Wayne Simmons claimed to be something of an American James Bond, and if you watched TV or ran his name through Google, you’d have no reason to doubt him. In his public speaking engagements and frequent appearances on Fox News, the purported former CIA operative spoke authoritatively about terrorism and clandestine intelligence operations, which he claimed he helped run for nearly three decades.
“Nobody knew who I was,” Simmons said at one event. “Nobody was allowed to know who I was.”
But according to federal prosecutors, his claims of a 27-year career with the CIA were lies, and it was only by repeating such falsehoods that Simmons was able to briefly get actual security clearances and real government contracting work in more recent years.
On Thursday, federal authorities arrested Simmons and charged him with making false statements, major fraud against the United States and wire fraud.
Neighbors and others who knew him said they were shocked by the news — and still wondered whether their friend might have been telling the truth.
So is this guy a liar or is he so deep in special ops we can’t find him?
This story sickens me. He was that guy? Doesn’t sound like it.
Is this a case of repeating the lie so many times you start believing it yourself?
And now, let’s hear from that Faux News expert witness Wayne Simmons has to say about President Obama and his role in combatting terrorism:
With the Faux News team, its easy to see why ratty haired old women as presidential candidates about that Muslim president. It’s easy to see where this ignorance comes from. How do they find their experts?
Never seen him on Fox.
Ah ha! Was that an admission of being a SFNW? (sneak faux news watcher)
You mean Simmons lied to the USG about nearly 30 years on the CIA payroll, and the USG didn’t check that out in its own files BEFORE giving him a security clearance and contract counterterrorism jobs? Maybe the USG ought to fire itself for incompetence.
Perhaps. Welcome back, Wolve. You have been missed.
I do not even channel surf with Fox anymore but did tune in the other day while on xm radio – and the crap that was coming out of their mouths as ‘news’ was total false hoods. The morning team certainly do act as dumb idiots.
@Moon-howler
No…it was an admission of rarely watching Fox.
@Wolve
Welcome back! Missed you. I hope all is well.
And you are absolutely right!
wolve – can you provide me the link that says he had a security clearance? The best that I can find is that he had an interim clearance provided by a contractor and the actual request is where this indictment came from.
Pat —That makes no difference. If a candidate for a security clearance gives you a background story like the one Simmons gave, you don’t just buy it at face value and issue an “interim” clearance to sensitive classified data (implied from his claimed positions). You do some checking with your USG partners right off the bat. All I have to go on are the news stories quoted here and elsewhere that he was given a temporary clearance and then contract assignments with USG entities. Those news reports, allegedly drawn from the indictment data, read as if this was fact and not part of the Simmons story. It looks to me like the guy might…repeat might have been in Afghanistan in 2010 as a contract advisor to US flag officers. But, what the hey, the newsies may be as much out to sea now as the USG appears to have been back then.
Likely gross incompetence all round in my view. In fact, the first check would have been the easiest of all. The guy claims that he joined the US Navy in 1973 and then was recruited from there into the clandestine paramilitary forces. The Navy has now come out and stated that there is no record of Simmons having ever been in the Navy. I ask you, how easy would it have been to check with the Navy back then? In fact, if the guy had claimed to have been an officer in the Navy, it could have been checked in the appropriate books in minutes. Presume the same goes for enlisted. Bingo! A big fat lie right from the start.
Blame Fox News? Why did it seemingly take from 2002 all the way to 2010 for somebody in the USG to say “Hey, wait a minute here!” The guy has the entire “background” on his website and even wrote a spy novel using his alleged experience.
Now, keeping this in mind, ponder over how much true vetting the thousands of Syrian war refugees get or will get here in order to keep out ISIS or al-Qaeda plants. The head of that department at DHS has admitted in public that we have no intelligence databases to draw upon for that vetting either here or in Syria. Ergo (1) the vetting, if done honestly, will drag on and on and on; or (2) the vetters will panic under pressure from Washington and start letting things slip through — not unlike the internal security clearance mess we uncovered a couple of years ago in the midst of the Snowden affair.
