GovernmentExecutive.com

The plight of State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard will be at issue at a Wednesday hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Oversight Subcommittee.

Krongard, who has been accused by whistleblowers in his office and by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee of blocking investigations that could embarrass the administration, will not appear.

The only scheduled witness is Government Accountability Office Comptroller General David Walker, who will discuss an assessment of the State IG's office that GAO released in March.

While Krongard is accused of protecting the interests of the White House, the GAO report attributes concerns about the independence of the State IG to the organization of the office.

The report questions the department's practice of using management personnel to temporarily head the IG's office before returning to their regular jobs and the reliance on Foreign Service officers to lead inspections.

And the report says the department's use of both the IG's office and the Bureau of Diplomatic Security to probe alleged fraud by State employees limits the independence of investigations.

Krongard's opponents say he refused to let investigators go to Iraq to probe issues such as problems with the construction of the U.S. Embassy.

Krongard has not responded in detail, but officials in the IG's office have said that with a special inspector general already in Iraq, they wanted to avoid spending on duplicative work.

Krongard got backing Thursday from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who told the Oversight and Government Reform Committee that the IG's office is "very active."

Rice also offered the first public confirmation that the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency, a group of IGs, is investigating Krongard, as reported by National Journal. "We will use their help," Rice said of the council.

COMMENTS

• Dude, you cannot truly expect us to believe that you have been "converted"! "...Personal vendetta..."? That's a crock of baloney, served up by ultra-partisan democrat crusaders who established an anti-Bush campaign when his popularity numbers were through the roof, because they realized that the only hope for their party was to get the Public to believe a bunch of lies and exaggerations and turn against the Bush Administration. The approach has, admittedly, succeeded far beyond their wildest dreams. "...Cover ups..."? More of the same. Exaggerations, lies, and misdirection by the crusaders. People better wake up -- improperly and wrongly accusing your officials of corruption will only cause them to hunker down to avoid scrutiny -- they could never do their proper work if they didn't. That only creates further appearance of corruption, and the downward cycle continues. Accusing someone of being a witch does not increase their interaction with Society; it only causes them to become more reclusive, adding to the suspicion they are a witch. It's time for America to wake up, and get rid of all these self-appointed "watchdogs" who are destroying or Government's ability to function openly and honestly. John Royce Posted November 2, 2007 9:52 AM
• I was a Republican from 1962 to 2006. Tom Delay ended all that with his corruption. I always hoped the GOP would be the party of honest professionals. Now, I am so appalled I am almost but not quite speechless. The president has us in a war that is a personal vendetta. The Bush Admin is now devoting major resources to cover-ups. My dog could do better than this. Don Jones Posted October 30, 2007 6:24 PM