Ex-Biden nuclear official who restored Oppenheimer clearance alleges conspiracy to oust him over sex harassment allegations

WASHINGTON — A former top nuclear security official — who helped posthumously restore the security clearance of nuclear bomb architect J. Robert Oppenheimer three years ago — is alleging that he was forced out of his job in a retribution campaign based on dubious allegations of sex harassment.

Frank Rose, who served as the No. 2 at the Energy Department’s nuclear security agency until April of last year, is suing a former colleague whom he claims “strategically leveraged” their professional relationship at a think tank “only to later turn against him” after he’d helped her get a job in the Biden administration.

The colleague, Kathryn Hewitt, then conspired to smear him in the press as a “predator,” according to his defamation complaint filed in Alexandria City Circuit Court on March 27.

“This is an action for defamation arising out of intentionally fabricated, false, and politically motivated statements made by Hewitt alleging that she was sexually harassed by Rose while employed at Brookings Institution,” the filing stated.

Rose is also alleging in a separate civil suit filed the same day in DC federal court that the National Nuclear Security Administration, where he and Hewitt worked, had not informed him what his workplace misconduct accusations were — or even given him an interview with investigators — before he was kicked to the curb.

“Since his forced resignation, Rose has been rejected from applications he submitted for more than 20 positions for which he was highly qualified and has lost lucrative professional opportunities,” according to the lawsuit against the Department of Energy and NNSA.

It added: “NNSA and DOE’s actions caused NNSA and DOE employees and energy industry colleagues to believe that Rose engaged in sexual harassment.”

On his way out the door, the principal deputy administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration was subject to a scathing Politico piece that hinted at the sex and workplace misconduct accusations.

Female co-workers allegedly felt they had to be “cautious” around Rose and heard him make an inappropriate comment to a female foreign government collaborator: “I love you, will you marry me?” according to the outlet.

That article didn’t identify by name Hewitt — now the director for nuclear forensics in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Matters in the Defense Department — but described a co-worker with a similar professional bio.

That included details about her having purportedly filed a sexual harassment claim against him during their time at Brookings, which declined to comment for this article.

Rose’s lawyers claimed that he was never made aware of a claim and raised doubts about it in the federal civil suit, pointing to email evidence to buttress his case and seeking a declaration that his Fifth Amendment rights were violated.

Sources familiar with Rose’s workplace conduct told The Post that the allegations surprised them and didn’t match their experience with the friendly, scholarly and at times “harmlessly awkward” colleague.

“He had an open door policy. He enjoyed kind of just mentoring relationships,” one source said. “I never observed anything that would suggest that there was any kind of harassing behavior.”

According to another source, Rose had never been informed of any wrongdoing at Brookings or NNSA — and his disagreements with Hewitt also appeared to stem from her professional striving. The defamation suit alleges similar claims.

Rose and Hewitt’s time overlapped at the Brookings Institution from 2018 to 2019, where he was her superior before they both made their way over to the NNSA under the Biden administration, but they “never communicated” there,” according to the suit.

Despite the clash with her at Brookings, he stayed in touch and held private meetings with her between 2019 and 2021 to provide career advice before ultimately giving her a recommendation to join the NNSA, where he served in a Senate-confirmed role until April 2024 — the same month Politico published its piece.

Hewitt declined to comment. Her lawyer, Mary Kuntz of Kalijarvi, Chuzi, Newman and Fitch PC, said in a statement: “My client will be addressing the allegations in her response to the complaint which is not due for several days.”

Hewitt is now the director for nuclear forensics in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Matters in the Department of Defense.

No federal attorneys have joined that suit yet, according to Rose’s legal team. “NNSA doesn’t comment on pending litigation,” a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement.

The Post reached out to Politico for comment.