The State Department grossly mishandled its suspension of scandal-plagued Iran envoy Robert Malley, allowing him to continue accessing classified information and sensitive data after he was disciplined, according to an inspector general report reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.
The department's assistant inspector general gathered congressional staffers Wednesday afternoon for a closed-door briefing on the agency’s missteps after Malley had his security clearance pulled in 2023 for mishandling classified information. The briefing revealed that Malley was permitted to engage in classified activities even after his clearance was pulled, representing a breach of federal protocol, according to attendees. Malley was also treated differently than other employees accused of a major security breach, with the State Department working to shield him from public embarrassment, according to the inspector general report that accompanied the briefing.
Information about Malley’s situation was withheld from senior State Department officials, including his own deputy, according to some who attended the briefing. The inspector general further determined that Malley was still performing his official duties after his security clearance was revoked, again in breach of State Department protocol.
The briefing and accompanying report provide a rare window into Malley's suspension and the circumstances surrounding it. The Iran envoy’s security clearance was originally revoked in late April 2023, but the State Department kept it hidden from public view for more than two months. That process "deviated" from department policy, the inspector general determined.
"The Department deviated from the way that suspensions are typically delivered by delaying notification to Mr. Malley until senior Department officials were apprised of his suspension," according to a copy of the report. "The delay allowed him the opportunity to participate in a classified conference call after the suspension was approved, but before he was notified."
The "secure telephone call" referenced in the report took place on April 21, after Malley’s security clearance was revoked and included White House officials.
In late May, a month after Malley had his clearance revoked, he was included in an email with then-undersecretary for political affairs Victoria Nuland regarding talking points for Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Nuland reported being "unaware of [Malley’s] clearance suspension despite having to work with" him on sensitive matters.
"Special Envoy Malley’s advice was also regularly sought and provided on issues including media talking points and Congressional testimony," investigators found.
The State Department even went so far as to restore Malley’s "access to Sensitive But Unclassified information systems, although such access is usually restricted for individuals in circumstances similar to Mr. Malley," investigators determined. "A key justification for the restoration of access was concern that, if Special Envoy Malley was restricted from accessing his Department email account, he might use a personal email account as his primary means of conducting government business, which is explicitly prohibited by Department policy."
"The lack of supervision of Special Envoy Malley led to significant confusion as to what work Mr. Malley was authorized to do following the suspension," according to the report. "The Department failed to consistently notify employees who regularly interacted with Mr. Malley that he was no longer allowed to access classified information. These conditions likely led to Special Envoy Malley engaging on issues outside the limited scope of issues on which he was authorized to work."
State Department leaders also failed to report the allegations against Malley to the inspector general, as they are required to by law.
Just four days after his clearance was pulled, a senior State Department official lobbied to restore Malley’s access to internal email systems, arguing "that restoring his Department email would permit him to communicate with his ‘team, [government] colleagues and counterparts in other governments,’" according to the inspector general. This decision enabled Malley to access "a substantial amount" of material marked "sensitive but unclassified."
Malley also did not have a direct boss at the State Department, meaning that once his security clearance was revoked, "no department official had day-to-day supervisory oversight and control regarding his work or his participation in classified discussions," according to the report.
The inspector general began investigating the State Department’s handling of the Malley fiasco in July 2023 at the Senate’s request. At least 20 officials from across the agency were interviewed as part of the probe, which also reviewed "numerous internal communications" about Malley’s situation.
In May of that year, Malley was supposed to attend a classified Senate briefing but failed to show up, sparking questions from lawmakers. The State Department claimed at the time that Malley was on extended personal leave, misleading lawmakers about the true nature of his absence.
News of the Malley investigation publicly emerged in June 2023, when it was revealed that the State Department’s internal diplomatic security office was examining his alleged mishandling of classified information.
The investigation was eventually turned over to the FBI, and Malley was placed on indefinite leave from the State Department, with his status remaining unclear ever since. After vacating his government post, Malley accepted two teaching gigs at Yale and Princeton.
The inspector general report says that Malley is still technically the Biden-Harris administration’s Iran envoy and will remain so "until he resigns or is removed by the Department if his security clearance is [permanently] revoked."
The investigation into Malley quickly sparked a firestorm on Capitol Hill, with the House Foreign Affairs Committee accusing the State Department of stonewalling multiple requests for information. The committee, in fact, only learned of Malley’s alleged indiscretion through media reports.
"The Department’s failure to inform Congress of this matter demonstrates at best a lack of candor, and at worst represents deliberate and potentially unlawful misinformation," Rep. Michael McCaul (R., Texas), the committee’s chairman, wrote in a June 2023 letter to the State Department first reported by the Free Beacon.
Since that time, lawmakers have received almost no information from the Biden-Harris administration, making Wednesday’s briefing a topic of much interest among foreign policy leaders in Congress.
The years-long scandal unfolded amid multiple attempts by the Biden-Harris administration to restart diplomacy with Iran, a task that Malley was originally tapped to lead given his close ties to Tehran’s leadership.
He hired several policy analysts for the job, including Ariane Tabatabai, who is now a senior Pentagon official with top-secret security clearance. Tabatabai was identified as a member of a pro-Tehran advocacy network run by Iran’s foreign ministry, adding a layer of intrigue around Malley’s mishandling of classified information.
Some observers, including those on Capitol Hill, suspected that Malley may have leaked classified information to his network of pro-Tehran activists, with it potentially making its way back to the Iranian government.