Questions have swirled for months about what, exactly, White House adviser Sebastian Gorka did during a youthful three-year stint in the British army reserves. A new report out from BuzzFeed Tuesday doesn’t answer them, but suggests past accounts of the Breitbart News editor-turned-deputy assistant to the President’s military service may not be accurate.
BuzzFeed obtained information from the U.K.’s Ministry of Defense that runs up against Gorka’s past claims to a Hungarian newspaper that he was stationed in Northern Ireland evaluating terrorist threats while serving in 22 Intelligence Company. His unit was dedicated to reservists with language skills, and was unlikely to be sent to an English-speaking country, according to BuzzFeed.
The story also cast doubt on conflicting media reports, highlighted by Jezebel last month, that Gorka was tasked with collecting evidence for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The Ministry of Defense has no record of their army reservists conducting such work, according to the report.
The Ministry confirmed to TPM in February that Gorka served between 1990-1993, but declined to provide further information on what his service entailed.
Multiple sources in Hungary also previously told TPM that Gorka’s work for British intelligence contributed to the Hungarian government’s decision to deny him a security clearance in 2002. Gorka also reportedly never received a security clearance in the White House, a contributing factor in recent reports that he may soon be pushed out from his job.
Read BuzzFeed’s full report here.
