The Jailbird Architect of Obama's Global Warming Plan

When President Obama announced an unprecedented effort by the EPA to strong-arm states into adopting cap-and-trade, he made the announcement not by focusing on the benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but rather on the so-called co-benefits that closing coal plants will have on particulate matter, which is already tightly regulated. These purported co-benefits are based on two secret studies that have never been publicly validated. Amazingly, the architect of this co-benefits strategy is a long-time EPA staffer named John Beale, now known as federal inmate number 33005-016 and locked up for fraud at Cumberland Federal Correctional Institution.

For nearly two decades, John Beale could do no wrong at the EPA even though he did no work. He flew around the world pretending to be a CIA agent and bilking taxpayers, according to his guilty plea, out of $900,000. While the media played the Beale story mostly for laughs, researchers in Senator David Vitter's office did the serious investigative work of figuring out why Beale walked on water at the EPA.

What they discovered was that Beale was hired by his good friend Robert Brenner even though he "had no legislative or environmental policy experience and wandered between jobs at a small-town law firm, a political campaign, and an apple farm."

Beale's 2013 mugshot

Born
1948

Nationality
United States

Occupation
Climate policy expert with the EPA

Criminal penalty
32 months in prison, fined $1.4 million

Spouse(s)
Nancy Kete

Conviction(s)
Felony theft of government property

Given Beale’s degree of travel in his work for the EPA, there were rumors that he was a “secret agent”. Beginning in 2000, Beale began skipping work on occasional Wednesdays with “D.O. Oversight” noted on his calendar on nine days throughout 2000, and continuing many times until his retirement in 2011.

In his 2013 deposition, Beale recalled the first time speaking with someone about these skipped days. Beale said that he told Jeffrey Holmstead, then assistant administrator at the Office of Air and Radiation, that Beale was working for the CIA, and that these days were spent working for the CIA’s Directorate of Operations (now the National Clandestine Service). Beale would later admit that during these days he was at home reading or exercising.

In 2002, Beale was given a subsidized parking space because he had led his coworkers to believe that he had contracted malaria during the Vietnam War. Beale held the space until June 2005, costing a total of $8,000. He in fact never had malaria, and did not serve in Vietnam. Beale was familiar with the symptoms of the disease from his time as medic in the army, treating soldiers in the United States.

From 2005 to 2007, Beale claimed to be working on an EPA research project and drew $57,235 in travel expenses to Los Angeles, where he was in fact visiting family in nearby Bakersfield. The travel expenses covered first-class flights and stays in high-end hotels. For a period of six months in 2008, Beale did not report to work for the EPA under the guise of his CIA work, but continued to draw his salary from the EPA. Beale retired from the EPA in 2011, throwing a boat party on the Potomac River in September that was attended by his boss, Gina McCarthy, now the administrator of the EPA.

Despite the retirement, Beale continued to draw his salary, and the temporary bonus that was supposed to cease in 2003 continued to be paid through 2013. By the time of his retirement, Beale was the highest paid employee in the EPA, making more than administrator McCarthy.

In November 2012, an EPA HR employee discovered that Beale was still drawing his salary and temporary bonus following his retirement, and brought the issue to the attention of Gina McCarthy. McCarthy exchanged several emails with Beale about the issue, to which he responded that he was still engaged in work with the CIA. In late December 2012, a Homeland Security employee that worked as the liaison for the EPA to the intelligence community made contact with Beale, saying that they had no record of Beale ever having worked for the CIA.

On January 7, 2013, McCarthy met with Beale at her office, detailing that the EPA would require documentation of Beale’s work with the CIA. Beale reported that he would work on it, but a month later reported that the CIA would not acknowledge his work with them. McCarthy responded “that puts you in a really bad position, doesn’t it?”

Mark Kaminsky, an investigator for the Office of the Inspector General, began to look into the case in February 2013. Beale initially refused to answer questions, and his colleagues at the EPA only had glowing reviews of his work there. Kaminsky noted that Beale was atypical in that “he lied across all aspects of his life,” even finding emails with his wife that kept up the lie. Kaminsky ultimately proved that Beale was lying by showing that at times he reported to be overseas engaged in CIA operations, he was in fact making domestic cell phone calls. He was also able to confirm with the CIA that Beale never did any work there. In a subsequent meeting, Beale admitted to his crimes. Kaminsky and Beale counted up a total of nearly two and a half years of work that he had missed under the ruse of working for the CIA. He entered a guilty plea on September 27, 2013 to felony theft of government property, and submitted a check to the court for $886,186. The amount included $437,901 in fraudulent retention bonuses and $58,127 for the “D.O. Oversight” days, among other fraudulent earnings. Beale also agreed to a punitive criminal forfeiture of $507,207 for a total payment of $1,393,393.

On December 18, 2013, Beale was sentenced to 32 months in prison, two years of supervised release, and 100 hours of community service for each of those two years.

Fake CIA agent helped craft sweeping environmental rules while at EPA

Republicans seek review of John Beale’s work while at agency

A former high-ranking EPA staffer convicted of stealing nearly $900,000 by pretending to be a CIA spy had virtually no experience, got his job with help from a college buddy, and went on to play a key role in sweeping environmental regulations, according to a report Senate Republicans released Wednesday.

Those regulations remain in place despite John C. Beale’s lack of environmental expertise, Republican investigators said, adding that they want the Environmental Protection Agency to review the work in which Beale was involved during his 24-year tenure.

The report said Beale led an “itinerant life” as a police officer and a physical therapist in California before heading to Princeton University in the 1970s. It was at Princeton, the report said, where Beale befriended Robert Brenner, who later would become the EPA’s deputy assistant administrator.

“Rather than recruit someone with the requisite experience, Brenner sought out Beale in what appears to be a decision based solely on their personal friendship rather than any experience or credentials,” said conclusions of the report by Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/19/republicans-seek-review-of-john-beales-work-while-/#ixzz35fTJAyCa

Report: EPA official approved CIA impersonator John Beale expenses and pay

Another high-level EPA staffer has been caught up in the John Beale CIA impersonator scandal.

Beth Craig approved fraudulent time and travel vouchers for Beale for a decade, costing the federal government $184, 193.32, according to an inspector general report obtained by the Loop.

Craig, director of Climate Protection Partnerships at the Office of Air and Radiation (OAR) approved unwarranted time and expenses for agency policy adviser John C. Beale, who masqueraded as a CIA agent to steal in total $900,000 in government pay, bonuses and expenses. Beale pleaded guilty in September and was sentenced to 32 months in prison.

The Washington Post reported in December that there would be an investigation into a “woman of interest” for “possible administrative misconduct” related to the case.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/in-the-loop/wp/2014/04/30/report-epa-official-guilty-of-letting-cia-impersonator-john-beale-collect-pay-travel-expenses/

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