SOCIOPATH LAWYERS AND TRAITORS TO AMERICA THE CASE AGAINST LAWYER ROBERT MALLEY - The Malley Investigation, Explained Joe Biden's controversial Iran envoy had his security clearance revoked
The Malley Investigation, Explained
Joe Biden's controversial Iran envoy had his security clearance revoked. Here’s what that means.
In mid-May, a group of senators began quietly asking questions after the Biden administration’s Iran envoy Robert Malley was a no-show at a classified briefing on negotiations surrounding a revamped Iran nuclear deal.
As the top diplomat involved in talks with Tehran, Malley’s failure to appear before Congress drew questions from lawmakers and senior staffers. At the time, Biden administration officials told lawmakers that Malley was on extended personal leave, sources say.
Just a month later, it became clear that Malley was the subject of an investigation into his alleged mishandling of classified information, a charge so serious that the probe was later handed off from the State Department office responsible for diplomatic security to the FBI. Washington’s national security rumor mill has been swirling ever since, though details about Malley’s alleged transgression remain unclear.
What are the possibilities? The Washington Free Beacon spoke with a half-dozen current and former national security officials to shed light on the situation.
Leaking Classified Material to Foreign Adversary
The most serious possibility is that Malley intentionally passed classified materials to Iran or another foreign nation.
Iranian press reports indicate that Malley was holding secret talks with Iranian diplomats at the United Nations, perhaps without authorization from the State Department. Malley, in fact, has a history of holding unsanctioned meetings with America’s enemies, including in 2008, when he was fired from the Obama campaign for conducting talks with the Iranian-backed terror group Hamas. In addition to mishandling classified information, officials can have their security clearances revoked if they fail to disclose contacts with foreigners.
The Tehran Times, a pro-regime mouthpiece, claimed earlier this month that Malley engaged in "suspicious interactions with unofficial advisors of Iranian descent," and that his security clearance was initially pulled in late April. The disclosure of these details in the Iranian press indicates that sources in Tehran may know more about the situation than those in the American media.
Leaking Classified Information to Pro-Tehran Advocates
Sources who spoke to the Free Beacon indicated that Malley may have leaked classified information to a network of pro-Tehran advocates who supported the Obama administration’s Iran deal. Malley and others involved in the original Iran deal routinely briefed this group to ensure they reiterated the Obama administration’s talking points about the deal. The collection of Iran deal supporters and those sympathetic to the hardline regime came to be known as the "echo chamber."
Sources say Malley may have resumed briefing the echo chamber as President Joe Biden pushes to resurrect the Iran deal, and that during one such briefing he may have leaked information he was not authorized to disclose.
The Tehran Times, in its July report, claimed that Malley is routinely in contact with a slew of Iranian-regime advocates, such as the Quincy Institute’s Trita Parsi, and that these allies act as middlemen for negotiations with the Iranian government.
This theory has also gained traction in the American media.
"A large part of Malley’s work was to circulate information throughout the U.S.-based Iranian diaspora that eventually found its way to Tehran," veteran national security analyst Lee Smith wrote this week in an article for Tablet Magazine. "The fact that the details about Malley’s suspension are coming from Iranian rather than U.S. media is a big clue that something big is missing from the White House’s highly minimized account."
Unintentional Mishandling of Classified Information
It is also possible Malley mishandled classified information, which would carry a less severe charge. If Malley misplaced a document or failed to secure a piece of information, the State Department’s diplomatic security section could revoke his clearance pending an investigation, according to current and former government officials.
The Clinton administration’s ambassador to Israel, Martin Indyk, had his security clearance revoked in 2000 after the FBI began investigating charges he accessed classified information from an unauthorized laptop.
However, in Inydk’s case, the State Department was transparent about the charges. The Biden administration has provided no public information about the investigation into Malley, and will not even publicly confirm that his security clearance is revoked. Malley himself revealed that news to reporters last month.
One national security official who spoke to the Free Beacon said that after three months of silence, "there is no good explanation" for the ongoing secrecy surrounding Malley’s situation. Several sources also said they were hard pressed to think of a similar case in which a top American diplomat was removed from their post for security reasons.
