Directives from President Donald Trump are being ignored within the Department of Justice by a so-called "rear guard" that is about as deep in the deep state as you can get, a whistleblower told investigative journalist Lara Logan.
Dr. Timothy V. Shindelar explained to Logan how presidential directives receive internal resistance inside the "administrative state" that keep information from reaching top leadership.
Shindelar said: “The rear guard is a group of people that are ideologically driven to a particular point of view, and that point of view is not shared by the current administration.”
Asked whether it was organized, he said, “Of course it’s organized.”
He identified it as the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE).
What exactly is CIGIE?
It was designed to oversee federal programs but failed in that responsibility, Shindelar said.
“A system that was designed to ensure the programs and operations of the federal government were effective and efficient,” he said.
He gave an example involving Elon Musk’s review of agency operations and said inspectors general had been silent.
“It was not only their job. They failed at their job.”
Shindelar said CIGIE was created in 2008 “in conjunction" with Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley.
Logan asked whether this occurred under President Barack Obama and Shindelar confirmed it did.
Shindelar said CIGIE functions as “an independent entity established in the executive branch to oversee, train, educate, and provide individual counsel for all inspectors general. It answers unto itself.”
Logan questioned how such an entity inside the executive branch could be independent of the President.
Shindelar said: “Because Congress established it as an independent entity inside the executive branch.”
Logan asked how it could avoid accountability to the President.
Shindelar said it was possible if one rejected the idea that the President controls the entire executive branch, adding that it reflects the administrative state.
Logan asked: “Unelected officials?”
Shindelar responded: “Yes.”
Logan asked whether the traditional idea of government by the people applied.
Shindelar said some refer to the Department of Justice as the “Department of Just Us” and described a two-tiered system. He added that the administrative state believes it answers to itself.
Shindelar said the administrative state prepares the public to believe the President is not in charge.
Logan notes: “I asked you, how does this happen? And you said, this is what the rear guard does. Who is the rear guard? And what is the rear guard? And how are they able to do this?”
Shindelar said the structure of federal departments allows entrenched networks to block oversight.
“When you run a complex organization, a large organization, if you don’t want the boss to see things, you simply take care that it just doesn’t get to their desk. It’s just, I mean, when you have an organization of, say, 15 or 20,000 people, geographically dispersed across the nation, a broom sweeps only what it touches. And if you’re not holding the broom, it’s not sweeping.”
Shindelar, a former U.S. Marine Corps colonel, Army War College graduate, and federal whistleblower, said loyalty among staff determines whether leadership’s directives are carried out.
“If you don’t have a loyal crew, a loyal group of people that share your vision, then they can undermine you. And that’s exactly what’s occurring.”
“We have to believe that the President of the United States signs out a presidential policy directive, and he specifically says we’re not going to tolerate this anymore. The attorney general signs out a memorandum that says, I’m an absolute lockstep with my boss, and we’re going to fix the corruption that exists inside the department,” Shindelar said, adding that an assistant attorney rejected those directives.
“An assistant attorney says, I represent the United States of America, and I don’t want you to investigate corruption that specifically involves the DOJ. Not only is it completely bereft. It’s illegal.”
Shindelar gave the example of how a whistleblower warned the acting Attorney General that assistant U.S. attorneys who had worked for Jack Smith needed to be investigated:
“But they didn’t investigate him. They simply just let him go without any accountability,” he said.
Logan said: “So they let them off the hook.”
Shindelar said: “They simply let them go.”
When Lara Logan asked Dr. Timothy V. Shindelar, Colonel USMC (Ret.) and Federal Whistleblower, how this kind of subversion happens, he said, “This is what the rear guard does.”
The rear guard, he says, is the loyal network inside federal agencies that controls what the boss sees… pic.twitter.com/vT7TRcHjtH — Lara Logan (@laralogan) December 9, 2025
