Former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) whistleblower Philip Haney, who was an outspoken critic of former President Barack Obama’s administration, was found dead Friday off the highway in California.
According to local authorities, Haney, 66, was found shot once in the heart just off the highway, 40 miles East of Sacramento, California.
Before his sudden death, Haney had been in talks to return to his position at the Department of Homeland Security. He retired from government service in 2015.
Haney had recently become engaged.
In 2016, Haney testified as a whistleblower before the Senate Judiciary Committee that the Obama-run DHS had ordered him to delete hundreds of files regarding suspected contacts of radical Islamist terror groups.
Haney said that specific Islamic terror attacks against the United States could have been prevented if the Obama administration hadn’t ordered the deletion of certain files — including the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 and an attack on a U.S. military base in Tennessee in 2016.
“It is very plausible that one or more of the subsequent terror attacks on the homeland could have been prevented if more subject matter experts in the Department of Homeland Security had been allowed to do our jobs back in late 2009,” Haney wrote in an opinion piece for the Hill in 2016.
When Haney was found dead, he “appeared to have suffered a single, self-inflicted gunshot wound,” a release by the Amador County Sheriff’s Office read.
“On February 21, 2020 at approximately 1012 hours, deputies and detectives responded to the area of Highway 124 and Highway 16 in Plymouth to the report of a male subject on the ground with a gunshot wound,” said a press release by local authorities.
“Upon their arrival, they located and identified 66-year-old Philip Haney, who was deceased and appeared to have suffered a single, self-inflicted gunshot wound. A firearm was located next to Haney and his vehicle,” the sheriff’s office said. “This investigation is active and ongoing.”
“No further details will be released at this time,” the statement read.
Conservative journalist Jack Posobiec has vowed to investigate what he called the “suspicious death” of Haney after local sources reportedly said they believed his death was a homicide.
I can confirm at @OANN we are investigating the suspicious death of DHS whistleblower Phil Haney
We have spoken with local sources that suggest this may have been a homicide
Updates to follow as our investigation develops
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) February 22, 2020
The Horn editorial team