GBFan
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On Tuesday the Associated Press reported that a unit within the EPA run by President Obama’s political staff has been operating illegally as a “rogue law enforcement agency,” blocking inspector general efforts to conduct investigations.
The EPA’s so-called Office of Homeland Security (OHS) is overseen by EPA administrator Gina McCarthy’s own chief of staff and has hindered inspector general inquiries into “employee misconduct, computer security and external threats, including compelling employees involved in cases to sign non-disclosure agreements,” the AP reports.
“Under the heavy cloak of `national security,’ the Office of Homeland Security has repeatedly rebuffed and refused to cooperate with the OIG’s ongoing requests for information or cooperation,” EPA inspector general for investigations Patrick Sullivan wrote in his prepared congressional testimony. “This block unquestionably has hamstrung the Office of Inspector General’s ability to carry out its statutory mandate to investigate wrongdoing of EPA employees.”
Sullivan said that OHS even conducted its own investigation of convicted fraudster John Beale, who stole about $1 million from the agency while posing as an agent for the Central Intelligence Agency. Sullivan said that OHS’s investigation of Beale’s activities impeded his own investigation.
EPA OHS was set up in 2003 through an administrative order, but has no legal authority to enforce the law or conduct investigations. Since 2012, however, it has been the point of contact for investigations connected to national security.
“I wholeheartedly believe that the current situation represents a significant liability for the EPA, the Congress and the American taxpayers,” Sullivan said. “In short, the actions of OHS violate the IG Act, the very legislation that Congress passed to ensure federal agencies have oversight to prevent and detect fraud waste and abuse. Without a shred of doubt, I can say that OHS is preventing the OIG from doing what Congress has mandated us to do.”
The EPA’s so-called Office of Homeland Security (OHS) is overseen by EPA administrator Gina McCarthy’s own chief of staff and has hindered inspector general inquiries into “employee misconduct, computer security and external threats, including compelling employees involved in cases to sign non-disclosure agreements,” the AP reports.
“Under the heavy cloak of `national security,’ the Office of Homeland Security has repeatedly rebuffed and refused to cooperate with the OIG’s ongoing requests for information or cooperation,” EPA inspector general for investigations Patrick Sullivan wrote in his prepared congressional testimony. “This block unquestionably has hamstrung the Office of Inspector General’s ability to carry out its statutory mandate to investigate wrongdoing of EPA employees.”
Sullivan said that OHS even conducted its own investigation of convicted fraudster John Beale, who stole about $1 million from the agency while posing as an agent for the Central Intelligence Agency. Sullivan said that OHS’s investigation of Beale’s activities impeded his own investigation.
EPA OHS was set up in 2003 through an administrative order, but has no legal authority to enforce the law or conduct investigations. Since 2012, however, it has been the point of contact for investigations connected to national security.
“I wholeheartedly believe that the current situation represents a significant liability for the EPA, the Congress and the American taxpayers,” Sullivan said. “In short, the actions of OHS violate the IG Act, the very legislation that Congress passed to ensure federal agencies have oversight to prevent and detect fraud waste and abuse. Without a shred of doubt, I can say that OHS is preventing the OIG from doing what Congress has mandated us to do.”