An Unrelated Infraction
It is also possible that Malley’s security clearance was pulled for an issue unrelated to his work on the Iran portfolio. Any sort of criminal activity—from drug use to a run-in with the police—is grounds for an investigation by Diplomatic Security, the State Department’s in-house enforcement agency.
Questionable Timing
The State Department maintained that Malley was on extended leave until around June 29, two months after his security clearance was suspended, according to one former diplomat familiar with the situation. During that time, Malley was still conducting activities in his official role, in violation of State Department protocols.
Malley was spotted at the James Foley Legacy Foundation dinner on May 3, and spoke with the family members of Iranian hostages, according to one source who was also at the event.
The diplomat also held an interview with NPR on May 30, and was introduced as the special envoy for Iran. Malley also tweeted from his official State Department account during the time he was reportedly on leave.
Republican senators are already pulling at this thread, with 17 lawmakers calling on the State Department to "conduct an independent investigation into whether State Department officials complied with all appropriate laws and regulations" when they removed Malley from his posting.
Gabriel Noronha, a senior Iran adviser at the State Department in the Trump administration, said it appears "the State Department's playbook was to pretend nothing was amiss and hope they could cover up Malley's security clearance suspension permanently. It was only when it was publicized that the Department put Malley on unpaid leave, allowing him access to sensitive spaces and responsibilities for months beforehand."
Robert Malley
Robert Malley | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) | |
| United States Special Envoy for Iran | |
| Assumed office January 28, 2021 On leave of since June 30, 2023 | |
| President | Joe Biden |
| Preceded by | Elliott Abrams |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1963 (age 59–60) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Caroline Brown |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Yale University (BA) Magdalen College, Oxford (MA, DPhil) Harvard University (JD) |
Robert Malley (born 1963) is an American lawyer, political scientist and specialist in conflict resolution, who was the lead negotiator on the 2015 Iran nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).[1] Until his security clearance was revoked and he was placed on a paid, then an unpaid leave of absence pending an investigation which had been referred to the FBI, suggesting suspicion of criminal misconduct, he was the U.S. Special Envoy to Iran, tasked with bringing the United States and Iran into compliance with the Iran nuclear deal abandoned by President Donald Trump.[2]
According to a CNN report dated June 30, 2023, Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was incensed at the State Department's failure, possibly deliberate, of informing Congress: “Senior State Department officials informed the Committee that Special Envoy Malley was unable to testify or brief because he was on personal leave due to the illness of a close family member, for which my staff expressed sympathy. At no point did the Department indicate that Special Envoy Malley’s security clearance was suspended or under review, or that he was being investigated for potential misconduct."
Additionally, Arab American Congressman Darrell Issa (California), also a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, asserted in a statement related to Malley's suspension: "Rob Malley represents the worst of Biden’s foreign policy failures," Issa said. "He counseled concessions to Iran, weakness to the Mullahs, and put America’s interest last."
On July 7, 2023, Yahoo News reported that the Bureau of Diplomatic Security passed on to the FBI the investigation into Malley, according to the senior US official briefed on the matter. The Yahoo article further indicated that the FBI's involvement could suggest alleged criminal foul play.
On July 13, Politico further indicated that several members of Congress called for an investigation into the State Department's handling of the controversy, in particular the failure or refusal of the Department to notify Congress of the decision to suspend Malley's security clearance on time. On the same day, the New York Sun decried the executive branch's "Omertà-Like Code of Silence" in a headline. By July 15, Malley's page at the state department was not to be found.
