After a long career in computer technology I encountered age discrimination and could not find a job in my primary profession.  So I cataloged my marketable skills and decided to pivot and perform professional Hebrew/English translation work.  After a long process I got a job as a contract linguist with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).  At the time Dean Burke was working as the Field Security Officer (FSO) but somehow managed to wrangle a job as a supervisor of the Language Services Translation Center (LSTC) even though he spoke no other languages nor had any experience or knowledge in linguistics.  And Burke became my supervisor and was the absolute worst person I ever worked for in my life.

According to the job description we were entitled to two 15 minutes breaks per day and could take a 30 minute lunch if we wanted and deduct the half hour from our time sheet.  If we did not take the lunch break we did not have to deduct the time.  In general I never took either the 15 minute breaks not the lunch break.

After nearly two years with the FBI I found that the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) was looking to recruit me with potential in both IT (Information Technology) and linguistics.  I interviewed with them and was offered the position.  The DEA then reached out to FBI to transfer my security clearance and I think that Burke as the FSO must have learned of this.  

One day I was working on an important assignment and I and a coworker decided to go to Starbucks for coffee on one of the 2 breaks we were entitled to.  We walked to the nearby Starbucks and there was no one ahead of us.  So we ordered coffee, received it, and sat down to drink the coffee.  During this time Burke dropped in and exchanged a few words and then left.  We finished our coffee and returned to work where I did not take my second 15 minute break but continued working on the report that was due.  I was only authorized to work until 6 p.m. and the job was not yet complete.  So I stayed an extra hour to complete the assignment and deliver it to the Special Agent on the case.  I then did the routine email to check out at 7 p.m. stating that I WAS NOT CHARGING FOR THE EXTRA HOUR.  At the end of the week I filled out my time sheet and submitted it.  Then to my amazement I received a call to come into Burke’s office where I found quite a few people assembled for Burke’s routine firing ceremony.  Apparently by this point Burke had actively sought out people from the best of the linguists that he could fabricate some case to get them fired.  By this point he had already gotten more than a dozen of the best linguists fired.  He then charged me with taking a 30 minute lunch break and not deducting the 30 minutes from my time sheet.  Furthermore he charged me with “yelling” because I wrote “NOT CHARGING” in capital letters in my check out email.  

So first of all in the charging document Burke did not even get the address of the Starbucks correct.  Secondly I strictly observe the Jewish Dietary Laws and would never eat at Starbucks.  Thirdly Burge stated that it would not have been possible for me to walk to Starbucks and return within 15 minutes.  Because of his baseless allegation I walked to Starbucks and timed it.  It took me just over 4 minutes to walk there.  In short this was a total lie and fabrication by Burke to exploit the only window he had before I transferred to the DEA.  So he decided to fabricate the charge against me realizing that I did NOT do anything wrong and that he could not defend a charge of fraud on my time sheet by not deducting 30 minute while on the very same day it was documented that I worked an extra 60 minutes for which I did not charge.  So my contract was cancelled and they did everything they could to hold my clearance as long as possible until they were compelled to turn it over to the DEA.  Once the fabricated lie concluded I did transfer to the DEA and served them in many capacities for nearly a decade.

Recently I learned from some of my former coworkers that Burke continued his practices of fraudulently getting the best linguists fired for no good reason and the tables turned.  The FBI investigated Burke’s practices and fired Burke.  Justice served.