WASHINGTON - The State Department's security chief resigned Wednesday after a scathing review of security in Iraq that criticized the supervision of private contractors there and recommended changes in the way diplomats are protected.
Richard Griffin, a former Department of Veterans Affairs and Secret Service official who had been assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security for two years, announced his departure Wednesday morning at a staff meeting. He is expected to leave office by Nov. 1.
In a memorandum to President Bush dated Wednesday, Griffin gave no reason for his departure, saying only that he would "move on to new challenges." Saying that Diplomatic Security agents "serve on the front lines of the Global War on Terror," Griffin wrote that the State Department could "not possibly carry out its foreign policy mission" without them.
A State Department announcement said Gregory Starr, a career Diplomatic Security official who served as Griffin's deputy, would take over as acting head of the office.
Upheaval in the Bureau ofDiplomatic Security began with the Sept. 16 deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians in a shooting involving guards working for Blackwater USA. Blackwater is one of three private U.S. companies employed under State Department contracts to protect U.S. diplomats and other civilian officials in Iraq.
After the shootings, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice named a commission to review the State Department's security operations in Iraq. It examined whether the proper regulations and oversight were in place, whether contractors were following rules, and what types of changes should be made.
Its key finding, in a report released Tuesday, was that "prompt measures should be taken to strengthen the coordination, oversight and accountability aspects of the State Department's security practices in Iraq ... to reduce the likelihood that future incidents will occur that adversely affect the overall U.S. mission in Iraq."
The panel appointed by Rice found that the U.S. Embassy lacks sufficient guidelines for the use of deadly force and for investigating cases resulting from such force.
Rice adopted 19 of the panel's recommendations, including the need for improvements in communication among the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, U.S. military forces and the Iraqi government. She also endorsed a new structure to quickly collect evidence on use of force by contractors and determine whether it was justified.
The Sept. 16 shootings are under investigation by an FBI team in Iraq for possible criminal prosecution.
In Baghdad the Iraqi government remains determined to expel Blackwater and is searching for legal remedies to overturn an American-imposed decree that exempts all foreign bodyguards from prosecution under local laws, officials said Wednesday.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government accepted the findings of an Iraqi investigative committee that determined Blackwater guards, without provocation, killed 17 Iraqis last month in Nisoor Square in western Baghdad.
Iraqi investigators declared that Blackwater should be expelled and $8 million should be paid as compensation for each victim.
The officials said the Cabinetdecided Tuesday to establish a committee to find ways to repeal a 2004 directive issued by L. Paul Bremer, chief of the former U.S. occupation government in Iraq. The order placed private security companies outside Iraqi law.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they lacked authority to release the information.
The Iraqi probe into the Sept. 16 shooting found that Blackwater personnel guarding a State Department convoy opened fire on Iraqis without reason. Blackwater said its men came under fire first, but no witnesses have been found to corroborate the claim.
In a Shiite district southeast of Baghdad, meanwhile, two bombs exploded seconds apart near a bus station Wednesday and killed at least nine people, police and hospital officials said.
Hours later mortar shells rained onto a neighborhood in Hibhib, 30 miles north of Baghdad, killing at least five civilians and wounding 17, police said.
Information for this article was contributed by Karen DeYoung of The Washington Post and Steven R. Hurst of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 7 on 10/25/2007