- The National Security Agency General Counsel installed by Trump was put on administrative leave the day after he began his function, due to a general investigation by the Department of Defense inspector, CNN reported.
- Michael Ellis’s inauguration just before President Joe Biden took office has sparked criticism that the Trump administration was trying to bury a loyalist in a civilian position.
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Michael Ellis, the general advisor to the National Security Agency who was installed the day before President Joe Biden took office, is now on administrative leave because the Department of Defense inspector general is investigating his appointment, CNN reported.
Last week, acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller told the NSA chief to install Ellis as general counsel until 6 pm Saturday. The next day, the agency said it was moving forward with Ellis’ installation and announced that he would start the day before Biden took office.
“Mr. Ellis accepted his final job offer yesterday afternoon. The NSA is moving forward with his job,” an NSA official told Insider on Sunday.
Legal experts in national security criticized the effort to put Ellis in office just days before a new government took over.
The position of the NSA general council is not a political one, but a civil servant, which means it will be more difficult for the next Biden government to fire him. However, the new president can easily transfer him to a less important position.
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also criticized the move and on Monday sent a letter to Miller demanding that he “immediately cease” Ellis’ inauguration.
“The circumstances and timing – immediately after President Trump’s defeat in the election – of Ellis’ choice and this last-minute effort to push that position in the last three days of this administration are highly suspect,” wrote Pelosi.
On Wednesday, a DoD spokesman told Insider that they did not comment on the open investigations, and an NSA spokesman said that they did not comment on personal issues.
Ellis’s appointment came shortly after President-elect Joe Biden’s projection to win the 2020 election in November. During the same month, the Washington Post reported that Democrats sens. Mark Warner and Jack Reed asked the Pentagon’s inspector general to investigate Ellis’s appointment based on “improper political influence”.
Read More: I entered the immense security bubble of the United States Capitol to cover the most surreal presidential inauguration of my life. Here’s what I saw.
“The combination of opportunity, the candidate’s comparative lack of experience, the reported qualifications of the other finalists and press reports about the White House’s involvement create a perception that political influence or considerations may have played an undue role in a public service based on the merit selection process, “Warner and Reed wrote in a letter in November, CNN reported.
Ellis’s choice also came when nearly a dozen senior government officials were fired, forced to resign or resign in protest, with President Donald Trump conducting a political purge at the Department of Defense.
Ellis served as Chief Advisor to Rep. Devin Nunes, who is loyal to Trump. Concerns over its installation concern helping Nunes gain access to intelligence documents in 2017 that helped Trump politically attack Democrats, the Post reported.