OIG Hotline, the affidavit which follows herewith is yet to be notarized.
A copy is attached to an email sent to lanemacwilliams@gmail.com from the same email address, with copies to lmacwilliams77419@gmail.com and lmacwilliams7417@gmail.com at 12:17 PM Pacific time today, August 11. 2023. For redundancy, the entire text is included in the body of the email as well.
As you know, your staff has my full permission to access my emails at any time the OIG Hotline so desires.
This post is in progress.
Most sincerely,
Lane MacWilliams
AFFIDAVIT OF LANE MACWILLIAMS
Re: St. Mark's Episcopal Church: Emblematic of the FBI's Attempt to Co-opt American Communities of Faith
My name is Lane MacWilliams. I work as a professional writer, and I stand as a whistleblower of FBI malfeasance in the form of knowingly falsified law enforcement reporting perpetrated by the agency against law-abiding American citizens for anti-democratic objectives. By extension, I stand as a whistleblower of malfeasance by San Mateo County Sheriff's Office personnel, who have perpetrated falsified law enforcement reporting as part of the corruption of the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative and the FBI's affiliated "target of interest" program. I have been married to my husband for the last thirty-two and a half years, and I have known him for thirty-eight years total. I reside at 45 Vista Verde Way, Portola Valley, CA. 94028. I am a member of the Democratic Party.
I, Lane MacWilliams, certify that the information in this, my sworn statement, is truthful to the best of my knowledge and understanding,
For the purposes of clarity within this document, I reference an individual church and an individual minister. However, the testament given here could apply to any religious community, and any leader, whether male or female, of that community of faith.
This is to document a current, wide-scale endeavor on the part of the FBI to gain administrative control of faith communities, Christian, Jewish and Muslim, within the United States.
This endeavor has been initiated through the FBI's offer of Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) funds, at the level of national faith leadership, state dioceses and individual churches, synagogues, and mosques.
Most small communities of worship, those with weekly congregations of less than 500, operate on remarkably limited budgets, experiencing a significant degree of uncertainly with regard to yearly donations in the face of fixed costs.
Further, virtually all communities of worship within the Untied States preach peaceful dialogue with others and supportive community engagement. Churches, synagogues and mosques are delighted to stand opposed to violent extremism, in other words.
CVE funds extended to small faith communities typically represent sufficiently generous funds to draw a minister, rabbi or imam to take the bait. Along with those monies, which may not extend in perpetuity, comes an informant agreement for the religious leader to sign, which does. The secrecy agreement which accompanies the paperwork also extends indefinitely.
The devil is in the details, and the FBI has written the fine print.
The minister has just signed away his right to talk about the specifics of the community's relationship with the FBI. To the vestry. To the congregation. To his boss. To his family. To anyone but God.
If he utters a prayer about it, that prayer had better be silent.
In this way, without much fanfare, church sovereignty its undone. If the Church's FBI handler begins to make unethical demands or make unlawful threats to the minister, which is a routine part of the FBI's process of indoctrination, the minister is bound to remain silent.
He cannot speak from the pulpit. He cannot speak from the pew. He cannot speak from the mountaintop. He cannot speak at all.
When the Church's FBI handler first demands the names of five parishioners whom the minister would deem "suspicious," this represents an early test of the Church's compliance in its newfound harness to the FBI. If the minister balks, if he refuses to provide the five names, he is told that he himself is behaving suspiciously! If he remains intransigent, his own name will be added to the "target of interest" list, he is told. His life will be ruined. His congregation will be lost. His vow of poverty will be tested from the street.
When the Church's FBI handler demands that the minister provide falsified witness statements about given parishioners, this represents yet another test of the minister's willingness to comply with his new FBI overseer. If he resists, his children are threatened. His wife. Does anyone have an imperfect past in the minister's family? An addiction problem? An unpaid debt? The FBI now threatens to arrest this person if the minister fails to comply. The FBI now threatens to derail the lives of those the minister loves.
