Were ArmorGroup Allegations Quashed?

(CBS)  CBS News first reported this month on the hazing and humiliating of local employees and other serious breaches of ethics and policy by civilian security guards during wild parties at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Turns out, the State Department was warned that things weren't right at the embassy, but nothing was done. Now there are troubling questions for the man once in charge of investigating those problems, reports CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson.

As inspector general for the State Department, Howard Krongard was supposed to be an independent watchdog.

It was his job to investigate the very type of misconduct alleged at the U.S. embassy in Kabul: forced sexual hazing of guards, contract fraud and waste of tax dollars.

CBS News has learned that serious allegations about the embassy reached Krongard's office two years ago - where they apparently vanished into thin air.

How that could've happened is even harder to explain when you consider who made the complaint: Sen. Joe Lieberman, head of the Homeland Security Committee. His staffers say they notified Krongard's office about security and fraud allegations made by high-level whistleblowers from inside ArmorGroup, the company that provides embassy security.

Asked if he remembers that, Krongard said, "No. I Have no knowledge of that whatsoever."

Watch: Excerpt of Attkisson's Interview with Krongard

But CBS News has learned Krongard had a special and controversial link to the company he should have been policing. His brother Buzzy, former executive director of the CIA, was on ArmorGroup's board of directors.

Official: Kabul Embassy Hazing Covered Up
Kabul Embassy Security Co. Admits Error
Images of alleged hazing (Graphic Content)
Shocking Hazing at U.S. Embassy in Kabul
Graphic Content: Additional video of Kabul hazing
Alcohol Banned at U.S. Embassy in Kabul
Letter to Sec. Clinton describing abuses (.pdf)

ArmorGroup's Kabul embassy contract is worth $187 million tax dollars.

Attkisson asked Krongard about the conflict of interest:

Attkisson: Did you know your own brother was on ArmorGroup's board of directors?

Krongard: No , I did not.

Attkisson: Why didn't you know?

Krongard: Dunno. I guess No. 1 I'm not sure why I should've known, but No. 2 he never told me.

Attkisson: You should have known, in the opinion of a lot of people, because it would've been a perceived conflict of interest.

Krongard: He was a senior official in the Central Intelligence Agency; he did not discuss his matters with me.

Attkisson: Would you like to have known in retrospect?

Krongard: If you're asking me do I think that either ArmorGroup or he should have told me, yes. It wouldn't have made any difference, as I say, I never had anything to do with ArmorGroup.

Krongard insists there was no conflict because he and his brother "lead separate lives."

But if the scenario sounds familiar - it is.

About the same time the ArmorGroup complaint disappeared in Krongard's office, lawmakers accused him of dragging his feet on probes into another war contractor: Blackwater.

On Nov. 14, 2007, Krongard was asked under oath if brother Buzzy was involved in Blackwater. He said no, but faced with evidence to the contrary, he phoned his brother during a break and then reversed course.

"I had not been aware of that, and I want to state on the record right now that I hereby recuse myself from any matters having to do with Blackwater."

Krongard resigned under fire a short time later.

We showed our documentary evidence of Buzzy Krongard's ArmorGroup ties to Danielle Brian. She heads the watchdog group - the Project on Government Oversight - that exposed the embassy guard scandal.

"To find that the I.G.'s brother was also on the board of ArmorGroup is - is breathtaking," Brian said.

There's no way to know what would have happened without the possible conflict of interest. But watchdogs say that had the ArmorGroup allegations been aggressively investigated then, it might have prevented two years' worth of fraud, waste and security risks being alleged today.

[Maureen19]

I have a similar situation following me from job to job for years of a personal nature. Some of my friends from work say it is Bonding Insurance & I have tried my best to get it so I can correct it & hold the people responsible for those lies but I can't because everyone is afraid of being sued because they know it is too personal. If anyone out there can help me get a hard copy, I would be grateful. Please write back to my blog site below for any feedback.They say to get a hard copy of your Bonding Insurance report, you must be a resident of CA or Minn. I am not. Every job gets it so if someone hires me they will be sure to get it & I pray that my next Manager will have the decency to give me a copy of this so I can correct the source. PLEASE REVIEW MY WEB-SITE ATTACHMENT BELOW. I created this blog for myself so someone out there can help me. Is there no justice in this world ??? Thank You !! Maureen
http://maureenottoson.blogspot.com/2010/04/maureen-ottoson-help-her-get-copy-of.html

[GETAGRIP2]

Really? Saying Bush is responsible for some tiny contract way out in Kabul, as POTUS, is like you being held responsible for his actions.... Didn't think so, so Get a Grip and a Clue.

