GOP Senators Demand Answers Over Reassigned DoE Official

Steven Black, the long-serving Director of the Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence (DOE-IN) at the Department of Energy, was suddenly reassigned to a different role recently without any explanation.

This has raised concerns among Republican Senators after a rather disturbing report was issued regarding the Department of Energy’s intelligence operations.

The worry is that Black dropped the ball, yet he is still working in intelligence.

Worrisome Report

Black had served in that role for more than a decade, so his removal and reassignment seemed very suspicious solely because there was no announcement or explanation as to why it had happened.

Senator James Risch (R-ID) penned a letter this week to Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to get some clarification on the matter.

In part, the letter stated, “On Tuesday, October 17, we received word that Steven Black, the long-serving Director of the Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence (DOE-IN) at the Department of Energy, was suddenly and without explanation reassigned.

“We are told he will be taking on a new role as ‘Senior Advisor’ in the Department. We are also aware that a study conducted by an outside contractor, which the Department has had in its possession since April, outlines disturbing findings as to the state of counterintelligence across the Department, to include the national laboratories.”

It further stated, “If Director Black presided over DOE-IN over a period of time in which there were serious shortcomings with regard to counterintelligence, he should not be reassigned to any office within the Department that has a national security mission.”

There have been some very serious breaches in security during Joe Biden’s administration, so I wish I could say that I was shocked by this report, but I am not.

Vetting of government employees by this and previous administrations has been seriously lacking, especially in our intelligence community.

For instance, Biden’s former Iranian envoy, Rob Malley, is suspected of having pushed policies that were favorable to Iran while putting our security at risk.

An employee that he brought on board is also suspected of having allegiances to Iran over this country.

Biden seems to be more interested in checking boxes on the diversity scale than in actually finding the best and brightest for his administration.