Even so, because of the secrecy agreement the minister has signed, he cannot speak from the pulpit. He cannot speak from the pew. He cannot speak from the mountaintop. He cannot speak at all.
Soon, it becomes clear to the minister that he has been trapped. With guile, with premeditation, with fine print, maneuvered into a silent corner.
From this position, he can sacrifice an innocent parishioner, or he can sacrifice himself.
And this is the fundamentally spiritual test the FBI handler has been approaching from the beginning.
Is the man of God strong enough to resist this secular threat?
For most, the answer will be no.
The FBI handler will reassure himself that "Everyone is the same!" "Everyone can be corrupted!" "No one stands above anyone else!"
But a few ministers will refuse to sacrifice innocents for the sake of their own safety.
These individuals draw significant ire, indignation, and thinly-concealed hatred from the FBI handlers who seemed -- and so recently! -- to be respectful, articulate, disciplined men who agreeably referenced their own faith when they were boys -- lapsed now, sadly.
Gradually, the minister perceives that a few members of his own congregation have been "recruited" as FBI informants for the express purpose of implicating him of wrongs he has never committed. There is a newfound sense of gossip within his Church, an undeniable air of deception, a whisper of malice where there was none before.
One day, the Bishop calls the minister to appear, and there, in the closed-door session at the Diocesan Office, without warning, decorum, or cause, he fires him. The Bishop utters a few phrases that let the minister know he is being forced to ensure that all ministers in the Diocese are "cooperative and obedient." It becomes clear that the minister's FBI handler has persuaded the Bishop of this "unfortunate necessity." The minister has been a "faithful servant of God," the Bishop reassures him. But what is needed now are "men of the future."
The FBI handler has already selected his replacement, the minister learns. A man who will do and say whatever the FBI instructs him to do and say.
This is to be the new leader of the Church community -- the one the minister himself labored to nurture over the last twenty-eight years.
And regarding this tragedy, because of the secrecy agreement he has signed, the minister cannot speak from the pulpit. He cannot speak from the pew. He cannot speak from the mountaintop. He cannot speak at all.
Ordinarily, the story is over.
Not this time, however.
With this document, I formally attest to my knowledge of the events depicted in the communications that follow. Their content is hereby incorporated into this witness statement as a testament of fact.
Sent to: sjones@episcopalchurch.org, bishopmarc@diocal.org. Cc: info@saint-marks.org, matt@saint-marks.org. From: lanemacwilliams@gmail.com. Date: July 28, 2023 at 1:07 PM
Re: ATTN: The Most Reverend Michael Curry and the Right Reverend Marc Andrus
To Presiding Bishop Curry and Right Reverend Andrus:
I write to you both on behalf of Reverend Matt McDermott of St. Mark's Palo Alto, California.
Please be aware that this communication is sent to you at my own initiative and without Reverend McDermott's advance knowledge, though I am copying St. Mark''s on this email.
Please be apprised that a copy of this communication will be shared with the Office of the Inspector General Hotline of the U.S. Department of Justice and with the Office of the Honorable Avril Haines, Director of ODNI.
Reverend McDermott has announced his retirement from the spiritual leadership of St. Mark's, but it has come to my attention that this impending departure is not of his own volition.
In point of fact, his retirement is being coerced by a corrupt FBI agent by the name of Txx Lxxxx, who first approach Reverend McDermott in 2021 with an offer of CVE (Countering Violent Extremism) funds through Infragard (the civilian arm of the FBI) in return for what appeared to be an eminently reasonable request to report to Mr. Lxxxx any suspicious behavior on the part of St. Mark's congregants.
In 2021, Reverend McDermott had spent twenty-six years building a trustful and resilient faith community at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, and he did not expect to be reporting the presence of any "extremists" in his Church. Accordingly, he signed informant and secrecy agreements extended to him by Mr. Lxxxx, no doubt with the approval of the Episcopal Diocese of California.