You are somewhat correct that the war zone itself would not have existed albeit a resulting action from people attacking us in New York and at the Pentagon (not forgetting the crash in Shanksville, PA). However you seem to be mixing the Iraq "outrage" with Afghanistan and this is about an Embassy, not a war zone exactly.... Again, please get a grip and a clue.

[bubbadubba]

C'mon Obama haters, c'mon, you can say it.
Now don't disappoint us.
OK I'll say it for you...
"THIS IS ALL OBAMA'S FAULT!"
LOL

[GETAGRIP2]

Hypocrisy revealed? One item which I found interesting was the POGO leader's own blogs, following her apparent and probably unnecessary and unwelcome involvement as our government voted up or down on the F22 replacement engine issue; whether it would be struck from the DOD defense budget allocation. After it was in deed struck, which I was happy to see as well + the fact DOD SEC Gates and some Senators also wanted to see it struck, the POGO leader blogged that she was on a "high" from "winning" the issue, as if it was her issue, and later, said she was "breaking out the single malt", which I assume was in the office in D.C. someplace? So, to let off steam after the pressures of weeks of lobbying, and in an office setting maybe, the self-righteous leader of POGO turns to expensive single malt whiskey to celebrate, and party down with her staff? Non-profit must be a good business if you can afford the single malt good stuff. But, how is it ok for her to associate release of emotion and anxiety from several weeks of intense activity and pressure by using alcohol?

This is no justification for the extent of the apparent party(s) at that Embassy and nobody denies that either, even though they all looked like they were having a good time at a theme party (gone too far, yes). On the other hand, when guys and gals living in crap, cramped conditions, in a chaotic, armpit of a country, treated like 2nd class citizens by the very snobbish diplomats they protect, and relegated to Camp Sullivan with no release mechanism for their own building stress and anxiety levels in a dangerous and unpredictable environment ? what?s going to happen? I rather agree with the Lord of the Flies characterization as in some ways, seems these people were shunted off to a cage by the very folks who employ them, basically left to their own devices. Would you not break after a year of having to ride in full body armor in armored vehicles round trip just to go to work, with the threat of getting blown up on the road along the way at any time. On top of that, pile on the normal threat of death or bodily harm while you are at work?

I submit to you dear readers, the good people, mixed in with a handful of boneheads, at that Embassy deal with far more than that endured by a non-profit crusader who goes home to a comfy house every night, and in fact, blogged once about a zen like atmosphere by a fish pond as they blogged away on her laptop with high speed internet connection no doubt. Lovely image. What a hypocritical pansy, and smacks of the exchange, right or wrong but a classic in its own right, between Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men.

[GETAGRIP2]

Will you be next? Imagine for a moment you were a business owner, a government employee, or any employee or simple citizen for that matter. Imagine somebody mounted some lurid details behind your back, especially if the details weren't true or only half true, but made you look like a complete jerk without the opportunity to explain or give context first. And then, without coming to you like a reasonable, mature adult would do and say, "OK, we have this information. Care to talk to us about it?" No, those doing this don't even give you the opportunity to say, ?Oh, that's fixed, this one I'm working on - hey, didn't know about that one. Thanks, I'll get right on it", because, at the end of the day, most people take pride in what they do, and want to do a good job. But no, your whole life, business and reputation is carelessly given to the media, AP picks it up maybe during a slow news period, just to fill up some air time or paper space, everybody else out there is always on the hunt for a juicy story, so you and your life, family and business are carelessly tossed out there ? and you don?t know about it either until you see it on the internet/newspaper. How would you feel if that happened to you? Devastated and there are so many adjectives left to describe how you would feel. This, in simple terms, is what POGO does. Imagine as you spend the next weeks, months and years trying to repair your reputation amongst your family and worse, the entire world these days. Perhaps you quit your job out of stress, disgust, and anxiety because of the seemingly insurmountable mess. Some people might "off" themselves because of it.

