EPA climate change analyst caught running phony CIA scheme

Thursday, January 02, 2014 by: J. D. Heyes
Tags: Environmental Protection Agency, climate change analyst, CIA scheme

(NaturalNews) Some government officials have "agent envy," apparently. Even though they work for Uncle Sam, not all federal employees are created equal.

That could be why one Environmental Protection Agency employee faked being a CIA agent for years. Either that, or - he's just a lunatic. Whatever he is, he's going to wind up in jail - no thanks to our clueless and inept (and bloated) federal government. As reported by Breitbart News:

In another case of glaring government ineptitude, the [EPA] allowed one of its leading climate change experts to defraud taxpayers for nearly $1 million in salary. Moreover, he was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in unearned bonuses and expenses for five-star hotels and limos.

And it only took several years to figure out that the guy was a fraud.

'Reckless, risky behavior'

Breitbart identified the EPA expert as John C. Beale, noting that he was able to deceive "gullible supervisors" for some time after concocting a wild story that he was actually on a secret mission for the nation's foremost spy agency, leaving him unable to fulfill what were no doubt his much more mundane EPA duties as a climate guy.

At one point, Beale actually led United Nations climate change conferences, but now the only group he will lead will be prison psych meetings: He was sentenced recently in federal court in the nation's capital.

NBC News called Beale - who pleaded guilty in September - the agency's highest-paid employee. Prosecutors in the case said his lies were a "crime of massive proportion" and "offensive" to those who actually do dangerous work for the CIA.

His defense lawyer painted Beale's crimes as perhaps psychiatric in nature.

"With the help of his therapist," wrote attorney John Kern, "Mr. Beale has come to recognize that, beyond the motive of greed, his theft and deception were animated by a highly self-destructive and dysfunctional need to engage in excessively reckless, risky behavior." He also said his client was motivated "to manipulate those around him through the fabrication of grandiose narratives ... that are fueled by his insecurities."

Reports went on to say that Beale served as a "senior policy analyst" for the EPA and would not show up for work for long periods of time. The lapses included one 18-month span in which he did "absolutely no work," which was confirmed by Kern in court filings on behalf of his client.

To be sure, Beale had no connection whatsoever to the CIA, other than that they both worked for the federal government. Most of the time, during CIA "missions," Beale was loafing - riding his bike, reading books, working on his Virginia home or enjoying himself at a vacation home in the elitist Cape Cod, Mass.

And all at taxpayer expense.

"He's never been to Langley (the CIA's Virginia-based headquarters)," EPA Assistant Inspector General Patrick Sullivan said. "The CIA has no record of him ever walking through the door."

'They don't think like criminal investigators'

More from Breitbart:

New reports by the EPA Inspector General's office concluded that top officials "enabled" Beale by not verifying any of his bogus accounts of where he was during his long absences. One story that Beale concocted was that he had to fly to Pakistan to help rescue another CIA agent from being tortured by the Taliban. "Due to recent events that you have probably read about, I am in Pakistan," he wrote in a December 18, 2010 email. "Got the call Thurs and left Fri. Hope to be back for Christmas ....Ho, ho, ho."

In another instance, during the 2008 election year, Beale did not report for work for six months. He claimed that he was part of a CIA "candidate security" project, a deception that cost taxpayers $57,000 for five trips to California, which his lawyer confessed were made for purely "personal reasons."

One report claimed that Beale flew over 33 times - and mostly first class - between 2003 and 2011, staying in the best hotels while living large to the tune of $266,190 in fraudulent expenditures. Every one of his expense vouchers were immediately approved by another EPA official who is now also under investigation.

Not even the scope of this fraud at the EPA surprised Sullivan.

"There's a certain culture here at the EPA where the mission is the most important thing," he confessed. "They don't think like criminal investigators. They tend to be very trusting and accepting."

Sources:

http://www.breitbart.com

http://investigations.nbcnews.com

http://www.slate.com