Malley was Director for Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs at the National Security Council from 1994 to 1996[3] and Program Director for Middle East and North Africa at the International Crisis Group and Assistant to National Security Advisor Sandy Berger from 1996 to 1998. He served in the National Security Council under President Barack Obama from 2014 to 2017. In 2015, the Obama administration appointed Malley as its "point man" on the Middle East, leading the Middle East desk of the National Security Council.[4] In November 2015, Malley was named as President Obama's new special ISIS advisor.[5] After leaving the Obama administration, Malley was President and CEO of the International Crisis Group, a Brussels[6] non-profit committed to preventing wars.[7]
Malley is considered, by some, to be an expert on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and has written extensively on this subject advocating rapprochement with Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood.[3] As Special Assistant to President Clinton, he was a member of the U.S. peace team and helped organize the 2000 Camp David Summit.[8]
In January 2021, President Joe Biden named Malley as special U.S. envoy for Iran.[9]
Early life[edit]
Malley was born in 1963 to Barbara (née Silverstein) Malley, a New Yorker who worked for the United Nations delegation of the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN), and her husband, Simon Malley (1923–2006), a Syrian-Egyptian[10] Jewish journalist who grew up in Egypt and worked as a foreign correspondent for Al Gomhuria. The elder Malley spent time in New York, writing about international affairs, particularly about nationalist, anti-imperial movements in Africa, and made a key contribution by putting the FLN on the world map.[11]
In 1969, the elder Malley moved his family—including son Robert—to France, where he founded the leftist magazine Africasia (later known as Afrique Asia). Robert attended École Jeannine Manuel, a prestigious bilingual school in Paris, and graduated in the same class (1980) as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.[12]
The Malleys remained in France until 1980, when then French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing briefly expelled Simon Malley from the country to New York, due to his hostility towards French policies in Africa.[13]
Malley attended Yale University, and was a 1984 Rhodes Scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he earned a D.Phil. in political philosophy. There he wrote his doctoral thesis about Third-worldism and its decline. Malley continued writing about foreign policy, including extended commentary about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He earned a J.D. at Harvard Law School, where he met his future wife, Caroline Brown.[14] Another fellow law school student was Barack Obama.[15] In 1991–1992, Malley clerked for Supreme Court Justice Byron White, while Brown clerked for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. As of 2010, the couple has two sons, Miles and Blaise, and one daughter, Frances.[14]
Career[edit]
After his Supreme Court clerkship, Malley became a Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations where he published The Call From Algeria: Third Worldism, Revolution, and the Turn to Islam—a book that charts Algeria's political evolution from the turn of the 20th century to the present, exploring the historical and intellectual underpinnings of the crisis in Algeria. His book received critical acclaim, and Malley was described as "exceptionally well read, creative in seeing connections and influences, and gifted with a graceful, if world-weary writing style."[16]
Clinton administration[edit]
Malley served in the Clinton administration as Director for Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs at the National Security Council from 1994 to 1996. In that post he helped coordinate refugee policy, efforts to promote democracy and human rights abroad and U.S. policy toward Cuba.[14] From 1996–1998 he was Executive Assistant to National Security Advisor Sandy Berger. In October 1998, Malley was appointed Special Assistant to President Clinton for Arab-Israeli Affairs, a post he held until the end of the administration in 2001.[14]
International Crisis Group[edit]
After his service with the administration, Malley became Senior Policy Advisor for the Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Development in Washington, D.C. He later became Program Director for Middle East and North Africa at the International Crisis Group in Washington, D.C., directing analysts based in Amman, Cairo, Beirut, Tel Aviv and Baghdad. Malley's team covers events from Iran to Morocco, with a heavy focus on the Arab–Israeli conflict, the situation in Iraq, and Islamist movements throughout the region. Malley also covers developments in the United States that affect policy toward the Middle East.[3]
Obama campaign and administration[edit]
According to Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, Malley provided informal advice to the campaign in the past without having any formal role in the campaign.[17] On May 9, 2008, the campaign severed ties with Malley when the British Times reported that Malley had been in discussions with the militant Palestinian group Hamas, listed by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organization.[17] In response, Malley told The Times he had been in regular contact with Hamas officials as part of his work with the International Crisis Group. "My job with the International Crisis Group is to meet with all sorts of savory and unsavory people and report on what they say. I've never denied whom I meet with; that's what I do", Malley told NBC News, adding that he informs the State Department about his meetings beforehand and briefs them afterward.[18]
The New York Times reported on 18 February 2014 that Malley was joining the Obama administration to consult on Persian Gulf policy as senior director of the National Security Council.[19] On 6 March, the National Security Council announced that Malley would be replacing Philip Gordon as the Special Assistant to the President and White House Coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf Region, effective on 6 April 2015.[20]
Lead Iran deal negotiator[edit]
Malley was the lead U.S. negotiator on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, signed on July 14, 2015, which limited Iran's nuclear activities and ensured international inspections of its nuclear facilities in exchange for lifting economic sanctions. In describing the negotiating challenges, Malley later wrote in The Atlantic, "The real choice in 2015 was between achieving a deal that constrained the size of Iran’s nuclear program for many years and ensured intrusive inspections forever, or not getting one, meaning no restrictions at all coupled with much less verification.[21]
On November 30, 2015, it was reported that Malley would become the National Security Council's "ISIS Czar [5]
Return to International Crisis Group[edit]
After Obama left office, Malley returned to the International Crisis Group, serving as the new Vice President for Policy. He is currently the President and CEO.