Soon after these forms were signed, Mr. Lxxxx' demeanor changed. Instead of the eminently reasonable federal law enforcement officer he had presented himself to be at the outset, he now demanded a falsified witness statement from Reverend McDermott concerning a particular parishioner who happened also to be serving as a whistleblower of FBI malfeasance in the form of the agency's perpetration of knowingly falsified law enforcement reporting against law-abiding Americans.
That whistleblower is none other than I myself.
Reverend McDermott expressed to Mr. Lxxxx his unwillingness to lie about a parishioner. After I left St. Mark's due to my concerns over the pressure Reverend McDermott was experiencing, he held his ground by explaining to Mr. Lxxxx that he was also unwilling to lie about a former parishioner.
At that point, Mr. Lxxxx threatened Reverend McDermott, delineating for him the manner in which his career and personal life could be ruined if he did not comply with arbitrary FBI demands. Mr. Lxxxx explained a portion of the FBI's unconstitutional "target of interest" program to Reverend McDermott, the initiative about which the Office of the Inspector General Hotline of the U.S. Department of Justice is currently conducting an investigation. He explained that, if Reverend McDermott did not comply with Mr. Lxxxx' demands, he himself would be rendered a "target of interest," after which a number of staff and congregants would be coerced to file false witness statements about him as the spiritual leader of their own parish.
Still, Reverend McDermott held to his principles and declined to lie at Mr. Lxxxx' directive. Further, Reverend McDermott may have returned some or all of the CVE funds that Mr. Lxxxx had originally extended to St. Mark's under false pretenses.
Now, nearly two years later, it appears that wayward FBI agent Txx Lxxxx has followed through with his initial threat. Reverend McDermott has himself been wrongfully designated a "target of interest," just as I was wrongfully designated a "target of interest" before him.
The harassment, harms and false reporting that have resulted from Mr. Lxxxx' malfeasance are now leading Reverend McDermott to resign from his own church community, just as they forced me to leave St. Mark's, although I considered this my spiritual home.
This is wrong.
The false witness statements aggregated by Txx Lxxxx are wrong. The fake photos meant to bolster those accounts are wrong. The AI-generated films and fake messaging meant to "prove" malfeasance on the part of "targets of interest" are wrong.
The sanctity of the Episcopal Church must take a stand against far right factions of the FBI which are attempting systematically to disrupt, discredit and divide communities of worship.
These unscrupulous FBI initiatives are not limited to the Episcopal Church, nor to the Christian faith at this point in American history. Rather, they are broadly targeting all faith communities which serve as a bulwark against autocratic aims.
The Episcopal Church took a strong stand after former president Donald Trump ordered that peaceful protesters within LaFayette Square be tear gassed, following which he marched to the front of Trinity Church with an upside-down Bible in one hand and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs standing beside him.
So, it is possible that the Episcopal Church has been singled out by the far right for "compliance testing" and "civilian pacification" programs. (It is perhaps necessary to explain that the "civilian pacification" programs of the FBI are not peaceful.)
What I will observe is this:
We are immensely fortunate in having a Commander-in-Chief in President Joseph R. Biden who understands the sources of the far right's bid for autocracy and, further, who is doing everything humanly possible to warn the American public about the "insider threat" to our democratic norms.
In addition, the Office of the Inspector General Hotline of the U.S. Department of Justice and the Honorable Avril Haines of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence are laboring diligently to illuminate the threat posed by far right segments of the FBI to our civil liberties and human rights.
The techniquies being employed by far right factions of the FBI to co-opt religious communities at this time are identical to those utilized by the Nazis in the 1930's and 40's. Initial offers of support and funding masked a treacherous intention to unmake Germany's Christian churches altogether, as described in this New York Times article outlining extensive documentation gathering in advance of the Nuremberg Trials:
Further information information about the FBI's forays into undermining faith communities within the U.S. can be found within Michael German's excellent book, "Disrupt, Discredit and Divide: How the New FBI Damages Democracy" under the chapters "Disrupting Muslim Civil Society" and "Scapegoating Muslim American Communities."
