Posted on 07/25/2004 10:33:51 PM PDT by kattracks
When the Bush administration took over the Pentagon's beleaguered inspector general office in 2002, officials found something startling: The director's office, at some point, had been electronically bugged.
Sorting out why the listening device was inside the walls of the office, with a cord leading to another office, is just one issue that had to be addressed by Joseph E. Schmitz, President Bush's pick three years ago to be the Defense Department's top cop.
A Naval Academy graduate and civil litigation lawyer, Mr. Schmitz was tapped to run the office responsible for investigating million-dollar fraud in the far-flung defense industry and criminal misconduct by senior Defense Department employees.
His nomination delayed by Senate Democrats, Mr. Schmitz finally came on board a year into the Bush administration. He set out to right a ship dogged by charges of corruption and cronyism.
But he also had to deal with an electronic bug apparently left over from eight years of the Clinton administration.
An internal "info memo," a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times, was written by a staffer in Mr. Schmitz's office:
"On June 19, 2002, during a routine meeting with the director of security for the Department of Defense, it was reported to my staff and me that a potential 'listening device' was previously discovered in the infrastructure of DoDIG.
"The DoD directorate of security conducted a routine sweep for electronic listening devices in certain areas of the ninth and tenth floors of the DoDIG on Aug. 7, 2000. The sweep revealed that a wire had been installed inside the wall structure leading to and from the ninth and tenth floors of the DoDIG (areas which comprise the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the personal office space of the inspector general)."
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
And just WHAT info was obtained?
Now we see how Clinton managed to use blackmail to get the Pentagon brass to shut up while he slaughtered Serb civilians, cut defense intelligence, and promoted Wes Clark above 3 more deserving candidates.
How does the key word Pentagonbuggate sound?
Damn we have another wonderful left over from the Clintoons.
Mancuso, 50, has been serving as the acting inspector general of the Department of Defense since Eleanor Hill left the department in April 1999.
Grassley has detailed several examples of what he characterized as Mancuso’s inadequacies as a leader in a report he sent to three Senate committees.
On June 29, despite Grassley’s report, President Clinton formally nominated Mancuso for the Pentagon’s inspector general position and did so with full support from top Pentagon officials, including Secretary of Defense William Cohen.
Grassley has accused Mancuso of questionable integrity and judgment, from verbally criticizing Mancuso’s leadership of the Tailhook investigation in 1991, to writing in the report how he gave preferential treatment and aid to a senior Pentagon agent who had been convicted of a felony.
Grassley’s report, which also was sent to the Senate’s Armed Services Committee and Government Affairs Committee, states that under Mancuso’s guidance as director of the DCIS, agents and employees "condoned and encouraged maltreatment of rank and file agents, including the use of falsified investigative reports, while protecting and rewarding a fellow manager who was a convicted felon."
The report also claims that Mancuso helped Larry Hollingsworth, the former director of internal affairs, retire with full benefits six months after Hollingsworth was convicted in April 1996 of filing a false U.S. passport application in the name of a deceased teen-ager.
In addition, Grassley’s report cited another criminal investigator who falsified reports, fabricated witness statements during at least two investigations and received a cash bonus after this agent’s misconduct was brought to the attention of senior DCIS management.
I knew that we didn't know all of Clinton's tricks, threats, and abuses. Why do you think he smiles every day that he's out walking around on the taxpayer's dime?
fyi
Thanks for the ping!
The chief threat to national security was a Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. < /sarcasm >
How come we're just hearing about all of this now?
Glad to know we have so much power. Guess we'd better start throwing it around. I hear that Dan Rather is scared of our emails and calls. he he he
In a 38-page report given Tuesday to the Armed Services Committee, Grassley details his criticisms of Mancuso, stating that the nominee has given preferential treatment to a convicted felon, turned a blind eye to a rogue investigator and botched the scandalous Tailhook investigation in which Navy and Marine Corps pilots were accused of sexually attacking female officers during a 1991 convention in Las Vegas.
Mancuso let Special Agent Larry Hollingsworth stay on the payroll for six months after he was convicted of forging a passport application in the name of a deceased teen-ager. The delay, Grassley alleges, was to let Hollingsworth retire on his 50th birthday and collect full benefits.
Mancuso sent a letter on official inspector general stationery to a judge presiding over Hollingsworth’s sentencing asking for leniency, and approved an "outstanding" performance evaluation after Hollingsworth admitted to criminal activity.
Mancuso defended his decision to use stationery with the department’s logo, saying he was hoping to give the judge a balanced view of Hollingsworth and saw no conflict of interest doing so as the DCIS director.
"I was trying to give a full picture of an individual while not condoning the crime," Mancuso told the Senators.
Grassley also accused Mancuso of overlooking misconduct by another investigator, Mathew Walinksi, who was accused of falsifying witness statements and then given a cash bonus after supervisors reprimanded him.
In addressing concerns about Walinksi, Mancuso said the cash bonus was an oversight because personnel paperwork had gotten lost in the shuffle. He said Walinski’s work was deemed "sloppy and slipshod," but not malicious, and that the investigator was subsequently removed from his duties and told to get counseling.
Because of the allegations surrounding Walinksi, Mancuso said he changed departmental policy and now requires all witnesses’ statements be tape-recorded and transcribed.
Mancuso, 50, has been serving as the acting inspector general since Eleanor Hill left the department in April 1999. He has served 28 years in law enforcement, 18 of them with the inspector general’s office.
Grassley first logged his complaints against Mancuso in October, and renewed his campaign against the nominee Monday.
"The IG’s office must be beyond reproach," Grassley wrote in a letter Tuesday to Sen. John Warner, chairman of the Armed Service Committee. "Having questions about judgment and appearance — as summarized here — is not beyond reproach."
Mancuso has the support of Pentagon officials, including Defense Secretary William Cohen. In fact, Cohen had his staff investigate Grassely’s claims in his October report and sent a letter to Grassley confirming his support for Mancuso.
You will never, ever see any hint of this in the MSM, and nobody in the Bush administration will follow through on this. The rule in the administration is to forget about the past, and get on with the future.
Management's favorable treatment of the convicted felon, Mr. Larry J. Hollingsworth, will result in his receiving substantial sums of money in federal law enforcement retirement annuities between 1996 and the year 2008. If DCIS management had exercised good judgment and other more reasonable options, Mr. Hollingsworth would not have been allowed to retire on his 50th birthday and receive the $750,000.00 in benefits. He would have had to wait 12 years to retire. In another matter, a criminal investigator, who falsified reports, Mr. Mathew A. Walinski, also received a cash bonus award after his misconduct was brought to the attention of senior DCIS management.
The staff report cites three separate personnel cases brought to the Subcommittee's attention involving DCIS. Each of these cases involves questionable personnel practices that were either condoned or ignored by DCIS management between 1993 and 1996.
Was it installed AFTER the election I wonder, so someone could listen in when the new CIC was in office?
100 mile,100 miles, I'd walk 100 miles......
You, might try a take on that as an answer to Jewels question.
Clinton put the most incompetent fools in office .. Good Grief!!
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