State Dept. Watchdog: My ‘Foremost Mission Is To Support Bush Administration’ (Waxman Letter)

[Hissyspit]

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/09/18/waxman-state-ig

State Dept. Watchdog: My ‘Foremost Mission Is To Support Bush Administration’

The Inspector General Act of 1978 states Inspectors General (IG) must be “independent and objective” in their analysis. The State Department IG, led by Howard Krongard, has a core mission of “promot integrity” and “prevent and detect waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement” within the Department.

But today, House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) wrote to Krongard under allegations from seven employees that he “has repeatedly interfered with on-going investigations to protect the State Department and the White House from political embarrassment.”

Waxman wrote that one “consistent allegation” is that Krongard believes his “foremost mission is to support the Bush Administration, especially with respect to Iraq and Afghanistan,” rather than “act as an independent and objective check.” Waxman also noted complaints of Krongard’s “partisan political ties.”

Among the allegations:

– Refused to send “any investigators” into Iraq and Afghanistan to “pursue investigations into wasteful spending or procurement fraud.”

– Stalled investigators from cooperating with a “Justice Department investigation into waste, fraud, and abuse relating to the new U.S. Embassy in Iraq.”

– Used “irregular” and incomplete investigative procedures to help exonerate a prime contractor of the U.S. embassy in Iraq of charges of labor trafficking.

– Impeded investigators’ efforts to cooperate with a Justice probe into allegations that a “large private security contractor was smuggling weapons into Iraq.”

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[Gabi Hayes]

1. one more r....

[Lone_Star_Dem]

2. Done with pleasure n/t

[SeattleGirl]

3. I just heard this on Thom Hartmann's show.

Jeebus, does everyone in the Bush Admin take an oath to kiss his fucking ass?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

4. It would appear the answer to that is, yes.

The more I see like this the more I understand how we've ended up where we are today.

[JDPriestly]

8. It must be the surveillance.

Even Greenspan, one of the most powerful men in the world, did not have the courage to speak out until quite a while after he left the administration. The Bush Mafia. It should not be called "the Bush administration." It should be called "the Bush Mafia." There is something very wrong here. I don't know exactly what it is, but people are not normally quite this loyal to a president -- especially not to a president as incompetent as Bush. What is behind this.

[formercia]

11. SMOM

Supreme Military Order of Malta.

Howard Krongard is one.

[seafan]

5. This is BIG BIG BIG.

Christie Harvey was just on Thom Hartmann's show, and she said that there were allegations that IG Howard J. Krongard actually tipped off the subjects of investigations ahead of time.

This puts illegal wiretapping in a whole new light, does it not? For the Bush Administration to unleash unchecked wiretapping on everyone at their whim, Bush has destroyed our entire criminal justice system and State Department.

The cancer that is the Bush Administration is metastasizing rapidly.


And part of this investigation is whether Blackwater USA is illegally smuggling weapons into Iraq.





IG Howard J. Krongard



State Department under Hill scrutiny

By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer
September 18, 2007

- A congressional committee has launched an investigation into the State Department's inspector general, alleging that he blocked fraud investigations, including potential security lapses at the newly built U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

Also under scrutiny is whether Blackwater USA, the private security firm banned this week from working in Iraq for the alleged killing of eight Iraqi civilians, was "illegally smuggling weapons into Iraq," according to a letter to IG Howard J. Krongard that was obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.

The investigation involves allegations that "your strong affinity with State Department leadership and your partisan political ties have led you to halt investigations, censor reports, and refuse to cooperate with law enforcement agencies," Krongard was told.

Based on allegations made by a number of current and former senior investigators who worked for Krongard, the letter from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee also questioned whether he adequately investigated illegal labor trafficking allegations involving the Kuwaiti company that was building the Baghdad embassy.

Krongard's office said the inspector general was "on travel" Tuesday and unavailable to comment. A spokesman for the office did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

.....

State Dept. Watchdog: My ‘Foremost Mission Is To Support Bush Administration’

.....

But today, House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) wrote to Krongard under allegations from seven employees that he “has repeatedly interfered with on-going investigations to protect the State Department and the White House from political embarrassment.”

Waxman wrote that one “consistent allegation” is that Krongard believes his “foremost mission is to support the Bush Administration, especially with respect to Iraq and Afghanistan,” rather than “act as an independent and objective check.” Waxman also noted complaints of Krongard’s “partisan political ties.”

Among the allegations:

– Refused to send “any investigators” into Iraq and Afghanistan to “pursue investigations into wasteful spending or procurement fraud.”

– Stalled investigators from cooperating with a “Justice Department investigation into waste, fraud, and abuse relating to the new U.S. Embassy in Iraq.”

– Used “irregular” and incomplete investigative procedures to help exonerate a prime contractor of the U.S. embassy in Iraq of charges of labor trafficking.

– Impeded investigators’ efforts to cooperate with a Justice probe into allegations that a “large private security contractor was smuggling weapons into Iraq.”

– Interfered with an on-going investigation “into the conduct of Kenneth Tomlinson, the head of Voice of America and a close associate of Karl Rove.”

– Censored portions of inspection reports on embassies so that information on security vulnerabilities was “not disclosed to Congress.”

The report adds that under Krongard, the IG office has seen an “exodus of trained staff” as “people come to work every day fearful” of his “daily antagonism.”

The allegations against Krongard reflect a disturbing trend in the IG offices under the Bush administration. Currently, at least four IGs are under investigation into allegations of “fraud, wasteful spending and abuse of power” — the very flaws they are supposed to be preventing.

Hold on to your seats, everybody.

[indepat]

6. Whistleblowers of the world unite in unison

[Lone_Star_Dem]

7. This story is taking off like a wildfire

It's already on my local news.

[AuntPatsy]

9. making the evening news? I hope it spirals out of control into an all out inferno.

[Roland99]

10. Wow! That's good to hear!

[Hissyspit]

12. .