No Oversight - Part 1: No Inspector General for Hillary’s State DepartmentsteemCreated with Sketch.

in #politics7 years ago (edited)

For more than 2000 days, starting in 2007 and continuing through Clinton's entire tenure at State (2009-2012), there was no Inspector General at the US State Department.

OIG State gty_state_dept_logo_lb_150313_16x9_992.jpg

In 2007, the IG for the State Department Howard Krongard resigned suddenly leaving the State Department without official oversight. The vacancy of Inspector General at the State Department wouldn't be filled until 2013.


The Office of the Inspector General

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is in charge of oversight for US governmental agencies including the post of the Office of the Inspector General at the State Department. The primary responsibilities the IG of the State Department include the following:

* Prevent and detect waste

* Prevent and detect fraud

* Prevent and detect abuse

* Prevent and detect mismanagement

OIG featurewhistle_0.png

OIC official government website

About OIG

OIG inspects each of the approximately 260 embassies, diplomatic posts, and international broadcasting installations throughout the world to determine whether policy goals are being achieved and whether the interests of the United States are being represented and advanced effectively. Additionally, OIG performs specialized security inspections and audits in support of the Department's mission to provide effective protection to our personnel, facilities, and sensitive information. OIG also audits Department and BBG operations and activities to ensure that they are as effective, efficient, and economical as possible. Finally, OIG investigates instances of fraud, waste, and mismanagement that may constitute either criminal wrongdoing or violation of Department and BBG regulations.

Note: BBG Broadcasting Board of Governers


Inspector General Howard "Cookie" Krongard

OIG howard Kron2.jpg

Towards the end of the Bush administration, there were increasing signs that acting Inspector General Howard Krongard was in a conflict of interest in his oversight role because of his close relations to the infamous government contractor Blackwater. Howard's brother, former CIA agent Alvin Krongard, was joining the board of directors at Blackwater fueling the conflict of interest accusations and bringing into question the IG's ability to fairly and effectively execute his duties. At the time Blackwater was in charge of guarding and protecting State Department officials in Iraq.

As accusations of everything from billing improprieties to unwarranted deadly violence to weapons smuggling have emerged concerning Blackwater employees, the fact that Howard Krongard was the department’s inspector general, in charge of overseeing contractors, while Alvin was joining Blackwater’s board seemed to add a dollop of nepotism and conflict of interest to the mix.

Alvin Krongard, a former C.I.A. official involved in hiring Blackwater for security work in Afghanistan in 2002, was the first brother to bail, resigning his board seat on Nov. 16 (another Friday), two days after Howard got a grilling over matters Blackwaterian from Congressman Henry Waxman’s oversight commmittee. At that hearing, Howard at first insisted under oath that Alvin did not work for Blackwater, only to reverse himself after a quick brother-to-brother phone call during a recess in the hearing.

Source: Lede.blogs.nytimes

OIG alvin Kron.jpg

[Alvin Krongard]

Inevitable, Krongard penned his resignation effective January 15th 2008, resulting from the political fallout surrounding his close ties to Blackwater.


A Vacant Post for 2000 Days

The position of IG at the State Department remained vacant for the next 5 years, an unprecedented duration. During this period, the deputy IG filled in for the responsibilities of the Inspector General. The deputy IG at the time was Harold Geisel a minor Obama campaign donor. Ultimately, it is the president who bears reponsibility for ensuring that the State Department has all the tools necessary to carry out its duties with proper oversight . The presence of an Inspector General is a key requirement.

Deputy Inspector General Harold Geisel

OIG HArold.jpg

[Harold Geisel]

From 2008 to 2013 Geisel was the acting IG of the State Department. The prolonged absence of an IG at State could perhaps have deterred whistleblowers from coming forward in relation to Hillary's use of a private email account and other improprieties. This is a significant issue as was learned over the course of the 2016 presidential campaign about fraudulent activities, such as pay-to-play schemes, at the Clinton Foundation occurring predominantly while Hillary was Secretary of State.

Harold W. Geisel, a former ambassador, served as a temporary State Department IG during Clinton’s entire time as head of the State Department. According to Open Secrets, in 2008 Geisel contributed $2,300 to Barack Obama.

