Legal Watchdog Represents Whistleblower in Lawsuit Against Obama Defense Department

While serving as a Pentagon Analyst and White House National Security Council Director, Adam Lovinger questioned lucrative contracts with Trump Campaign Spy Stefan Halper, as well as Long Term Strategy Group, a firm owned by Chelsea Clinton’s friend Jacqueline Newmyer Deal.

“A Trump-supporting Pentagon analyst was stripped of his security clearance by Obama-appointed officials after he complained of questionable government contracts to Stefan Halper, the FBI informant who spied on the Trump presidential campaign.” – Rowan Scarborough, Washington Times

One of the nation’s top non-government organizations (NGO’s) announced it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit in federal court on behalf of former Pentagon analyst and White House National Security Council (NSC) senior director Adam S. Lovinger, whose security clearance was pulled after he raised concerns regarding lucrative government contracts awarded to Stefan Halper. 

Halper was recently identified as a deep-cover informant for the then President Barack Obama administration against President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, as well as Long Term Strategy Group, a consulting firm owned by Chelsea Clinton’s friend Jacqueline Newmyer Deal

The Washington Times reported: According to USASpending.gov, Mr. Halper was paid $411,000 by Washington Headquarters Services on Sept. 26, 2016, for a contract that ran until this past March.”

“The investigation uncovered a string of contracts totaling $11 million [was granted] to D.C. consulting firm Long Term Strategy Group. It is headed by Jacqueline Newmyer Deal, a self-described ‘best friend’ of Chelsea Clinton.”

“Media reports also say Halper once worked for the CIA. But it’s unclear what past Republican presidential campaigns he may have infiltrated on behalf of the boys at Langley. What we do know is that Halper was no friend of Trump. As he was more than happy to tell the folks at the Russian online journal Sputnik.”

Lovinger filed his original complaint in the fall of 2016 just weeks before the Winder. In May 2017, Lovinger’s security clearance was initially suspended by Barbara Westgate, the Director of Washington Headquarters Services and an Obama-appointee. A few months later, the Pentagon’s Consolidated Adjudications Facility (CAF)“issued an unfavorable clearance determination and Mr. Lovinger’s clearance was revoked,” a Defense Department spokesman informed The Washington Times. The CAF is part of the Washington Headquarters Services (WHS) and reports directly to Westgate.

In September 2017, Lovinger filed a whistleblower reprisal complaint against the CAF, which would have determined security clearance eligibility of non-intelligence personnel, Westgate and James H. Baker, the DOD’s Director of Net Assessment who recommended the contract awards to Halper and Long Term Strategy Group.

In December 2017, Lovinger filed a Privacy Act request seeking:

Any and all emails or similar electronic messaging transmissions referencing the word “Lovinger;” whether in the title or body of said communications(s); between May 1, 2017 and present; to, from, or copied to the following individuals:

1. Mr. Edward Fish, Director DoD CAF
2. Mr. Daniel Purtill, Deputy Director DoD CAF
3. Mr. Ronald Freels, Adjudications Directorate Chief.

In March 2018, the DOD responded, treating his request as both a Privacy Act and a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request and admitting it found 75 pages of responsive documents but was withholding them all in their entirety. Lovinger was informed that Fish, against whom the whistleblower complaint had been filed, had also been the official who determined the documents should be withheld.

In April 2018, Lovinger appealed the DOD’s determination. Over four months later, the appeal has not been addressed. Washington Headquarters Services has refused repeated requests to recuse itself from further involvement in this case despite an apparent conflict of interest. Under existing DOD policy, WHS officials reporting to Westgate will be the final arbiter of Lovinger’s case, which cannot be appealed to the courts.

Also, the DOD has yet to comply with Lovinger’s Privacy Act Request.

Before his work on the NSC, Lovinger was a strategic affairs analyst in the Office of Net Assessment at the Pentagon, where he specialized in issues related to U.S.-India relations, the Persian Gulf, and sub-Saharan Africa. He also is an attorney and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service and McCort School of Public Policy.

“Mr. Lovinger was targeted because he blew the whistle on Stefan Halper and a Clinton crony getting suspicious Defense contracts,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “It is disturbing that the Defense Department may now be implicated in Spygate targeting of President Trump.”