Opinion ID: 1960972
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Testimony of Charles Brady

Text: Charles Brady, a special agent in charge of the Field Office in Cincinnati, testified at the hearing. He read, in part, from a report of an investigation into an incident arising out of a relationship that Beckman had with another USSS agent. Brady confirmed that Beckman was assigned to the Ford detail in 1986, and to the Presidential detail in April 1987. He pointed out that the claim that Beckman experienced problems due to separations from family in 1986 conflicted with his claim form on which he reported that the first incident of mental incapacitation was August 1988. Brady testified that he received a call alleging that a female special agent had left threatening telephone messages on the caller's home answering machine. He said that this female agent admitted to a personal, romantic relationship with Beckman which she had ended. According to Brady, the agent reported that Beckman had struck her across the back of the head. Brady recounted that in November 1997, the Office of Inspection of USSS opened an investigation into the allegations of stalking by the female special agent. According to Brady, the relationship had been going on since December 1994, and the female agent ended it on September 3, 1996. In July 1997, the agent and Beckman had a confrontation in the office because she had called his wife. Brady also acknowledged that the report showed that this agent was deceptive on two polygraphs tests. Finally, Brady confirmed Beckman's dual function with the Task Force and protective intelligence cases and advance. Brady said that Beckman was not used on the Violent Crimes Task Force often until after the inauguration in January 1997. He described Beckman's duties consistently with Beckman's testimony.
The Board determined, based upon a preponderance of the evidence, that Beckman is disabled due to a major depression, with a functional impairment of 50 per cent and that his disability has rendered him incapable of performing useful and efficient service in the assigned duties of the United States Secret Service, pursuant to D.C.Code § 4-607(2)(1981). However, the Board found that Beckman's psychiatric symptoms were not incurred in or aggravated by the performance of his duties pursuant to D.C.Code §§ 4-615, -616. The Board reasoned that [Beckman] has not sustained his burden of proving that his psychological symptoms developed from a specific incident or that they were predominantly or causally related to the performance of his duties and responsibilities as a special agent. The record shows that [Beckman] was unable to deal with and balance the normal stresses of his position as special agent with his personal responsibilities and family issues. The Board concluded that Beckman had failed to show that his duties as a special agent were uncommon or unusual as compared to the responsibilities of other special agents. It found significant the absence of a specific incident occurring between 1986, the date on which Dr. Filson stated that Beckman began to develop symptoms of depression, and 1988, when Dr. Filson said that Beckman's depression escalated while on a Presidential detail. The Board also found that the 1988 threats incident was not related to Beckman's duties, but was simply an emotional reaction to the administrative sanctions imposed for his conduct. The Board found significant that Beckman did not seek and was not given treatment following this incident until he saw Dr. Baum in 1997, and that Beckman did not report any psychiatric or physical conditions in answer to questionnaires completed for his job in January 1989 and December 1989. Beckman performed his duties with distinction, according to the Board's findings. The Board dismissed Dr. Filson's opinion that Beckman became depressed over his separation from his family and obsessed with the dangerous aspects of his work with the comment that these issues involved administrative aspects of his job and personal and family concerns. Therefore, the Board concluded that Beckman had failed to show that his symptoms were due to anything more than the inner workings of his personality. It found that Beckman failed to show that his duties on the Violent Crime Task Force or during his career were uncommon or unusual as compared to other special agents. It rejected the theory of aggravation of a preexisting condition because Dr. Filson had stated that the records did not show any pre-existing psychiatric illness or personality disorder prior to August 1997. Further, the Board found that the factors [Beckman] cites as causing his mental condition, i.e., duty assignments, leave status and separation from family, are external and tenuously related to his duties and responsibilities as a special agent and are not contemplated by the statutes as causal factors of dutyrelated aggravation.