Opinion ID: 711029
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Second Vindication

Text: 17 With the closure of the de novo review, it appeared that the Pilons had put this matter behind them. In November 1989, however, the Department released O.P.R.'s 1988 Annual Report to the Attorney General (the Report), which published the allegations for the first time. According to the Report: 18 Representative examples of misconduct investigated by the Office are as follows: 19 (1) A Departmental attorney holding a high security clearance was the subject of a foreign counterintelligence investigation. The information indicated that the employee may have been involved in the disclosure of classified information to a foreign government. The investigation did not develop sufficient evidence to support a prosecution, but did discover that sufficient cause existed to terminate his political appointment. The employee resigned prior to the initiation of removal proceedings. 20 Office of Professional Responsibility, Department of Justice, Annual Report to the Attorney General (1988) 6, available in Joint Appendix at 53, 60. Though the Report did not expressly identify Pilon, members of the press learned his name almost at once, and news stories detailing the investigation and its alleged results as set forth in the Report appeared the next day. 21 Pilon immediately requested that the inaccuracies in the Report be corrected. In response, Attorney General Thornburgh directed Deputy Attorney General Donald B. Ayer to investigate the matter. That investigation was completed in early 1990, at which time Ayer wrote to the Pilons' attorney, stating: 22 I have concluded that, although the Report did not name your client, Roger Pilon, as the subject of the investigation in question, he in fact was the subject, information which later became public. Mr. Pilon is entitled to an apology because of two errors contained in the report and the accompanying publicity. First, contrary to the statement in the third sentence in the relevant paragraph of the report, the investigation of Mr. Pilon did not produce sufficient evidence to warrant his dismissal. Mr. Pilon was invited to return to his former post unconditionally. Second, contrary to the statement in the fourth and final statement in the paragraph, Mr. Pilon did not resign in the face of imminent removal proceedings. 23 We regret the mistakes contained in the OPR Report. 24 The Department further deeply regrets any pain or inconvenience that the passage in the OPR Report may have caused Mr. and Mrs. Pilon. 25