I include that letter herewith:
Sent to: info@saint-marks.org, matt@saint-marks.org. Cc: sjones@episcopalchurch.org. From: lanemacwilliams@gmail.com. Date: July 30, 2023 at 3:05 PM
An Open Letter to the Congregation of St. Mark's Episcopal Church:
I regret that I was prevented from speaking to you directly this morning during the announcements at St. Mark's. It had been my desire, and, indeed, my intention, to thank Reverend McDermott publicly for what has been his courageous and ethical stance over the last 21 months under exceptionally difficult circumstances.
Because I was asked to express my sentiments to the entirety of the congregation in writing, I am doing so herewith. This is, I believe, information the St. Mark's congregation needs to have access to -- and, further, it may be information that only I am capable of providing.
Twenty-one months ago, I came to Reverend McDermott with a request for guidance concerning a problem. I had, quite accidentally, stumbled across an issue of extensively falsified law enforcement reporting within local and federal law enforcement concerning law abiding American citizens.
The Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative and the "target of interest" program, which draw billions in Congressional budget appropriations yearly, have incorporated broadly falsified reporting. Those law-abiding Americans who are being unjustly surveilled and harmed under their auspices number above three million. Democrats, journalists, women, and people of color are over-represented among this group. Freedom of Information Act requests extended by this population are currently returned by the FBI as blank reports.
Falsified witness statements, fake photos, AI-generated films co-opting the likeness of "targets of interest," fake messaging and falsely attributed DNA, edited and misattributed audio recordings -- all of these means were and are being utilized to implicate law-abiding American citizens of wrongdoing. The objectives appeared to be -- as they still appear to be -- anti-democratic in nature. In other words, through the FBI's corruption of the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative and its affiliated "target of interest" program, the far right intended to effect an autocratic system of governance through means concealed from the American public.
After I consulted with Reverend McDermott about this problem, he himself was approached by a corrupt FBI agent by the name of Txx Lxxxx, who initially appeared to be credible and upstanding in every regard. Mr. Lxxxx requested that Reverend McDermott "help to keep American safe" by accepting funds from the FBI designated as CVE monies (Countering Violent Extremism). He was asked to serve as a witness informant on the chance any parishioners seemed to pose a risk to others. And he was asked to sign a secrecy agreement, preventing him from discussing this matter with staff and congregants of St. Mark's due to "national security concerns."
Having grown a trustful and honest congregation at St. Mark's over the prior twenty-six years, Reverend McDermott did not believe that he would have any occasion to call a parishioner to the attention of federal authorities.
So, with the permission of the Diocese, he signed the agreements extended to him by Txx Lxxxx
Almost immediately, Mr. Lxxxx' demeanor changed. He demanded that Reverend McDermott file false witness statements against me as an FBI whistleblower. Reverend McDermott declined to do so.
Mr. Lxxxx threatened Reverend McDermott with harassment, harm, harm to his family members, and the loss of his position at St. Mark's.
Still, Reverend McDermott declined to lie at the behest of this corrupt federal law enforcement officer.
For this ethical stance in my defense, Reverend McDermott has been persecuted by corrupt members of the FBI, Txx Lxxxx foremost among them.
Good people of St. Mark's, Reverend Matt McDermott is the most worthy spiritual leader this congregation could hope to have.
You will find no replacement for his goodness, his steadfast faith while under threat, his fortitude and grace under the most difficult circumstances imaginable.
I have written to the Presiding Bishop Michael concerning this issue, and I include that document below.
I respectfully ask that this congregation, in light of this information, come together to discuss this issue in depth. I offer my assistance in illuminating this challenge to St. Mark's faith community on an immediate basis.
I believe that Reverend Matt McDermott should be asked by all of us to remain Rector of St. Mark's at this time.
It is my profound and heartfelt sense that he has the capacity to illuminate the wrongful attempt by the FBI to co-opt religious communities for anti-democratic purposes.
