I have this really bad habit of surfing through news websites at least once an hour - I just have to know what's happening all the time. It's an illness; it's a compulsion; and sometimes it pays off.
The WaPo has a new story that got me excited: Waxman: State Dept. Official Thwarted Probes
It appears that Howard Krongard (nope, I never heard of him, either), the inspector general at the State Department, has been running interference for the White House on potentially embarrassing - dare I wonder, illegal - actions:
Howard J. Krongard, the State Department's inspector general, has repeatedly thwarted investigations and censored reports that might prove politically embarrassing to the Bush administration, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform charged today in a 13-page letter.
Seven current and former members of Krongard's staff have already testified to Waxman's committee. And, even better, the e-mail trail hasn't been scrubbed yet, so the committee also got some damning messages that rope in folks in addition to Krongard:
Among the e-mails obtained by the committee are exchanges between staff members as they discuss Krongard's decision not to cooperate with the Justice Department on the embassy probe. "Wow, as we all [k]now that is not the normal and proper procedure," an investigator wrote to Assistant IG John A. DeDona. DeDona forwarded the e-mail to the Deputy IG, William E. Todd, saying, "I have always viewed myself as a loyal soldier but hopefully you sense my frustration in my voicemail yesterday."
Todd wrote back: "I know you are very frustrated. John, you need to convey to the troops the truth, the IG told us both Tuesday to stand down on this and not assist, that needs to be the message."
DeDona responded: "Unfortunately, under the current regime, the view within INV [the office of investigations] is to keep working the BS cases within the beltway, and let us not rock the boat with more significant investigations."
The "embassy probe" referenced above is the Justice's Department's investigation into allegations of fraud and waste in building that gigantic embassy in Baghdad - you know, the one that's bigger than Vatican City? And this is just one of the issues Waxman included in his letter.
In addition to specific instances of possible wrongdoing, Waxman observes that Krongard has managed to destroy both the morale and the staffing levels in his office:
The letter also said that Krongard's actions have resulted in a "dysfunctional office environment in which you routinely berate and belittle personnel, show contempt for the abilities of career government professionals and cause the staff to fear coming to work." The letter said high personnel turnover has left the office with many senior-level vacancies and only seven of 27 investigator positions filled.
This will be another front in the battle to make this administration accountable. While I rejoice at the news, I do worry whether Waxman can follow through on everything he's started investigating.
On the other hand - and being a Libra, there's always another hand - maybe Waxman thinks if he exerts pressure on multiple points at once, he can find a weak link he can exploit.
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