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Return to Article: Office of Special Counsel chief under fire for erasing computer files

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  Miniscule agency? Peace Corps?

  If he was invovled in personnel issues, it is possible it was all classified. He would have had to have the computers wiped. For example, a PCV employee or staff employee returns from overseas(operations) and is covered under IIPA. The CIA is an exclusion from that IIPA because of someone like Plame or Prouty(CIA husband or wife of diplomat)may have done the clearances overseas for those employees. There is an exception to CIA in their IIPA because of counter intelligence issues like Prouty. There is also an exclusion in their IIPA from CIA because the clearance cannot legally exist. It is a violation of law at the agency. The DoJ would know about the clearance, the IIPA; and there exceptions; with Prouty working for both CIA and DoJ overseas, the exception may include DoJ, which would then be held by DIA/DoD, making an excepjtion for both CIA and DoJ which would lead to further counter intelligence if the IIPA for the employee was violated by either. CIA now works at DoD making this further complicated.

  OSC should have recused like the Director of the FBI because of these issues. Fitzgerlad didn't and he went on to compromise other IIPA.

  Ivestigations of agencies can be difficult. At PC, they have their own Law Enforcement arm. Peace Corps Special Agents. They would have asserted their agency independence. In the past, this has been done with Secret Service agents investigating fraud that is their auspice, but was denied by PCSA that did the investigation and told the Secret Service to leave. The PC now has more authority over traditonally Secret Service issues at the agency and the Director has his own department at Treasury that is excepted for pension, five year extensions and other investigations. The Hatch Act was brought up here, but no investigation was done by Peace Corps, DoJ or the Secret Service.

  Whistleblower allegations go back to Plame and an employee(s) not going to the media because that tends to get people killed in this situation; NOCs overseas, government employees and the host country nationals and intelligence services who would be very involved in the in country IIPA and clearances.

  mitchell Posted November 29, 2007 2:21 PM
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  The OPM IG has been investigating the Office of Special Counsel for over two years without having generated one single conclusion or recommendation. Had special interest groups been truly focused on achieving an outcome concerning OSC whistleblower allegations, they would have questioned the competence of an IG who is incapable of conducting a simplistic criminal investigation involving a miniscule federal agency in a reasonable timeframe. The OPM IG has lacked this capability for the seventeen years of his tenure and is further compromised by a serious lack of integrity in his own office operations.

  Kenneth D. Huffman Posted November 28, 2007 9:36 PM