The Episcopal Church in general, and St. Mark's in particular, possesses the capacity to define the Church as a Sanctuary which disallows the bearing of false witness. The Church's principles of truthfulness and integrity may be determined to supersede those dictates of corrupt FBI initiatives, and prior informant agreements and secrecy agreements may be rendered nullified by the Church's authority. Individual church communities, such as St. Mark's, possess the freedom to determine that their religious ethics are more important than corrupt federal law enforcement initiatives of the far right -- and to engage in civil disobedience in rejecting those corrupt initiatives.
I have spent quite a bit of time in understanding the problem of the far right's attempts to unmake our democracy through unjust and clandestine means. The FBI and its affiliates have created a Gordian Knot for our society, which I believe the Church can -- through faithful community and collaborative effort -- untie.
Reverend Matt McDermott is capable of doing so, with our help. Further, if he can do so for St. Mark's, he can lead the way for other Episcopal churches to untie their own Gordian Knots as well. Beyond this, there are interfaith needs to address the manner in which religious communities can remain intact in the face of the FBI's unjust encroachments. Reverend McDermott is capable of being a leader in all of these settings, and our nation needs him to do so.
This virtuous man has stood in defense of me. This is our moment to stand in defense of him.
Good people of St. Mark's, do you remember the parable Reverend McDermott told us this morning about the man who, in search of a perfect community, had an angel turn his shoes toward home while he slept?
Help me to turn the shoes of this honorable man toward home.
I ask that the Church call on me to facilitate further discussions regarding this matter.
I remain yours in Christ,
Lane MacWilliams
********************************************************************************
I can only say that I was moved to speak out on behalf of Reverend McDermott, and on behalf of all religious leaders who share his honor and fortitude.
Faith communities serve as a critical bulwark against autocracy, and particularly so when their leaders are empowered to speak the truth. From the pulpit. From the pew. From the mountaintop. The truth.
The public possesses limited means to defend itself from a usurpation of the people's sovereignty by the far right.
In the absence of the truth, it remains utterly defenseless, unable to discern what has gone wrong, who has initiated the civil liberties violations and human rights abuses it is now witnessing, and how to answer them.
For the FBI to contractually mandate the silence of religious leaders regarding this agency's aggressive reach for power over the American electorate represents a remarkably calculated end run around spiritual leaders' potential to guide ethical and respectful dissent regarding a totalitarian threat.
Is it possible for America's religious leaders to confer about the means by which their religious authority permits them to invalidate secular informant and secrecy agreements which carry the potential to damage the fabric of their honest and trustful communities of faith?
Perhaps religious leaders will determine that the commandment that "thou shalt not bear false witness" is more important than a federal agent's demands for sworn falsehoods?
Is it critical for clergy members of all faiths to retain the right to free speech from the pulpit, the pew, and the mountaintop?
Might congregations elect, after openly discussing this problem, to strive for "informant-free" parishes, in which individuals are free to share their personal struggles without fear of lasting mischaracterization by a defamatory FBI?
Might congregants, understandably, wish to know that the parishioners sitting beside them during worship each week are not being paid to misreport on their conduct and their character?
Isn't our nation's intentional separation of Church and State intended to lessen the likelihood that these powers will at some point coalesce into an insurmountable oppressor of the freedoms delineated in our Constitution?
Doesn't the systematic, widespread introduction of the FBI's informant and secrecy agreements into the religious sphere of America's churches, mosques and synagogues violate the Constitutional separation of Church and State?
How can clergy and parishioners who have signed informant and secrecy agreements be rendered free to discuss this issue among their own religious communities?
My search for the answers to these questions led me to write to the leadership of the Episcopal Church and the St. Mark's congregation in the letters included above.
Given the necessity of openly communicating about the far right's challenges to our democracy through the FBI's calculated extension of financial support to religious communities nationwide, this writing represents my clarion call to religious leaders to refuse to be separated from their highest spiritual principles, as Reverend Matt McDermott refused to be separated from his.
I hereby contest the claims of any person who suggests otherwise as knowingly, willfully, categorically false.
I, Lane MacWilliams, once again certify that the information in my sworn statement above is a truthful representation of the facts to the best of my knowledge.
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