U.S. Special Envoy to Iran[edit]
On January 28, 2021, President Biden named Malley U.S. special envoy to Iran, where he was tasked with trying to ease diplomatic tensions with Iran and rein in its nuclear program by compliance to the original pact.[22][23]
Forced Leave As Specal Envoy To Iran[edit]
On June 29, 2023 Malley was placed on unpaid leave as special envoy to Iran, his security clearance was suspended amid investigation into possible mishandling of classified material.
Views[edit]
Malley has published several articles on the failed 2000 Camp David Summit in which he participated as a member of the U.S. negotiating team. Malley rejects the mainstream opinion that lays all the blame for the failure of the summit on Arafat and the Palestinian delegation. In his analysis, the main reasons were the tactics of then-Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak and the substance of his proposal which made it impossible for Arafat to accept Barak's offer.[8]
Malley argues that negotiations with the Palestinians today must include Hamas because the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is no longer considered the Palestinian people's sole legitimate representative.[24] He describes the PLO as antiquated, worn out, barely functioning, and, because it does not include the broad Islamist current principally represented by Hamas, of questionable authority. Malley favors negotiating with Hamas at least for the purpose of a ceasefire—citing Hamas officials in Gaza who made clear they were prepared for such an agreement with Israel.[25]
He supported (in 2008) efforts to reach an Israel-Hamas ceasefire which would include an immediate end to Palestinian rocket launches and sniper fire and a freeze on Israeli military attacks on Gaza. Malley's arguments rest on both humanitarian and practical reasons. Malley points to the blockade imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip has not stopped Hamas's rocket attacks on nearby Israeli towns and notes that the siege has caused millions of Gazans to suffer from lack of medicine, fuel, electricity and other essential commodities, so cease-fire would avoid "enormous loss of life, a generation of radicalized and embittered Gazans, and another bankrupt peace process."[25]
Malley has published many articles in which he calls upon the Israelis (and the international community) to bring Hamas to the negotiating table in order to secure an Israeli–Palestinian ceasefire and insure that any agreement reached with Palestinians will be respected by the Islamist movements in Palestinian society too.
In addition, Malley calls for Israel, the Palestinians, Lebanon, Syria and other Arab countries to resume negotiations on all tracks based on the Arab Peace Initiative, which promises full Arab recognition and normalization of relations with Israel in the context of a comprehensive peace agreement in exchange for a withdrawal of Israeli forces from the occupied territories to the 1967 armistice (Green) Line, the recognition of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and a "just solution" for Palestinian refugees.[24]
"Today, Malley still stands out for his calls to engage in negotiations with Syria and Iran and for finding 'some kind of accommodation' with Hamas", The Jewish Daily Forward reported in February 2008.[15]
Criticism[edit]
Malley was criticized after co-authoring an article in the July 8, 2001, edition of The New York Review of Books arguing that the blame for the failure of the 2000 Camp David Summit should be divided among all three leaders who were present at the summit, Arafat, Barak, and Bill Clinton, not just Arafat, as was suggested by some mainstream policy analysts.[26] "Later, however, other scholars and former officials voiced similar views to those of Malley", according to a February 20, 2008, article in The Jewish Daily Forward.[15]
Malley and his views have come under attack from other critics, such as Martin Peretz of the magazine The New Republic, who has opined that Malley is "anti-Israel", a "rabid hater of Israel. No question about it", and that several of his articles in the New York Review of Books were "deceitful."[27] On the conservative webzine The American Thinker, Ed Lasky asserted that Malley "represents the next generation of anti-Israel activism."[15]
