While serving as an appointee in the Trump administration, Mark Moyar observed flagrant corruption in the federal government, he writes in his new book, “Masters of Corruption: How the Federal Bureaucracy Sabotaged the Trump Presidency.”

Moyar, the William P. Harris chair of military history, will discuss his experiences Sept. 13 at 4 p.m. in Plaster Auditorium with a reception to follow at 5:30 p.m.

While serving as director of civilian-military affairs for the U.S. Agency for International Development, Moyar said he identified evidence of fraud amongst several senior career bureaucrats and reported it. 

In retaliation, the bureaucrats corroborated to have a special operations general falsely accuse Moyar of revealing classified information, according to “Masters of Corruption,” which was published in May by Encounter Books. 

“Appointees who were committed to implementing the policies of the Trump administration encountered massive resistance from the career bureaucracy and, even more troublingly, from political appointees who joined forces with bureaucrats for self-serving reasons,” Moyar said. “The book recounts the war between the Trump appointees who sought to drain the swamp and the career bureaucrats who are the preeminent creatures of the swamp.” 

Moyar said he hoped to provide a guide for Republicans who will have to work in hostile bureaucracies, but wrote the book with all Americans in mind.

“In a country committed to ‘government of the people, by the people, and for the people,’ every citizen should be concerned by the usurpation of power by a corrupt administrative state,” Moyar said.

Chairman and Associate Professor of History Korey D. Maas said the lecture will focus on Moyar’s own experiences in the Trump administration.

“He blew the whistle on what he believed to be serious examples of waste, fraud, and other wrongdoing in the Agency,” Maas said. 

Instead of receiving standard whistleblower protection from the Obama-appointed inspector general, his security clearance was suspended, and he was pressured to resign according to Maas.

Moyar said he will cover key events in the book, primarily those that may help students make good decisions in their own lives, and touch on broader themes of politics, ethics, religion, leadership, education, and resilience.

“Partisan politics is often a dirty business, and service in government is often a thankless task, so the book explains why people of virtue should participate in politics and government rather than turning away from them,” Moyar said.