Since these referrals are for Title 5 employees and not political employees, it should not be surprising to anyone doing their homework that they are not being processed in the public domain. Case law regarding processing personnel matters deemed "state secrets," date back to 1876, some 71-years before the CIA was established. The most recent SCOTUS ruling in this domain was in 2022. All cases recognize the government's interests in keeping its secrets, secret, even when civil and criminal matters come to light. The processes of spying are more than stealing military information and the like. It was assumed that the "outing," of Valerie Plame as a CIA Officer working under the cover of being an AID employee, probably cost her contacts their freedom, if not their lives. CIA guards the names and status of even low-ranking employees. Information on employees doing the "grunt work," of an agency might be important to connecting the agency to acts it needs kept secret. The report I read suggests these referrals started during the Trump Presidency. So, it is the processing of the paperwork, not the reported possible Conflicts of Interest that may be in question. America's interests will not be served by public disclosures of what may have happened in these cases.
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