A disgraced former FBI agent claims that CIA director-nominee John Brennan is a convert to Islam. That's false -- and it doesn't matter anyway.

Pete Souza/The White House

So you thought that with Barack Obama's reelection, scurrilous whisper campaigns about secret Muslims would finally die out?

No dice.

Josh Marshall calls our attention to a new, wacky, baseless conspiracy theory: that John Brennan, President Obama's nominee for CIA director, is a Muslim convert. Here, from former birther clearinghouse WorldNetDaily, is the tale:

One of the FBI's former top experts on Islam has announced that President Obama's pick to head the Central Intelligence Agency, John Brennan, converted to Islam years ago in Saudi Arabia. As WND has reported, former FBI Islam expert John Guandolo has long warned that the federal government is being infiltrated by members of the radical Muslim Brotherhood. But Guandolo now warns that by appointing Brennan to CIA director, Obama has not only chosen a man "naïve" to these infiltrations, but also picked a candidate who is himself a Muslim. "Mr. Brennan did convert to Islam when he served in an official capacity on the behalf of the United States in Saudi Arabia," Guandolo told interviewer and radio host Tom Trento.

It's only Monday, but this has to be the least sensible conspiracy theory of the week. It's essential to point out that there is exactly zero evidence for this claim. Nor is Guandolo a reliable source. He resigned from the FBI, apparently after the agency opened an investigation into his multiple affairs. Since then, he's made a career on the anti-Islam circuit.

Moreover, as with the false Obama claims, there's the question of, So what? There can be little doubt about Brennan's zeal for fighting Islamist terror. Though he has reportedly been an internal voice calling for controls over drone killings, he has overseen White House counterterror strategy over the last four years, as drones have become the hallmark of the War on Terror and the top ranks of terrorist organizations -- including Osama bin Laden -- have been killed. In fact, most critiques of the Obama terror strategy that Brennan has spearheaded have focused on whether it's too focused on targeted killing.