September 19, 2007

State Dept. Watchdog Becomes Focus Of Contracting Probe

Rep. Henry Waxman is sounding the alarm about another Bush administration official: the inspector general at the State Department, Howard Krongard, who Waxman contends interfered with investigations into contract fraud in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In a letter yesterday, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee accused Krongard of failing to look into allegations of fraud and abuse in an attempt to avoid embarrassing the administration.

"One consistent element in these allegations is that you believe your foremost mission is to support the Bush Administration, especially with respect to Iraq and Afghanistan, rather than act as an independent and objective check on waste, fraud and abuse on behalf of U.S. taxpayers," the letter reads. "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."

In a written statement, Krongard stated that he hadn't read the letter, but that media reports suggested it was "replete with inaccuracies including those made by persons with their own agendas."

Waxman's charges against Krongard are juicy. Reuters enumerates them:

-refused to send investigators to Iraq and Afghanistan to investigate possible wasteful spending or procurement fraud involving $3.6 billion in State Department contracts in the countries;

-prevented his investigators from cooperating with a Justice Department probe into waste, fraud and abuse related to the new U.S. Embassy being built in Baghdad;

-kept investigators from seizing evidence that they believed would have implicated a large U.S. contractor in procurement fraud in Afghanistan;

-interfered with an investigation into the conduct of Kenneth Tomlinson, the chairman of that Broadcasting Board of Governors, by giving him information about the inquiry.

As inspector general at the State Department, Krongard is charged with acting as an independent investigator into waste and fraud in the federal government. He has held the post since May 2005; the Post notes that before his appointment, he was a lawyer without prior experience in the State Department and a significant donor to both parties.

He testified [PDF] before Waxman's committee earlier this summer about problems with the workers constructing the new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad -- one of the areas Waxman is targeting.

In the past, the California Democrat has sparred with the Defense Department over a similar matter, accusing officials of blocking classified files during an investigation into other contract abuses in Iraq. He's also repeatedly slammed the White House, specifically Vice President Dick Cheney, for security breaches of classified material.

Posted at 9:02 AM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, House
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