In the category of “no good deed goes unpunished”, an NSA employee filed suit last week in the United States District Court, Northern District of Maryland, against Anne Arundel County, MD and various employees of the agency, including the police chief and members of animal control, for jeopardizing his security clearance over his alleged treatment of a feral cat he cared for. While there probably has been animal cruelty cases in the past that have resulted in security clearance implications, this one took it to the next level by filing against the agency responsible for investigating it.
The Case of the Feral Kitten and NSA Engineer
In 2018, the plaintiff in the matter was a data engineer for NSA. He owned three cats as pets in his apartment. Probably due to his experience and fondness of cats, an acquaintance asked him to take care of a feral cat she had trapped. The plaintiff agreed. But after some struggles, the cat was accidentally killed.
Unfortunately, the cause of death was determined to not be accidental by the animal control agents of the county, and the plaintiff lost his own pets. He was also charged with felony animal cruelty. The charge was based on a necropsy report, the agent’s conversation with the plaintiff, and a social media post on a cat lover’s site that was supposedly incriminating. Fortunately, the plaintiff was acquitted of the charge in December 2018 due to inconsistent statements by agency officials and lack of evidence by the prosecution. But his cats were never returned to him due to care controls demanded by animal control.
It’s All No Big Deal Until There’s a Security Clearance Involved
Unfortunately, the plaintiff also held a TS/SCI clearance, the matter was far from over as to his fate as an employee with NSA because of the criminal charge. His security clearance was revoked in January 2019; however, he appealed the decision and was reinstated that April. However, as is common, the matter is still brought up as investigators continually review his clearance.
The above, obviously only paints one side of the story. However, since his clearance was reinstated and he was acquitted, it appears that while this has been a crazy, once-in-a-lifetime situation, his complaints may have some validity. Whether he can prove enough to prevail in a civil lawsuit remains to be seen.
