Former FBI Director Robert Mueller, via FBI.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered the Justice Department to give House lawmakers secret grand jury testimony from special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, The Washington Post reported.

The 2-1 decision is a partial victory for House Democrats who have been trying to obtain the grand jury material. The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals, which upheld a district court ruling a year ago, can be appealed to the full court or the Supreme Court.

That means the secret material from the investigation does not yet have to be disclosed.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

Three TSA screeners in northern California have tested positive for the coronavirus, the agency said Tuesday.

The employees work at Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport and are the first TSA screeners to test positive with the coronavirus.

The agency didn’t disclose the identities of the workers.

“The officers are receiving medical care and all TSA employees they have come in contact with over the past 14 days are quarantined at home,” the TSA said in a statement.

“Screening checkpoints remain open and the agency is working with the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), as well as the California Department of Public Health and the Santa Clara County Public Health Department to monitor the situation as well as the health and safety of our employees and the traveling public. We will update as more information becomes available.”

The positive tests are troublesome because screeners have contact with thousands of passengers a day.

On Sunday, the FBI confirmed one of its employees from the San Francisco Division tested positive for the coronavirus.

The FBI also has ordered $40,000 worth of face masks and hand sanitizers in the event of a pandemic.

Robert Levinson, via FBI.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

The FBI is calling on Iran to release former FBI Agent Robert A. Levinson on the 13th anniversary of his disappearance in 2007.

Calling him the “longest-held hostage in U.S. history,” the FBI issued a statement Tuesday renewing its repeated call on Iran to live up to its commitment to share information about Levinson’s whereabouts.

“Bob’s wife and family have been waiting for his return for 13 years, waiting for the government of Iran to make good on its commitment to help make that happen,” FBI Director Christopher Wray says in a new release. “Over those years Bob’s FBI family of agents, analysts, and professional staff have been working on his behalf with our interagency partners and will never cease the efforts to bring Bob home. We call on Iran to provide the necessary assistance and end this long wait so Bob’s family and friends get him back.”

Levinson, whose 72nd birthday is today, disappeared while on a CIA operation on Kish Island in Iran.

The Iranian government initially responded that it had detained Levinson but soon backed off that story and has since maintained it has no idea about Levinson’s whereabouts.

Some intelligence officials believe Levinson may be dead, but that hasn’t stopped the search.

The Department of State Rewards for Justice Program announced up to a $30 million reward last year for any information leading to Levinson’s whereabouts. The FBI is also offering a $5 million reward.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

Homeland Security’s former acting inspector general has been indicted on charges of stealing government proprietary software and databases containing personal information on more than 250,000 government employees – all in an effort to elevate his private business.

Charles K. Edwards, who was tasked with exposing waste, fraud and abuse as acting inspector general from 2011 to 2013, was indicted on 16 counts, Washington Post reports.

His 54-year-old former subordinate, Murali Yamazula Venkata, also was charged with similar crimes and destroying records.

Edwards, 59, of Sandy Springs, Md., and Venkata are accused of conspiring to steal property information from the inspector general’s office from October 2014 to April 2017. Prosecutors say the theft enabled Edwards’ company, Delta Business Solutions, to sell an enhanced version to the Agriculture Department.

The DHS and Postal Service investigation is ongoing.

SARS-CoV-2 is the cause of the coronavirus, via Wikipedia.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

The coronavirus has infected an FBI employee from the San Francisco Division.

In a statement, the FBI said the employee works at a small satellite office, and his coworkers have returned home.

The FBI statement:

An employee of the FBI San Francisco Division has been diagnosed with COVID-19 (coronavirus). This employee works in a small satellite office. The other employees at the site have returned to their homes until further notice, and everyone known to have been in contact with the infected employee has been notified of possible exposure.
The FBI has contacted local health officials as well as the Centers for Disease Control and the Bureau will take all necessary remedial and precautionary measures to protect our employees, their families and our community.
At this time, we assess our operations have not been negatively impacted by COVID-19 and we will continue steadfast in our mission to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution.

The FBI also has ordered $40,000 worth of face masks and hand sanitizers in the event of a pandemic, CNBC reports.

The masks and disinfectants “are to be stored throughout the country for distribution in the event of a declared pandemic,” according to the bureau’s purchase order.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

TSA officers would receive expanded protections like other federal employees under a bill passed by the U.S. House on Thursday.

The Rights for Transportation Security Officers Act, which passed on a 230-171 vote, would give full collective bargaining rights and whistleblower protections to TSA workers, who are among the lowest paid federal employees, The Hill reports.

Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa., said when the TSA was established following Sept. 11, 2001, “its administrator was given broad authority over its workforce with respect to setting up pay and workplace conditions. As such, transportation security officers, T.S.O.’s, have been unable to benefit from fair labor standards act protections or fall under the general schedule pay scale.”

But opponents of the bill said the additional protections would compromise public safety.

“TSA has repeatedly told us that [these changes] would tie the agency’s hands related to national security policy, workforce management, and collective bargaining,” Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., said on the floor. “Specifically, TSA would not be able to continue a one-step removal process for employees found to have committed serious security breaches or misconduct such as allowing unauthorized access to secure areas or allowing threat items and illicit contraband through the security checkpoints.”

President Trump and AG William Barr, via DOJ.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

A federal judge ordered the Justice Department to turn over an unredacted copy of the Mueller report after sharply rebuking Attorney General William Barr’s “lack of candor” in his handling of the special counsel report.

U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton said Barr issued a “distorted” and “misleading” account of the report’s findings, The New York Times and other media reported.

Walton bluntly said Barr couldn’t be trusted because of “inconsistencies” between his public statements about the report and the public, partially redacted version of it.

The judge plans to review the unredacted report to determine the justification for the information that was blacked out.

The inconsistencies “cause the court to seriously question whether Attorney General Barr made a calculated attempt to influence public discourse about the Mueller report in favor of President Trump despite certain findings in the redacted version of the Mueller report to the contrary,” wrote Walton, an appointee of President George W. Bush.

The judge’s decision came as part of a lawsuit filed by EPIC, a watchdog group, and BuzzFeed News.

The judge’s criticism of Barr is just the latest rebuke of an attorney general who has been accused of politicizing the attorney general’s office.