Case: 24-2152 Document: 33 Page: 1 Filed: 12/08/2025

NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ______________________

DAMIAN R. NASTRI, Petitioner

v.

MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD, Respondent ______________________

2024-2152 ______________________

Petition for review of the Merit Systems Protection Board in No. DC-1221-18-0420-W-1. ______________________

Decided: December 8, 2025 ______________________

DAMIAN R. NASTRI, Springfield, VA, pro se.

DEANNA SCHABACKER, Office of the General Counsel, United States Merit Systems Protection Board, Washing- ton, DC, for respondent. Also represented by ALLISON JANE BOYLE, KATHERINE MICHELLE SMITH. ______________________ Case: 24-2152 Document: 33 Page: 2 Filed: 12/08/2025

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Before MOORE, Chief Judge, STARK, Circuit Judge, and OETKEN, District Judge. 1 PER CURIAM. Damian Nastri petitions for review of a decision from the Merit Systems Protection Board (Board) dismissing his appeal for lack of jurisdiction. We affirm. BACKGROUND Mr. Nastri was employed as an investigator in the In- vestigations of Senior Officials directorate of the Depart- ment of Defense, Office of Inspector General (the Agency). S. Appx. 61. 2 Mr. Nastri filed a whistleblower complaint with the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), alleging the Agency took personnel actions against him for making pro- tected disclosures. S. Appx. 2; S. Appx. 15. OSC termi- nated his investigation, and Mr. Nastri filed a whistleblower individual right of action (IRA) appeal at the Board. S. Appx. 2; S. Appx. 15. The Board dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. S. Appx. 1–8. Mr. Nastri timely peti- tioned for review. 3 We have jurisdiction under 5 U.S.C. § 7703(b)(1)(A) and 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(9).

1 Honorable J. Paul Oetken, District Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, sitting by designation. 2 “S. Appx.” refers to the appendix attached to Re- spondent’s brief. 3 The Government argues Mr. Nastri’s appeal should be dismissed as untimely because he filed his notice of appeal one day late. Government Br. 8–12. Mr. Nastri argues he timely filed his appeal. Nastri Reply Br. 6–7. We agree with Mr. Nastri, as the revised docket entry shows he timely filed his notice of appeal. ECF No. 1. Case: 24-2152 Document: 33 Page: 3 Filed: 12/08/2025

NASTRI v. MSPB 3

DISCUSSION Our review in an appeal from a Board decision is lim- ited. Generally, we must affirm the decision unless we find it to be “(1) arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law; (2) obtained without procedures required by law, rule, or regulation having been followed; or (3) unsupported by substantial evidence.” 5 U.S.C. § 7703(c). Whether the Board has jurisdiction is a question of law we review de novo. Bryant v. Merit Sys. Prot. Bd., 878 F.3d 1320, 1325 (Fed. Cir. 2017). We review the Board’s fact findings underlying its jurisdictional anal- ysis for substantial evidence. Id. “The Board has jurisdic- tion if an appellant has exhausted his remedies before OSC and makes nonfrivolous allegations that (1) he made a pro- tected disclosure under 5 U.S.C. § 2302(b)(8), (b)(9)(A)(i), or (b)(9)(B)–(D), and (2) such disclosure was a contributing factor in an agency’s decision to take or abstain from a per- sonnel action.” Smolinski v. Merit Sys. Prot. Bd., 23 F.4th 1345, 1350 (Fed. Cir. 2022). The Board concluded Mr. Nastri failed to establish ju- risdiction. S. Appx. 1–8. Specifically, the Board deter- mined Mr. Nastri failed to challenge the administrative judge’s (AJ) ruling that Mr. Nastri did not establish by a preponderance of the evidence he exhausted his claims with OSC because he failed to identify whistleblowing dis- closures and personnel actions brought to OSC’s attention. S. Appx. 6. The Board also determined that even if Mr. Nastri had exhausted his claims, he failed to follow the AJ’s instructions “to identify each disclosure by number, and indicate the date, substance, and recipients of each dis- closure,” thus failing to nonfrivolously allege any of his al- leged disclosures were protected. S. Appx. 7. Mr. Nastri does not challenge these findings on appeal, which are sup- ported by substantial evidence. S. Appx. 1–8. Instead, he states “exhaustion had not yet occurred because the Spe- cial Counsel had harassingly deprived his rights and ille- gally failed to ministerially perform.” Nastri Br. 6 Case: 24-2152 Document: 33 Page: 4 Filed: 12/08/2025

4 NASTRI v. MSPB

(emphasis omitted). He also claims he nonfrivolously al- leged he made protected disclosures but points only to his IRA appeal brief, id. at 11 (citing S. Appx. 61–122), which the Board correctly determined contained “vague and con- clusory allegations [that] . . . do not amount to a nonfrivo- lous allegation that he made a protected disclosure under section 2302(b)(8).” S. Appx. 7. Nowhere does he argue he disclosed the substance of his alleged protected disclosures to OSC. Young v. Merit Sys. Prot. Bd., 961 F.3d 1323, 1328 (Fed. Cir. 2020) (“A party cannot establish jurisdiction through general assertions, but must provide substantive details.”). We therefore affirm the Board’s conclusion that Mr. Nastri failed to establish jurisdiction. Mr. Nastri also challenges a host of the AJ’s procedural rulings relating to denials of his requests for protective or- ders, stays, interlocutory review, disqualification of agency counsel, and dismissal without prejudice for at least one year. Nastri Br. 12–29. Mr. Nastri’s conclusory argu- ments, however, do not overcome his jurisdictional failure. Nor do his arguments demonstrate the Board erred or that the error was harmful. See Valles v. Dep’t of State, 17 F.4th 149, 152 (Fed. Cir. 2021) (applying harmless error rule). CONCLUSION We have considered Mr. Nastri’s remaining arguments and find them unpersuasive. Accordingly, we affirm. AFFIRMED COSTS No costs.