Classified information is a very serious matter. Except 99% of the time when it’s not. About the only time that classified information is really a serious issue is when it can be used to raid a certain Florida venue.

The rest of the time it just doesn’t matter. Just ask Rob Malley and an entire administration that covered for him.

The Harris-Biden administration’s suspended Iran envoy Robert Malley may have taken part in a “classified White House-organized” call after his top secret security clearance was frozen over allegations of misconduct, according to the State Department’s internal watchdog.

The watchdog report politely describes this as deviating from normal standards. Much like Al Capone was deviating from normal negotiating procedures.

An official at the heart of the Iran outreach program had multiple State Department officials cover for him, lie on his behalf to Congress and to foreign governments to cover up the fact that he was under FBI investigation.

And it got worse from there.

On April 22, 2023, the State Department notified Malley of his clearance suspension and barred him from accessing the department’s “Sensitive But Unclassified [SBU] information system.”

However, days later, under pressure from senior officials, Malley’s access to sensitive information was restored, as was his access to his State Department email account.

State Department officials told OIG investigators that they believed restoring Malley’s access “presented a low risk” and there were worries the Iran envoy “might resort to using personal email to conduct official business” if the request was denied.

Incredibly, rather than cut off Malley’s access, State Department officials claimed to be worried that he would commit further violations by using his personal email. And sure, they could have asked him not to, but apparently they can’t trust him not to do so, or have no control over him, so they had to restore his access.

This question gets asked often these days, but who is actually running the damn country? Malley apparently. Or his protectors and political allies.

“The lack of supervision of Special Envoy Malley led to significant confusion as to what work Mr. Malley was authorized to do following the suspension,” the report states. “The Department failed to consistently notify employees who regularly interacted with Mr. Malley that he was no longer allowed to access classified information. These conditions likely led to Special Envoy Malley engaging on issues outside the limited scope of issues on which he was authorized to work.”

The correct term is “lied”. They lied to other employees. Or other employees lied about being lied to.

The State Department never reported Malley’s suspension to the OIG, in violation of federal law, investigators found.

The Department of State Authorities Act requires the State Department to report allegations of criminal activity and serious misconduct committed by senior level officials to OIG within 5 business days.

“OIG found that senior Department officials never reported Special Envoy Malley’s security clearance suspension to OIG as required by the Authorities Act,” the report states. “Even after the leadership of [Diplomatic Security] became aware of the allegations against Special Envoy Malley, they still did not report the matter to OIG.”

The special envoy “continued to work for approximately 10 weeks before he was placed on leave without pay and directed to cease working on Department business” the report, which will be released to the public on Thursday, noted.

“Robert Malley, a political appointee and close associate of the secretary, was treated very differently than a civil servant or foreign service officer,” the lawmakers said.

No kidding. Federal law was violated by top officials at the State Department. Will there be any consequences? And more to the point, why did so many officials collude to protect an official under FBI investigation?

How bad is the infiltration of our government by hostile actors?