Slain DHS Whistleblower Philip Haney Not Resting in Peace Is the FBI withholding evidence until after the election? Lloyd Billingsley
Through his work in the Middle East, Philip Haney gained deep knowledge of Islam, jihad, and terrorist networks around the world. In 2016, Philip Haney authored See Something Say Nothing: A Homeland Security Officer Exposes the Government’s Submission to Jihad. Haney was reportedly at work on a sequel, which has yet to appear.
On February 21, 2020, Haney was found dead from a gunshot wound in Amador County, California. Haney’s friends denied he was suicidal, and some were certain he had been murdered. CNN set the tone for the way establishment media would cover the case.
“Haney’s controversial accusations that the Obama administration could have prevented terrorist attacks were polarizing among Americans,” Laura Hoy reported on February 23. Hoy had no take on whether Haney’s accusations were true, and she included no citations from Haney’s book or his Frontpage articles such as, “Deobond Attacks in San Bernardino, Sri Lanka,” and “The Terrorist Ties that Bind.”
As Hoy explained, “Haney’s death is likely to become political ammo for Republicans heading into the 2020 presidential elections.” That raises questions about another key player in the case.
In February, the Amador County sheriff reached out to the FBI “to assist in analyzing documents, phone records, numerous thumb drives and a laptop that were recovered from the scene and Mr. Haney’s RV.” Nearly six months later, the FBI has yet to deliver, and as the election looms, so do troubling revelations about the FBI.
The upper reaches of the FBI and DOJ spearheaded the coup attempt against President Trump. FBI counterintelligence boss Peter Strzok ran both the Midyear Exam and Crossfire Hurricane operations. FBI boss James Comey sent agents to set a perjury trap for Gen. Michael Flynn, whose legal woes continue. The FBI targeted Trump adviser Carter Page and FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith altered a crucial document to cover up FBI misconduct in FISA applications.
Clinesmith was on the team of special counsel Robert Mueller, former director of the FBI. On Mueller’s watch, the FBI removed hundreds of counterterrorism training documents going back to September 11, 2001. This was the kind of activity Philip Haney set out to expose.
As he explained in The Hill on May 5, 2016, the Department of Homeland Security ordered him “to delete or modify several hundred records of individuals tied to designated Islamist terror groups like Hamas from the important federal database, the Treasury Enforcement Communications System (TECS).”
After Haney’s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2016, Sen. Ted Cruz asked Jeh Johnson, DHS Secretary from 2013-17, if Haney’s testimony was accurate. “I have no idea. I don’t know who Mr. Haney is,” Johnson replied. “I wouldn’t know him if he walked into the room.” Haney said DHS investigated him nine times and revoked his security clearance. The Department of Justice charged that Haney “misused a government computer,” charges later dropped.
Friends of Haney told the California Globe he was considering a return to DHS and preparing to go on the road during the 2020 election season. Neither prospect would please those who had opposed the whistleblower’s revelations on Islamic jihadists. The Haney case also raises issues for FBI boss Christopher Wray, a Yale law alum who like Mueller and Comey never attended the FBI Academy.
While Wray was assistant attorney general from 2003 to 2005, James Comey was the deputy attorney general and Robert Mueller headed the FBI. Both threatened to resign when President Bush planned to renew the NSA’s Terrorist Surveillance Program, and Wray threatened to resign with them.
When Attorney General William Barr agreed there had been “spying” on the Trump campaign, Christopher Wray told senators “that’s not the term I would use.” And as Wray told Sen. Lindsey Graham, “I do not consider Director Mueller to be on a witch hunt,” and told Sen. Dianne Feinstein “I’m very committed to supporting Director Mueller in the special counsel investigation.” On the other hand, Wray has not been very committed to John Durham’s investigation of the coup plotters.
FBI documents have been slow to emerge, and not a single FBI or DOJ player is facing criminal charges. If nothing emerges before the election, key players may get away with major crimes. In the Haney case, somebody could possibly get away with murder.
Few knew more about Islamic jihadists than Philip Haney, and few if any were more willing to expose their networks and supporters. So jihadists and their supporters had ample motive to target Haney. The material in Haney’s documents, laptop and thumb drives could be quickly recovered and possibly flag potential suspects. Nearly six months after Haney’s death by gunshot, the Amador County sheriff is still waiting for the FBI analysis.
If anybody thought the FBI was delaying until after the election to avoid providing “political ammo for Republicans” it would be hard to blame them. And if someone in the FBI tampered with evidence or destroyed evidence, it would hardly be the first time.
According to the DOJ Inspector General, the mobile phones of Peter Strzok and Lisa Page were “reset,” meaning scrubbed clean. A records officer did not review Lisa Page’s phone “for records that would possibly need to be retained prior to the phone having been reset.”
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