According to an article on the website of The New York Times, Congressman Henry Waxman has Howard J. Krongard in his sights. David Stout and Brian Knowlton (for whom the Times doesn’t have an index page) report that Waxman
sent the inspector general, Howard J. Krongard, a 14-page letter spelling out accusations that he said came from several current and former employees of that office, who documented their charges with e-mails.
– snip –
Some of the accusers have sought “whistleblower” status, which protects government employees who report malfeasance from being punished for doing so, Mr. Waxman said. The accusations are serious and far-reaching, and included assertions that Mr. Krongard has effectively become a political defender of the administration rather than, as his job is meant to be, a studiedly neutral overseer of its spending and practices.
– snip –
Mr. Waxman invited Mr. Krongard to respond to the accusations at a committee hearing on Oct. 16.– snip –
Since Democrats gained control of the House in the 2006 elections, Mr. Waxman has made no secret of his relish in probing activities of the Bush administration. One of the more serious accusations against Mr. Krongard is that he interfered with an investigation into the conduct of Kenneth Tomlinson, the head of Voice of America and a close associate of Karl Rove, President Bush’s former political adviser, by passing information about the inquiry to Mr. Tomlinson.
Mr. Waxman wrote that Mr. Krongard’s detractors have described “a dysfunctional office environment” in which he routinely bullies and berates employees and shows contempt for the work of career professionals. As a result, turnover has been so high that the inspector general’s office has been severely compromised, Mr. Waxman wrote.
“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,” Mr. Waxman wrote, citing the accounts of disgruntled present and former employees. The assertions in Mr. Waxman’s letter included these:
¶That while the State Department had spent more than $3.6 billion on contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan, “you refused to send any investigators to those countries to pursue investigations into wasteful spending or procurement fraud and have concluded no fraud investigations relating to the contracts.”
¶That Mr. Krongard had prevented his investigators from cooperating with a Justice Department investigation into waste, fraud and abuse involving the new United States Embassy in Baghdad, “and followed highly irregular procedures in exonerating the prime contractor, First Kuwaiti Trading Co., of charges of labor trafficking.”
¶That he had barred his investigators from seizing evidence that they believed would have implicated a major State Department contractor in procurement fraud in Afghanistan.
In the inquiry involving Kenneth Tomlinson, State Department investigators determined that Mr. Tomlinson had used his office to run a “horse racing operation” and had improperly put a friend on the payroll, according to a summary of a report made public by a Democratic lawmaker. Mr. Tomlinson has denied doing anything improper.
Mr. Waxman also said in his letter that Mr. Krongard had “censored portions of inspection reports on embassies,” meaning that critical information on security and vulnerability was dropped from reports to Congress.
Mr. Krongard became inspector general in May 2005. He worked previously for Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, an international law firm, and before that, served as general counsel of Deloitte & Touche.
If these charges are true, taxpayer money has been wasted, honest government employees have been prevented from doing their jobs, aid and comfort has been given to criminals defrauding the government, and Americans, Iraqis and Afghanis – already in harm’s way – may have been exposed to greater risk.
Very disturbing. Stout and Knowlton also note
He is a 1961 graduate of Princeton University, where he was class president and an all-American lacrosse goalie, and graduated with honors from Harvard Law School.
Interesting that not all current Inspectors General have behaved in the manner in which Krongard has been alleged to have behaved. Glenn Fine, the IG for the Department of Justice, has been energetic. Check out this Scott Shaneprofile of Glenn Fine in my hometown paper, The New York Times.
Here’s a piece from this blog on Glenn Fine’s report on DOJ and other federal agency radio interoperability.
And a direct link to the DOJ Inspector General Report: Progress Report On Development Of The Integrated Wireless Network In The Department Of Justice.