutional concern” because it encourages law enforcement officials to investigate individuals for cash. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: ‘It’s Time To Clean House’: Former Senior FBI Agents Blast Politicization Of The Bureau)
The bonus system led one superior to instruct O’Boyle to split one domestic terrorism case into four to show improved metrics, he told the committee in February.
“Too many in the FBI aren’t willing to sacrifice for the hard right over the easy wrong. They see what becomes of whistleblowers. How the FBI destroys their careers, suspends them under false pretenses, takes their security clearances and pay with no true options for real recourse or remedy. This is by design. It creates an Orwellian atmosphere that silences opposition and discussion,” O’Boyle added.