Opinion ID: 168767
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Authority to Review Security Clearance Decisions

Text: 12 Dr. Hall contends that Dugway retaliated against him by reinvestigating, suspending, and recommending revocation of his security clearance. The ARB declined to review these actions because it concluded that it lacked authority to do so. We agree with the Board that it lacked authority to review the Army's determinations regarding Dr. Hall's security clearance. 13 As the Supreme Court explained in Egan, security clearance decisions are made pursuant to constitutional authority vested in the Executive Branch. Egan, 484 U.S. at 527, 108 S.Ct. 818. Allowing an individual access to national secrets involves a sensitive and inherently discretionary judgment call ... committed by law to the appropriate agency of the Executive Branch. Id. This discretion stems from the President's role as the Commander-in-Chief; executive authority to classify and control access to information bearing on national security and to determine whether an individual is sufficiently trustworthy to access secured information flows primarily from this constitutional investment of power in the President. Id. Because a determination to grant or revoke a clearance is based on a prediction of an individual's potential to compromise sensitive information, it is not reasonably possible for an outside nonexpert body to review the substance of such a judgment and to decide whether the agency should have been able to make the necessary affirmative prediction with confidence. Id. at 529, 108 S.Ct. 818; see also Hill v. Dep't of Air Force, 844 F.2d 1407, 1411 (10th Cir.1988) (explaining that the substance of security clearance judgments includes both the merits and motives of the executive decision and the nexus between those decisions and national security interests). Ultimately, therefore, because of both the executive's constitutional supremacy and expertise in this area and outside authorities' lack of competence to evaluate these decisions, neither agencies nor courts have authority to review the merits of the denial of a security clearance absent a clear statutory directive from Congress. Id. at 529-30, 108 S.Ct. 818 (holding Merit Systems Protection Board has no statutory authority to review the Navy's substantive decision to revoke a civilian employee's security clearance); see also Beattie v. Boeing Co., 43 F.3d 559, 565 (10th Cir.1994) (stating that Egan's application to the Merit Systems Protection Board of the rule that security-clearance decisions are the province of the Executive Branch also applies to federal courts). 14 The Army's investigation, suspension, and recommended revocation of Dr. Hall's security clearance were all taken pursuant to this unique executive authority. Determining whether there was a retaliatory motive behind the challenged actions would have required the Board to examine the legitimacy of the Army's proffered reasons and the merits of the revocation decision. Because Egan held that such scrutiny is an impermissible intrusion by a non-expert body into the authority of the Executive Branch over matters of national security, we agree with the ARB's conclusion that Dr. Hall's claim of retaliatory revocation of his security clearance is unreviewable. 15 Dr. Hall argues, however, that the holding in Egan is confined to the specific statutory scheme at issue in that case—the authority granted to the Merit Systems Protection Board under the Civil Service Reform Act, 5 U.S.C. § 1201 et seq. —and that because he brought his claim under the employee protection provisions of various environmental statutes, Egan is not controlling. We disagree. Notwithstanding the factual incongruity, the principles underlying Egan are equally applicable here. The whistleblower protection laws passed by Congress do not alter the constitutional order, recognized in Egan, that gives the Executive Branch the responsibility to make national security determinations. Because of the discretionary nature of the decision to withhold a security clearance and the constitutional delegation of the obligation to protect national security to the Executive Branch, the Board may inject itself into the sensitive issue of security clearance review only where Congress expressly grants it authority to do so. See Becerra v. Dalton, 94 F.3d 145, 149 (4th Cir.1996) (holding that unless Congress specifically has provided otherwise, courts may not subject the Navy's decision to revoke a plaintiff's security clearance to judicial scrutiny). The environmental statutes upon which Dr. Hall bases his claim do not provide this authority. 16 Dr. Hall also seeks to distinguish Egan by suggesting that we need not review the merits of the Army's ultimate revocation decision, as the petitioner requested in Egan. Rather, he argues that we need only consider the security clearance decisions to determine whether they constitute evidence of retaliatory motive or that they contributed to Dr. Hall's constructive discharge. Dr. Hall argues for a distinction without a difference. To review the circumstances under which the Army recommended revocation of Dr. Hall's security clearance for evidence of retaliation is to review the basis of the determination itself, regardless of how the issue is characterized. The inquiry goes to the very heart of the `protection of classified information [that] must be committed to the broad discretion of the agency responsible.' Becerra, 94 F.3d at 149 (quoting Egan, 484 U.S. at 529, 108 S.Ct. 818) (alteration in original) (declining to review the reasons why the Navy instigated an investigation into the plaintiff's security clearance). This is precisely what Egan prohibits. See Hill, 844 F.2d at 1411 (explaining that Egan prohibits review of merits and motives of agency decisions relating to clearance decisions). Indeed, other courts have consistently applied Egan to cases involving antidiscrimination legislation similar to the environmental whistleblower protections at issue here for the same reasons. See Hill v. White, 321 F.3d 1334, 1335-36 (11th Cir.2003) (discrimination action brought under Title VII and Rehabilitation Act); Hesse v. Dep't of State, 217 F.3d 1372, 1377 (Fed.Cir.2000) (whistleblower discrimination brought under Civil Service Reform Act); Weber v. United States, 209 F.3d 756, 759-60 (D.C.Cir.2000) (whistleblower discrimination brought under Civil Service Reform Act); Perez v. F.B.I., 71 F.3d 513, 514 (5th Cir.1995) (retaliation brought under Title VII); Brazil v. U.S. Dep't of Navy, 66 F.3d 193, 196 (9th Cir.1995) (race discrimination brought under Title VII); Becerra, 94 F.3d at 149 (national origin discrimination brought under Title VII); Guillot v. Garrett, 970 F.2d 1320, 1324-26 (4th Cir. 1992) (disability discrimination brought under Rehabilitation Act). In each case, the court held that absent express statutory authority to review security clearance decisions, it would violate the principles of Egan to review the employee's claim that the security clearance process or decision was discriminatory or retaliatory. 17 Finally, Dr. Hall asserts that the ARB erred in failing to recognize that it has the power to review the agency's decision for compliance with procedural requirements. It is true that courts are not precluded from reviewing a claim that an agency violated statutory or regulatory procedures when revoking or denying a security clearance. See Duane v. U.S. Dep't of Defense, 275 F.3d 988, 993 (10th Cir.2002); Hill, 844 F.2d at 1412. To this end, Dr. Hall argues that procedural deficiencies in Dugway's decision-making process give rise to an inference of retaliation. This argument fails for two reasons. First, Dr. Hall makes no clear, substantiated allegation, nor provides any relevant record citations, indicating that the Army failed to follow its own procedural rules in revoking the security clearance. Furthermore, even if he did, what Dr. Hall essentially asks this Court to do is precisely what Egan makes clear is prohibited: to probe the legitimacy of the Army's motives to reach an outcome on the merits of Dugway's decision. 18