"The Truth About Hate..."

Former Navy SEAL Brett Jones discusses the importance of the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the continuing breakdown of boundaries for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals during the 2015 Cultural Awareness Day observance, April 10, 2015.

Former SEAL Alleges Anti-gay Harassment In CIA
Brett Jones says he was bullied, called slurs, left outside in hot weather during deployment

The San Diego Union Tribune
By Joshua Stewart
July 28, 2015

A former Navy SEAL who gained national attention for a memoir about being gay in one of the military’s elite communities has filed a complaint, saying he was the victim of homophobic bullying during a June deployment as a CIA contractor.

Brett Jones says when he arrived at his outpost in an undisclosed location in Afghanistan on June 11, he was forced to endure anti-gay bullying, including homophobic slurs, a crass PowerPoint presentation, and snide comments as people watched the news about the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down bans on same-sex marriage.

The atmosphere was so toxic that he feared for his safety and had to return home early, he said.

The anti-gay comments came from a group of contractors and civil servants in the CIA’s Global Response Staff, Jones said. Many, like himself, are former members of special-operations units. A few of them took issue with working alongside a gay man, Jones said.

“I don’t tolerate racism or bigotry, and for some reason, that line of work attracts some people that are like that,” Jones said. “And because of the way the small units are, it goes unchecked.”

Jones said he filed the official complaint last week and the CIA is investigating. Jones provided The San Diego Union-Tribune with a copy of the complaint, and contacted the newspaper through a friend who is also a former Navy SEAL.

Due to security and personnel issues, the CIA declined to comment specifically about the case. It did, however, condemn anti-gay behavior, saying the agency has ways for people to report discrimination, that the CIA fosters a culture of tolerance and acceptance, and highlighted past efforts to reach out to the LGBT community.

“We take very seriously any allegation of sexual, racial or any other form of harassment and/or discrimination at CIA. We have a Zero Tolerance Policy against such behavior and CIA leadership is committed to holding all employees accountable for living and promoting this policy,” according to a statement by CIA spokesman Dean Boyd.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the congressional committee that oversees intelligence communities, said the accusations are serious and merit investigation.

“We must embrace and foster diversity, which is why the Committee prioritized recruiting a diverse workforce in its annual authorization bill. There is no place for discrimination in our Intelligence Community workforce, and I will continue to monitor this case,” he said in a statement.

The contractor Jones worked for did not respond to a request for comment. The Union-Tribune is not identifying the company out of concern for the safety of employees deployed to combat zones. Jones said he has no complaints about this firm and his employer has consistently supported him.

Jones, 41 and from Huntsville, Ala., who also works on a 24-hour suicide hotline for LGBT youths and is an advocate with the Military Partner Association, wants his harassers held accountable, and for anti-harassment policies to be better enforced. He also wants gays in the special operations community to be confident they won’t be harmed because of their sexual orientation.

“I’d like to see changes made within the special operations community as a whole. That would make me happy, if kids could go to bed without anyone worrying,” he said. “These people are literally suffering in the closet and that takes away from teamwork.”

Jones arrived in Afghanistan on June 9 and got to his outpost two days later. He was working in the Global Response Staff, a division of the agency that guards people and property. The GRS’ ranks are full of former SEALS, Army Rangers and Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance — military communities that are all-male and, despite U.S. Defense Department efforts to add diversity, nearly all white.

It was Jones’ second deployment since he wrote his book, “Pride: The Story of the First Openly Gay Navy SEAL,” which documented his six years in uniform and his life as a SEAL. His military career nearly came to an end under the federal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy after he accidentally outed himself. He was investigated and on track for a discharge, but the investigation was ultimately abandoned and he decided against re-enlisting. He got out in 2003 and eventually started a second career as a security contractor.

There were often awkward incidents on the job, Jones said, but nothing that he couldn’t handle. He said he usually tried to diffuse things with humor and show that his sexuality wasn’t threatening.

“I understand, I’m a big boy. I get that a lot of people don’t like homosexuals. I’ve been around that my whole life, but you have to work around homosexuals,” he said.

Things seemed wrong as soon as his helicopter landed near his post in Afghanistan last month. Typically there was someone to pick up new arrivals and drive them and their gear to their headquarters. Not this time; he said he walked the quarter-mile to the compound.

He retreated to his room and found his floor dirty and a sheet smelling of feces. Jet-lagged and tired, he slept on the mattress, he recalled.

He overheard people calling him a “faggot,” and he said they were defensive when he confronted them about it.

And during a test ride of some of the team’s vehicles, he got out to walk a stretch through hairy terrain. The team ditched him in 120-degree temperatures, without water, forcing him to walk part way back to their compound before they stopped to let him back inside.

“I heard a faint laughing followed by a distant, ‘He can walk back!’ The door closed and they drove out of sight,” Jones said in a statement.

During a briefing with CIA employees and case managers ahead of a risky operation, a PowerPoint presentation with sexist, anti-gay and racist themes appeared on screen. His call sign was changed from Bad Monkey to “Gay Gay,” and one of the presentation’s slides said “Purple drank if they take it = they die. Same wit my chickin.” Jones said this slide meant the team was authorized to kill black people.

Approximately 75 percent of the slides were profane, racist, sexist or anti-gay. They also contained running jokes and comments about military culture, including a play on words related to common access cards, or CAC cards, used by some federal government employees for identification and access to secure areas and computer networks.

Jones said he felt targeted by his teammates and feared for his life. He wasn’t sleeping or eating, and he didn’t feel he could trust his teammates with his safety during missions. He was worried that speaking up would put an even bigger bull’s-eye on his back.

“Oh my God, what if they did something to try and hurt me and make it seem like an accident,” he said.

He made a plan to leave Afghanistan. He called his company and the GRS general director and requested a fake family emergency. They concocted a story that his sister had a botched medical procedure that left her paralyzed and he needed to get on a helicopter and leave, Jones said in a statement. Soon he was airborne, but not until he had emailed his husband a copy of the PowerPoint and an account of his experiences in Afghanistan.

The CIA notes that it has a 24-hour, confidential hotline for people deployed overseas and a private email channel for its Office of Equal Employment Opportunity, the department that oversees discrimination and harassment complaints. Employees are also told they can report incidents anytime.

Boyd also said the CIA has harassment awareness and prevention training, and an online training program that employees complete before they deploy.

“As we go about our vital work at CIA, we have a duty to treat one another respectfully and professionally, and to foster a culture of tolerance and inclusion. That is what our Nation expects and what all our employees deserve,” he said in his statement.

Jones said outside of his one bad experience with GRS, the CIA has been notably tolerant of gay people.

“They did it long before it was cool,” he said. “But the environment that I work in is not that. It’s sort of segregated in a way.”

Jones, however, thinks his career working for the agency is over. Now that he’s gone public with his experience, he suspects that people will be reluctant to work with him.

“No matter how I look at it ... I could never go back to work,” he said.

*********

The LGBT community has been successful in many battles, but the war for our full civil rights rages on and is yet to be won.

"Fear Eats the Soul"