House Select Committee on Covert Communications (The More Things Changed)



The United States House Select Committee on Covert Communications was formed on September 4th, 2017, to investigate revelations - first reported in The New York Times document leaks - that United States Secretary of Education Randi Weingarten and senior Education Department officials had maintained improper communications with the Republic of Turkey.

Among the allegations were reports that Weingarten and her staff had specifically targeted charter schools operated by Turkish opposition leader Fethullah Gülen, on behalf of the administration of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The New York Times Document Leaks
Main Article: The New York Times Document Leaks (The More Things Changed)

On July 10th and 11th, 2017, The New York Times reported that its servers had been hacked and several hundred documents had been stolen, which were soon published online by Julian Assange and WikiLeaks.

Among the documents were communications between editors and journalists of the Times, as well as emails from the United States Department of Education and American investment firm Goldman Sachs. Colloquially, these contacts have become known by the shorthand term "covert communications."

Initial Allegations Regarding the Education Department


Among the documents leaked were communications between Gene Bruskin, Senior Advisor to the Education Secretary, and Serdar Kılıç, Turkish Ambassador to the United States. Further emails showed that Secretary Weingarten had sought contacts with the Turkish government and hid them from the public by neglecting to mention the contacts when Times journalist Anemona Hartocollis, national correspondent on higher education, submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the information to the Education Department.

In developing and instituting the department's charter school regulations in May, emails suggest that charter schools run by the movement of opposition cleric Fethullah Gülen were targeted, in particular, to curry favor with the Turkish government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Hedieh Mirahmadi
Dr. Hedieh Mirahmadi, Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs, testified before the committee in a public session on October 15th, 2017. In her testimony, Mirahmadi stated that she had concerns about Secretary Weingarten's approach to Turkey - citing "potential interference in State Department affairs" - and shared those concerns with Kathleen S. Tighe, Inspector General for the Education Department at the time.

Mirahmadi further stated she had not sent notifications to Secretary of State Gary Locke, as she believed Tighe's office to be sufficient, but noted in her emails that notifying Locke would be the next step, should any further inappropriate behavior occur.

In April 2017, shortly after accepting her position as Assistant Secretary, Mirahmadi meets the Turkish Ambassador, Serdar Kılıç, to discuss Fulbright scholarships and Turkish-language instruction in the United States. Mirahmadi recalled her conversation with Kılıç as contradicting Weingarten's public denials of having met with the Ambassador in person, with Kılıç additionally describing Weingarten as "a good friend."

Gene Bruskin


In one of her first staffing decisions after her nomination as Secretary of Education, Weingarten named Gene Bruskin, former head of the Strategic Campaigns Department for the American Federation of Teachers, as her Senior Advisor. In this position, Bruskin spearheaded restrictions against charter schools, including the "15% regulations" - a requirement that charter schools must ensure that no more than 15% of their enrolled students fall below the educational benchmarks achieved by the median student statewide. These regulations, which were later struck down as unconstitutional, were revealed to be instituted with the explicit goal of reversing charter school expansion.

Among the documents published by WikiLeaks in July 2017 were communications between Bruskin and Ambassador Kılıç, which revealed that Weingarten had specifically sought to meet with Kılıç at the International Summit on the Teaching Profession in Edinburgh, Scotland, and had previously met with Ertan Yalçın, Turkish Consul in New York.

Additionally, in one key email with the Secretary, Bruskin stated: "I don't care what comes out of the courts on this. We're doing the right thing." Bruskin defended his actions before the committee as entirely within the scope of the Education Department.

Jennifer Granholm
On October 17th, 2017, Attorney General Jennifer Granholm testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee in an open-door hearing, where she implicitly denied any foreknowledge between the contacts between Turkey and the Department of Education and the rest of the Clinton administration, or any further inappropriate conduct. Granholm would later repeat this testimony before the House Select Committee on November 19th.

Gary Locke


Secretary of State Gary Locke gave his testimony to the committee on November 19th, 2017, immediately after Granholm's appearance. In his testimony, Locke gave his opinion on the state of relations between the United States and the Republic of Turkey, which he described as being under "unprecedented stress, exacerbated by former Secretary Weingarten and this committee's investigation." Representative Mike Pompeo (R-KS), asked Locke about attempting to question Turkish nationals, including Serdar Kılıç and Fethullah Gülen, Locke replied that "nothing beneficial or productive" would come from questioning them, citing the likelihood of further deterioration in relations with Turkey.

Fethullah Gülen
Fethullah Gülen, a Pennsylvania-based Turkish cleric, is the leader of an eponymous Islamic social movement that professes advocation of universal access to education, civil society, and peace; as of 2017, there were over 200 charter schools in the United States operated by the Gülen movement, teaching over 80,000 American students.

Among the central allegations of the covert communications affair was the allegation that the Gülen schools were targeted in particular by Weingarten and the Education Department on behalf of the Turkish government, which has designated the Gülen movement as a terrorist organization and has demanded his extradition to Turkey for his alleged role in the 2016 Turkish Civil War and related crimes against the state.

In his appearance before the committee on January 16th, 2018, Gülen testified against the 15% regulations that targeted charter schools and harshly criticized the Erdoğan government, calling him a "villain" and describing Weingarten as "an accomplice."

Following his testimony, the Republic of Turkey permanently recalled Ambassador Serdar Kılıç, and closed the consulates in Boston and Houston, further deteriorating relations with the United States.

Committee Subpoenas
In January 2018, the House Select Committee subpoenaed five Turkish officials for their testimony, the highest-profile of them being Ambassador Kılıç - who was recalled back to Turkey at the time - and Ertan Yalçın, Turkish Consul in New York. The Erdoğan administration recalled Yalçın back to Ankara and declined to extradite or allow committee members into the country to conduct interviews. The Turkish government additionally closed consulates in Miami and Chicago in response, and United States Ambassador Ellen Tauscher was given 48 hours to return to Washington.

Lokman Ertürk


Following months of negotiations between the State Department and the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the two countries struck an agreement: Ambassador Tauscher would return to her post in Ankara and the closed Turkish consulates would be re-opened, while a new Turkish ambassador would be accredited and would voluntarily give testimony before the committee.

Lokman Ertürk, Mayor of Kahramankazan, was chosen by President Erdoğan as the new Turkish ambassador to the United States. Ertürk, an alumnus of the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), of the State Department, participated in the program during his first term as Mayor in 2006. In his tesimony before the committee, he denied any wrongdoing by the government of Turkey, and stated that Turkey would help the investigation "within reason." However, he further stated his belief that the justice system of the United States would demonstrate no wrongdoing by the Turkish government.