Malley told the Jewish Daily Forward that "it tends to cross the line when it becomes as personal and as un-based in facts as some of these have been." While he loved and respected his father, he said, their views sometimes differed, and it is "an odd guilt by association" fallacy to criticize him based on his father's views.[15] Simon Malley was called a sympathizer of the PLO by Daniel Pipes.[28]
In response to what they called "vicious, personal attacks" on Malley, five Jewish, former U.S. government officials—former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, Ambassador Martin Indyk, Ambassador Daniel C. Kurtzer, Ambassador Dennis Ross, and former State Department Senior Advisor Aaron David Miller—published a letter (dated February 12, 2008) in the New York Review of Books defending Malley.[15] They wrote that the attacks on Malley were "unfair, inappropriate, and wrong", and objected to what they called an attempt "to undermine the credibility of a talented public servant who has worked tirelessly over the years to promote Arab–Israeli peace and US national interests."[29] This view is also shared by M.J. Rosenberg, a former editor at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and a controversial critic of Israeli policies,[30] who condemned the attacks on Malley, writing that Malley is "pro-Israel" and the only reason he is being criticized is because he supports Israeli–Palestinian negotiations.[31]
In October 2022, following a massive demonstration by Iranians in Berlin [32] and elsewhere including Washington, D.C.[33] in support of protests in Iran,[34] Malley tweeted that [35]"Marchers in Washington and cities around the world are showing their support for the Iranian people, who continue to peacefully demonstrate for their government to respect their dignity and human rights." He came under fire by Iranians and non-Iranians for undermining the protests in Iran to a mere demand for respect and some asked him to step down from his position. In response, he accepted that his words "were poorly worded.".[36] In his interview with Iran International, he stressed that "“It is not up to me; it is not up to the US government what the brave women and men who have been demonstrating in Iran want. It is up to them.”.[36] Despite Malley's apology, Masih Alinejad, Iranian-American journalist and human right activist started a petition to remove him from his post as Special US Envoy for Iran. The petition demands that President Biden "appoint a new Special Envoy that the people in the U.S. and in Iran can trust and respect as a symbol of America’s commitment to freedom and democracy."[37]
Published books[edit]
- The Call from Algeria: Third Worldism, Revolution, and the Turn to Islam, Berkeley: University of California Press (1996), ISBN 978-0-520-20301-3
Selected published articles[edit]
- Robert Malley, The Gaza time bomb, The International Herald Tribune, January 21, 2008
- Robert Malley & Hussein Agha, "Middle East Triangle", The Washington Post, January 17, 2008
- Robert Malley & Hussein Agha, "The Road from Mecca", New York Review of Books, May 10, 2007
- Robert Malley, "Forget Pelosi. What About Syria?", The Los Angeles Times, April 11, 2007
- Robert Malley & Henry Siegman, "The Hamas Factor", The International Herald-Tribune, December 27, 2006
- Robert Malley & Peter Harling, "Containing a Shiite symbol of hope", The Christian Science Monitor, October 24, 2006
- Robert Malley, "Mideast: Avoiding failure with Hamas", The International Herald-Tribune, April 10, 2006
- Robert Malley & Gareth Evans, "How to Curb the Tension in Gaza", The Financial Times, July 5, 2006
- Robert Malley & Peter Harling, "The enemy we hardly know", The Boston Globe, March 19, 2006
- Robert Malley, "Making the Best of Hamas' Victory", Common Ground News Service, March 2, 2006
- Robert Malley & Hussein Agha, "Hamas has arrived - but there are limits to its advance", The Guardian, January 24, 2006
- Robert Malley & Hussein Agha, "A durable Middle East peace: Oslo didn't achieve it, nor has the Bush "road map." So what would satisfy both sides?",American Prospect, November 1, 2003
- Robert Malley & Hussein Agha, "Camp David and After: An Exchange (A Reply to Ehud Barak)", New York Review of Books, June 13, 2002
- Robert Malley, "Rebuilding a Damaged Palestine", The New York Times, May 7, 2002
- Robert Malley, "Playing into Sharon's Hands", The New York Times, January 25, 2002
- Robert Malley & Hussein Agha, "Camp David: The Tragedy of Errors", New York Review of Books, August 9, 2001
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