This is not the story of some secret blog of this State Department employee. This is a story about how the US government, despite numerous complaints, including from members of Congress, is still employing State Department employee Fritz Berggren full-time.
“Who is the enemy? It is the Jew, the Jew, the Jew, the Jew, the Jew.” This is a direct quote from Berggren.
He said, “Jews worship Satan and they are Satan’s own children.” “Understand who our enemies are. Don’t apologize. Never apologize for being white. Never do this. You can’t be racist or sexist or anti-gay. Who says?”
While employed in the federal government, he has been hosting his own podcast and blog called “Blood and Faith” for almost six years.
Ambassador Eric Rubin said, “I think there is cause for concern in terms of how this will affect the image of our country.” He served overseas on behalf of the United States many times and now heads the organization that represents American Foreign Service officers around the world. He agreed to sit down with Scripps News for an interview about Berggren’s inflammatory posts.
We asked Rubin whether employees should fear for their safety.
“I hope not,” he said. “I think our employees need some reassurance that, you know, anybody who thinks they should die basically, that’s what he’s saying, he’s not working between them and potentially putting it at risk.”
For nearly two years, Scripps News has been listening to Berggren talking to State Department staffers and reviewing the hours-long content on his blog. Among the hundreds of postings we found, he mostly targets Jews. He also disparages people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and the US government.
They called a setup and “fed-op” by federal law enforcement and state law enforcement on January 6 with the help of the Speaker of the House.
Berggren said that Jews run America’s foreign policy, and that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “couldn’t care less” about “the 100,000 white Christians killed in the war with Russia”. Scripps News has learned that these startling thoughts weren’t limited to his blog post.
A former colleague of Berggren’s at the US embassy in Bahrain, where Berggren was once stationed, told us that Berggren expressed similar sentiments during his time at the embassy. This former colleague agreed to speak to Scripps News on condition of anonymity.
This employee said, “He always displayed a lot of right-wing magazines in his office.” “I know he was definitely making certain groups of people, especially in the housing community where he lived, he made people feel very uncomfortable.”
Ambassador Rubin told us that under State Department policy, Foreign Service officers should not share their political opinions in their workplace or in any public forum, including on podcasts.
“You can’t go out and speak publicly, you can’t contradict official policy,” he said. “We can’t operate like this. There has to be a clear set of expectations.”
But far from being dismissed for his inflammatory words, the employee who agreed to speak to us anonymously said that Berggren was treated with high regard within the Bahraini embassy.
This employee reported that Scripps News management was aware of the comments she was making in the workplace, but preferred to remain calm.
This coworker says it was an offhand comment made by Berggren to a black coworker that caused other people at the embassy to start looking at her social media accounts. They soon found Berggren’s blog—where he sometimes entered his thoughts several times a day while serving in Bahrain.
According to an affidavit of the pending EEOC investigation obtained by Scripps News, employees of the Bahrain embassy complained about Berggren.
Berggren’s superior, Robert Doyle, fired him after the post surfaced, but not before throwing a virtual goodbye party. These details come from an ongoing EEOC investigation of Doyle’s actions at the embassy, including allegations that he allowed Berggren’s misconduct.
We reached out to both Fritz Berggren and Robert Doyle multiple times for interviews, but neither responded to our requests.
We asked Ambassador Rubin what the rules are for Foreign Service officers while serving abroad when it comes to freedom of speech on personal time but being on government property. Berggren posted during the workweek – but it is unclear whether he posted during the weekday.
Scripps News’ Alex Miller: Is the line blurred in these situations?
Eric Rubin: I do not think so. We represent our country round the clock and our behavior and our actions reflect our country. You know, we sent people home all the time, basically saying, ‘You bring our country into disrepute.’
While Berggren was removed from the embassy staff, he was brought back to the US by the State Department.
Scripps News has learned that he spent time working on special immigrant visas given to minority groups from Iraq and Afghanistan, the same people some of his podcasts attacked.
Today, Berggren remains a full-time employee of the State Department working in the Administration’s Bureau on Internal Affairs.
His continued employment is of major concern to many in the State Department. For the past three years, Jewish employees have filed complaints with senior leaders of the department. More than 70 members of Congress sent letters to the State Department in 2021 and again in 2022 urging it to take action. The American Federation of Government Employees sent a letter in 2022 describing Berggren as “a clear and present danger”.
Ambassador Rubin says it is surprising that Berggren has been able to keep his job. The State Department would not confirm with Scripps News whether its security clearance is still in force.
“I do not think that the person who is running this blog and this podcast operation should be employed by the people of the United States of America to represent our country, I really don’t, I think he has a He can have his rights as a free citizen of this country, he can say whatever he wants to say, but can’t make taxpayers pay for it,” he explained.
The State Department declined our request for an interview, but said in a statement, “The Department considers the content on the blog to be anti-Semitic, racist, anti-gay, xenophobic, and otherwise hateful, discriminatory, and inconsistent with the values and mission.” US State Department.” He told Scripps News that the department would not comment on individual personnel matters other than to say that the allegations are being taken seriously.
For the time being, Fritz Berggren continues to post regularly on his blog and makes no effort to hide his hatred of the many people he has sworn to represent.