The aftermath. In the end, your side of the story which might show the lurid details are false, only half true, maybe stuff you already fixed before or were working on at the time, never see the light of day. This kind of follow up story will never see the front page of any paper or website and even if it did, you have no credibility on the ?world stage? because, as I said in the beginning, people mostly believe what they read in the paper or on the internet is true. It would be rather boring to read follow up stories showing you are not such a bad person really, and the folks who printed the original mess don't want to put it out there as it makes them look ridiculous and irresponsible. POGO (for example), may dig some more to find some more dirt to counter your attempt to fight back, just to keep you ?down?, and so they can continue to look justified and righteous. Their "job" is done after they tossed a grenade into your house without really knowing who or what was inside, then they just go on to the next one, with no responsibility or care in the world about the mess they left behind. It just doesn't matter to them.

[GETAGRIP2]

I just can't get over the unqualified, wildly off base comments with no bearing to anything remotely connected to this. I find it sad and ridiculous how ill informed most Americans are as they repeat, like parrots, whatever line they hear of television or read on the internet, seemingly adopted as their own thought. It is sad to watch those incapable of forming an independent thought on their own, much less a coherent sentence structure, have so much "insight". Spoon feeding. A simple form of brain washing - repeated message and images ? massaging silly puddy of the American brain.

This whole ArmorGroup issue began with and is still about 1 person's quest for money, for his own personal gain. Issues that have been resolved were drug through the mud, and when that didn't work, this 1 man and his representatives used POGO, as a media pawn, to further their own selfish gain motives. A real scam, media job. Bravo!

POGO is easy to use (manipulate) as the gum chewing volunteers are suckers for any little tidbit to put on the news, regardless of the repercussions to many innocent and good people involved - in the name of "rooting out corruption". While a worthwhile endeavor and one I really, really agree with by the way, I find POGO's methods totally irresponsible, overshadowed it seems (you should see some of the blogs, it is sickening, lip licking stuff) by a sadistic drive to embarrass and cause havoc, as most government officials fall all over themselves with media exposure. Not because they are inept or corrupt necessarily, but POGO is so jaded, they think just everybody in the government is as such, and have sunken to this attack mode without a solid, 2 or 3 sided, organized, professional look at the entire issue first.

These days, once you fire off the media bullet, you can't call it back and POGO will never publish retraction or admit any wrong doing of their own. Why should they? The very crusade they lead does not apply to them apparently. There is no oversight of THEM. They have the Constitution of their side and can freely accuse and drag down whomever they think is a worthy target.

[dnatech]

Pathetic! But nobody will be seriously convicted...maybe a few hand slaps...but that is it. These people (and many others) are the "chosen" corrupts in this country. The other "chosen" corrupts were involved in the economic meltdown: Bankers, traders, real estate personal, real estate appraisers, and many, many others. These number in the tens of thousands in their play in the pyramid scheme of housing. It was criminal...the whole world knows it. But these people are MEANT to feed all the politicos in this country. Think the FBI will go after these people...WRONG! The FBI KNOWS which side of their bread is buttered...lol....it is all so pathetic and happened right in front of everybody's noses. The empire that is dying always is filled with the corrupts.

[White_Duck]

Nepotism and Theft by deciet or fraud sound about right here. If he's guilty, hang 'em high. It is about time this ytpe of theft is punished. And more strictly so in the Government.

[dahizzle]

More Bush-sh*t, plain and simple. There is still $80 billion in taxpayer money missing and unaccounted for in Iraq. Did the T-Baggers even blink an eye? Of course not. Zombies eyes don't blink.

[earlysaid]

There was a serious lack of accountability during the Bush administration. If you were a loyal republican lackey you were good to go. This type corruption is going to keep coming out of the last eight years of incompetence.


As to zzacrat's accusation - the one and only thing Democrats did for the last two years of Bush's term was put on the breaks. They prevented republicans from harming the country any more than they already had.

[brianbwb-2009]

While I would acknowledge that the Democrats lacked the spine to fully jam on the breaks, and stop funding this corruption, I would also say that zzacrat's accusation is similar to blaming the police for Ted Bundy's victims.

In other words the people who committed the crimes bear no responsibility, only those who failed to stop them.

Also also wik.