US probes 'halted' to spare White House

The chief internal watchdog at the state department has been accused by former and current officials of systematically interfering with investigations to protect the White House from political embarrassment. Henry Waxman, the chairman of the House oversight committee, said the officials had contacted his office to complain that Howard Krongard, the state department's inspector-general, "repeatedly halted or impeded" investigations undertaken by his office, including probes into wasteful spending and procurement fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan. Waxman said some of the seven officials who have contacted his office have sought whistleblower status to protect their jobs after alerting congressional investigators to a broad range of allegations about Krongard's behavior Two officials, John DeDona, former assistant inspector-general for investigations, and Ralph McNamara, the former deputy assistant inspector-general for investigations, have resigned in protest of Krongard's activities, Waxman said. Some of the allegations include claims the inspector general prevented state department investigators from seizing evidence they believe would have implicated a large department contractor in Afghanistan of procurement fraud. Former officials also said Krongard barred internal investigators from cooperating with a justice department investigation into allegations that a large private security contractor was smuggling weapons into Iraq. Two former state department employees also alleged that the inspector-general weakened audit reports by repeatedly asking they be revised and refusing to publish them until critical points about the department had been removed. In another case unrelated to Iraq, Krongard allegedly alerted Kenneth Tomlinson, the head of the Broadcasting Board of Directors, which operates Voice of America, to details of a congressional inquiry into allegations Tomlinson was overcharging the government for his services. Krongard allegedly faxed Tomlinson a request for information from the investigators and a list of detailed complaints by a whistleblower. Waxman said he was told that an "important source" became wary of cooperating with the investigation into Tomlinson–a close associate of former White House adviser Karl Rove–as a result of Krongard's actions. The state department said it would provide a response to Waxman but did not comment on the accusations.