Loony “CIA Vet” Kent Clizbe Trying to Get Dirt on Dr Michael Mann, Saying Colleagues Could Get Millions for Helping

Wow, here’s a story. Think it’s not enough that the fossil fuel (oil & coal) industry has launched a massive global warming disinformation campaign and the mass media have clung to it (since it’s controversial and will thus get attention.. or just because they don’t know any better or are actually funded by the fossil fuel industry as well.. ahem, Fox News)? (Yes, that was a run-on question.)

Anyway, if you thought that was bad, check this out: an ex-CIA agent, Kent Clizbe, has been trying (for over a year) to get dirt on one of the world’s leading climate scientists, Dr Michael Mann, “director of Penn State’s Earth System Science Center and author of the apparently bulletproof Hockey Stick climate reconstruction,” by sending letters to Mann’s colleagues telling them how they could get millions of dollars for providing evidence that Mann had misused federal research funds. (Wonder where Clizbe is getting his motivation?)

Of course, Clizbe hasn’t gotten any dirt on Mann yet despite this tactic.

Truly, though, this is completely despicable and isn’t something Mann (or anyone with any common sense) feels comfortable with.

Here’s the intro to the full story (including the letters) over on the Desmog Blog:

Spook’s antics would be creepy if they were competent

A self-proclaimed counter-terrorism expert and former CIA case worker is soliciting for “whistleblowers” who will make allegations of impropriety against Dr. Michael Mann, director of Penn State’s Earth System Science Center and author of the apparently bulletproof Hockey Stick climate reconstruction.

Kent Clizbe has been sending letters, annually, to Mann’s colleagues promising them a big payout if they can offer any evidence that Mann has been misusing his federal research funds. In the first such letter that Clizbe sent, more than a year ago, he reported that the U.S. False Claims Act stipulates that whistleblowers can claim up to 30% of any recovered money and that Mann has received $50 million. Clizbe adds: “30% of $50 million is more than $12 million.”

In this single sentence, Clizbe reveals all you need to know about the man: he doesn’t care about the accuracy of his facts; and he can’t wrangle a calculator effectively enough to establish that 30% of 50 is 15. (Neither do his math skills improve over time, in this year’s version, he writes: “Up to 30% of $50 million (the total Dr Mann claims to have received for climate research) could net a whistleblower more than $10 million.”)

For the record, Mike Mann lists his research grants proudly on his CV – they total something under (a very impressive) $6 million. As Mann has quite obviously used this money to produce research that continues to give fits to his detractors, it’s hard to imagine there is sufficient slush left over to provide a big enough payday to keep Clizbe or any of his would-be accomplices in Ray Bans.

But this attack – silly on the surface – is still pointedly unfunny for Mann. First, according to the suspiciously well-informed Telegraph columnist and libertarian mouthpiece James Delingpole, Clizbe sent his solicitation last year to all 27 of his (Mann’s) colleagues at the Earth System Science Center. Purely as a matter of freelance character assassination, this is an afront – an organized effort to encourage Mann’s co-workers to think that he is cheating.

Now Mr. Cloak-and-Dagger is back, this time invoking the witch hunt launched against Mann by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. Apparently Clizbe plans to sustain the campaign and to make common cause with others who are harassing Mann.

The letter also raises questions about Clizbe himself: Who is this guy, really? And who’s paying his bills?

Read the full story here: “CIA Vet” Kent Clizbe Stalking Hockey Stick-Author Mike Mann

h/t/ Climate Progress

Photo via the Desmog Blog

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