Were ArmorGroup Allegations Quashed?
Russia's Andrei Arshavin heads the ball during a training session of Russia at the Euro 2012 soccer championship in Sulejowek, Poland, Sunday, June 10, 2012. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev) / Sergey Ponomarev
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.
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved. 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.
http://maureenottoson.blogspot.com/2010/04/maureen-ottoson-help-her-get-copy-of.html
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.
Now don't disappoint us.
OK I'll say it for you...
"THIS IS ALL OBAMA'S FAULT!"
LOL
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.
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.
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.
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.
In other words the people who committed the crimes bear no responsibility, only those who failed to stop them.
Also also wik.