Brian Murphy (intelligence official)

He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Government from the College of William & Mary, and a Master’s degree in Islamic studies from Columbia University. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps. Murphy began his FBI career in 1998 and worked there for 20 years, culminating in a position responsible for the FBI’s national level counterterrorism programs. He later moved to DHS as Acting Principal Deputy for Intelligence and Analysis, and in May 2020 became Acting Under Secretary for the Office of Intelligence and Analysis.[1] He was removed from that position two months later after it was found his office had compiled dossiers of public information about journalists who were reporting on the George Floyd protests.[4]

Murphy filed a whistleblower complaint[5] in September 2020 alleging episodes of misconduct by top DHS officials. Murphy asserted that DHS secretary Chad Wolf and his deputy Ken Cuccinelli instructed him “to modify intelligence assessments to ensure they matched up with the public comments by President Trump on the subject of ANTIFA and 'anarchist' groups” and to downplay the threat posed by white supremacists. Murphy stated he declined to comply. Murphy also claimed Wolf told him to "cease providing intelligence assessments on the threat of Russian interference in the US, and instead start reporting on interference activities by China and Iran.” Murphy said Wolf told him this directive came from White House national security advisor Robert O'Brien.[6][7]

He had also submitted prior complaints. In early 2020, he had submitted six internal complaints to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence about the way the intelligence program was addressing Russian disinformation. He had also filed two Office of the Inspector General reports about “attempted censorship of intelligence analysis.”[8]

Days before his September 2020 complaint, ABC News reported that DHS had withheld the July release of an intelligence bulletin to law enforcement that warned of Russian efforts to promote “allegations about the poor mental health” of Joe Biden. DHS chief of staff John Gountanis halted the release pending review by secretary Wolf. The bulletin stated that analysts had “high confidence” of the Russian efforts, which were similar to efforts by Trump and his campaign to depict Biden as mentally unfit. A DHS spokesperson said the bulletin was “delayed” because it did not meet the department’s standards. The bulletin had not been released as of the date of the ABC News report. Murphy asserted in his complaint that Wolf told him “the intelligence notification should be ‘held’ because it ‘made the President look bad.’”[9][10]

DHS flatly denied the allegations.They said they expect that any internal investigation by the DHS inspector general will reveal no retaliatory action against Murphy.[11]

• Appearances on C-SPAN