Good luck to us.
The story seems to be getting scarier. Why do I expect the media to do a bettr job of vetting than the govt?
Oh — Never heard of him.
@Wolve
oh, thanks wolve – which is why I want to know more about what clearance he actually had, if any. The contractor may not have been able to verify his employment – possibly – so it is not all on the contractor. But I can find no information that he actually had a clearance. Do you know if he was granted a TS/SCI?
Pat — So far I only know what I have read in the “papers.” And that isn’t much yet. I have noticed some news reports that the USG authorities awoke to this situation when people with whom Simmons was working began to opine aloud that he had never been in the positions he claimed to have been in. That says to me that he must have been in jobs with clearance and access, working with people with backgrounds in “the business.” But, it’s still too much of an informational muddle.
This plus the Snowden thing makes me think that the USG security clearance process for contractors especially went haywire at some point during our frantic response to 9/11 and may never have recovered.
I watch Fox News and must admit…. never seen this guy before. Is this really worthy of coverage?
I don’t know maybe? Just kinda telling I suppose. No other story about disgraced NBC, MSNBC or this like, contributors or even ancor liars and counterfeits doesn’t even get a mention let alone an entire thread dedicated to them.
Jackson, you should know that I think Faux News is the anti-Christ of “news.” You know this. Why are you trying to throw in others? I haven’t seen a word about this dude on MSNBC or NBC or ABC or CBS or CNN. The footage and dramatics are right there for all to see.
@Jackson Bills
I have to disagree here. We have had some real problems in the last decade or more with the security clearance process, most likely because we have been overwhelmed by the need to recruit heavily for the battle against terrorism. Somebody needs to be spanked for these mistakes so that everybody in the business gets a wake up call.
Thus far, it looks to me like a guy with a very glib tongue and some book knowledge managed to sucker the vetters into skipping over the necessary vetting procedures, not to mention reportedly suckering an ex-SecDef and some miitary flag officers as well as Fox News. That is in no way acceptable no matter how much of a rush you may be in to process the stack of applicants on your desk. That kind of sloppy work can get people killed.
I think you just got to the heart of the matter, Wolve. As much as I like poking a stick at Fox News, the real story is that this wind bag managed to fool so many people with out proper vetting. It crosses all political lines.
You said it best, sloppy work that gets people killed.
Apparently he was able to get a position as a Human Terrain System Team Leader – but did not make it out of training. He then used this position as a vetting to get another position where he actually was deployed overseas – as a military intelligence advisor. Very sad that the vetting process did not validate his story. I can find no detail that he ever received a true security clearance – just an interim one.
I don’t know if I would characterize this as a failure of the system. As far as I can tell the system worked exactly as it’s currently designed to work. A secret clearance is ridiculously easy to get, basically if you’re not a convicted felon and have clean credit you’re going to be granted interim secret. An interim TS is somewhat harder and requires a favorable review of investigation, and his lies would have likely been exposed during this process. An interim SCI is extremely rare, and requires a senior official in the IC to personally stick his neck out for the applicant.
Yes, I know you do not like Fox News. I watch Fox News but I will admit that my guilty pleasure is watching Morning Joe when I can (or at least have it on in the background). The coverage they do on Hillary Clinton is probably the best among all of the networks.
Even Mika and most of the liberal panel bash Clinton. It’s great TV!
I was just asking if you call Fox News ‘Faux News’ what do you call a channel that hires, as it’s top ‘news’ ancor, someone who has lied on air for YEARS about news? Not only did he lie but it’s on tape and he even admitted he lied over and over and over and over….
Who? O’Reilly? I wouldn’t brand him a liar…he is no worse than many others.
I have gotten so I can’t stand Joe Scarsborough. He is rude and interrupts. He talks over his guest. He makes way too much money for his contribution.
You must be watching a different Morning Joe than I am. I haven’t seen a liberal panel. I mostly see moderates or conservatives.