Though the sum of $2,300 in donations demonstrates that Geisel was not a major donor to the Obama campaign, it does bring into question whether or not Geisel was capable of being an independent and unbiased practitioner as acting IG for the State Department.

“For five years, including all of Clinton’s time as secretary, the State Department’s Office of Inspector General never had a confirmed inspector,” Arit John wrote for Bloomberg Tuesday. “Instead, it was lead by acting inspector Harold W. Geisel, a former ambassador who was accused of being too cozy to agency leadership by transparency groups like the Project on Government Oversight. Throughout the first half of President Obama’s first term, the absence of a State Department Inspector General while internal scandals and Benghazi rocked the department drew bipartisan criticism.”

Source: Breitbart


Cover Up of Alleged Sex Crimes by US Ambassador

OIG gutman2.jpg

[Howard Gutman Ambassador to Belgium]

Deputy IG Geisel himself was forced to step down from his post as it was disclosed that he actively tried to prevent results of an internal investigations at the State Department from being made public.

The drafts in question showed the inspector general's office had removed damaging findings about high-level interference at the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, which is tasked with investigating allegations of misconduct among diplomatic officials.

Deleted findings that appear in the drafts, but not the final report, suggested State Department officials had at times blocked investigations that might have embarrassed ambassadors or other "rising stars" in the agency.

The inspector general has refused to answer questions about why the passages were eliminated.

Source: Washington Examiner

From my research, the information that Geisel and high ranking officials in Clinton's State Department were attempting to conceal were allegations made against US Ambassador to Belgium, and former top Obama 'bundler', Howard Gutman.

See @v4vapid article: Clinton State Department Cover Up of Pedophilia

Geisel even sued in federal court to keep the findings of the report secret. The Washington Examiner:

"The use of this information and potentially identifying the source of this information for an unauthorized purpose can seriously damage the OIG's credibility and independence," Geisel argued in an affidavit filed June 2013

Geisel claimed the records should be withheld under the Privacy Act and demanded they be returned to the State Department in June 2013.

Weeks after issuing the affidavit Geisel was replaced by Steven Linick who was sworn in as Inspector General of the State Department in September 2013, marking the first time the post was officially filled since 2007.

Later, it was discovered that Geisel was close friends with high-ranking Hillary aid Patrick Kennedy, a definite red-flag.

A POGO investigation found that Geisel was close personal friends with Patrick Kennedy, under secretary of state for management, and that he worked with top officials at the agency to suppress negative information in what critics argued was a multi-layered cover-up.

Source: Washington Examiner 2

Once Geisel was finally replaced, the OIG wasted no time in conducting an audit of the State Department that, in fact, roundly condemned the practices of Hillary Clinton's State Department.

Note: POGO (The Project on Government Oversight)


Rampant Mismanagement at State Department

OIG Ken Hilldog1.jpg

The new Inspector General, Steve Linick, wasted no time after his appointment in issuing "Management Alerts" concerning the practices conducted at the State Department under Hillary Clinton.

"GAO has also reported on the Department’s grant workforce shortage and criticized the over-reliance on contractor employees to oversee grants in Iraq and Afghanistan, which it concluded could lead to conflicts of interest and the potential for loss of government control and accountability for mission-related policy, as well as waste, fraud, and abuse,” the report said.

Along with the well documented and much publicized Clinton email fiasco, the report also noted that improper record keeping was a serious and ongoing problem at the State Department. Additionally, the manner in which government grants were allocated by the State Department were particularly criticized by IG Linick. As a result, the OIG report declared that:

In response to the agency’s failings in this area, the IG suggested that the agency take "immediate action" to fix its "unacceptable lack of internal control" in regard to the grants program, which exposes the agency to "significant financial risk.”

By the time the report was completed and disseminated Hillary's team had long since vacated the State Department and were gearing up for her 2016 presidential run. However, questions about how business was conducted by the Secretary of State and her cohorts lingered and would eventually contribute to costing her the presidency.


Preview: No Oversight Part 2

In Part 2, government contracts, grants and loans issued by the State Department under Clinton will be examined. Furthermore, the issue of the missing $6 billion and the subject of DynCorp contractors will also be explored.

OIG laws for poor.jpg

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.36
TRX 0.12
JST 0.040
BTC 70744.80
ETH 3561.94
USDT 1.00
SBD 4.80