Trump NSA appointee placed on leave a day after being sworn in
WASHINGTON (NYTIMES) – The Biden administration on Wednesday (Jan 20) put Mr Michael Ellis, a Trump loyalist who was sworn in on Tuesday as the top lawyer for the National Security Agency (NSA), on administrative leave, a US official said on Wednesday.
Mr Ellis’ last-minute appointment was ordered over the weekend by Mr Christopher Miller, then the acting defence secretary, prompting Speaker Nancy Pelosi to call for an inspector-general investigation of his selection and request that the Pentagon stop his swearing-in.
The Trump administration, not surprisingly, ignored Ms Pelosi, and Mr Ellis began work on Tuesday. But his work at the NSA lasted less than two full days.
He will remain on administrative leave while his hiring is investigated by the Pentagon’s inspector-general.
His removal was reported earlier on Twitter by CBS News.
Mr Ellis was a former staff member for Representative Devin Nunes of California, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, and an early member of the Trump administration.
He was involved in several high-profile matters, including providing intelligence to Mr Nunes and putting the reconstructed transcript of President Donald Trump’s call with his Ukrainian counterpart in a highly classified computer system.
In November, the Pentagon selected Mr Ellis, then an official on the NSA’s staff, to become its general counsel, a civil service job that does not end with the administration.
The Trump administration officials had asked the Pentagon’s top lawyer to choose Mr Ellis, according to people briefed on the process.
Myriad federal rules are in place to try to prevent political appointees from taking permanent civil service roles, a practice derisively referred to as “burrowing”. Ms Pelosi accused Mr Miller of helping Mr Ellis burrow in.
But he was not immediately installed while his hiring was reviewed by the Office of Personnel Management, and he applied for a new security clearance. That delay frustrated Mr Miller, prompting him to order that Mr Ellis be sworn in.
After the NSA announced on Sunday that it would comply with Mr Miller’s order, Ms Pelosi and other officials called foul.
People familiar with the hiring process said that while Mr Ellis, a Yale-trained lawyer, was a finalist, he did not have the highest score, and that a career official should have been selected for the job.
Mr Ellis will be difficult to fire, although an inspector-general investigation into his appointment could make his removal – or resignation – possible.
However, even if Mr Ellis’ appointment passes muster with the inspector-general, former officials said that the Biden administration does not have to allow him back into the NSA job.
He could be reassigned to a variety of legal posts within the Defence Department, such as reviewing contracts with defence companies or overseeing military construction agreements in far-flung bases.
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