WASHINGTON - Jeh Johnson, Department of Homeland Security secretary, late Thursday put the agency’s former inspector general on administrative leave, the same day the Washington Post revealed a congressional investigation’s findings that the former watchdog had tailored reports to the liking of senior officials in President Barak Obama’s administration.
A Senate investigative report concluded that Charles Edwards, who served as acting inspector general at the agency from 2011 until December, had directed altering and delaying critical investigative reports and audits at the request of top political appointees in the department.
Johnson, who took over as head of the federal department just four months ago, said he decided he had to temporarily remove Edwards from the workplace pending a final decision on his employment in light of the Senate’s findings.
He said he wanted to make clear that ethics are paramount while he addresses problems in the department created in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Edwards was supposed to have been overseeing the performance of a department with 225,000 employees and a $39 billion annual budget, but he instead became cozy with its top leaders and advisers to then-Secretary Janet Napolitano, according to a Senate oversight panel’s investigation.
Edwards resigned his watchdog post in December, three days before he was supposed to testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Operations Subcommittee. The hearing was canceled when the department agreed to transfer him into the agency’s office of science and technology.
“Since I took office in December, I have made clear that injecting a new energy in the leadership of DHS is a top priority,” Johnson said in a statement. “I have also made clear to our leadership that ethics in government, setting the example, and remaining above reproach are essential elements of good leadership.”
Johnson said he was grateful to Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., the chairman and a ranking member, respectively, of the subcommittee on Financial and Contracting Oversight. That panel led the probe, and Johnson asked for a briefing from its investigators.
He said the two senior department officials who are reported to have conferred most frequently with Edwards about his investigations - Napolitano’s former general counsel John Sandweg and her former chief of staff Noah Kroloff - are no longer with the agency, but “if additional information comes to light, I will continue to take appropriate action.”
Johnson said Thursday that he values the oversight that an independent inspector general can provide the department, to make sure it carries out “the important mission we are charged with effectively, responsibly and with the utmost integrity.”
He told the Washington Post in an interview Wednesday that he wouldn’t trust any investigations or audits from Edwards’ office.
The agency’s new inspector general, former federal prosecutor John Roth, also signaled a new day Thursday. In an office wide email, Roth said he “appreciated” the staff members who went forward to the Senate to blow the whistle on Edwards.
Edwards had put three of his staff members on administrative leave after they questioned his orders to delete information from his office’s investigation of Secret Service misconduct in Cartagena, Colombia - material that potentially would embarrass the Secret Service and Obama’s administration.
“Please be assured that you have a right to, and you should, bring improper behavior to the attention of someone who can do something about it,” Roth wrote. “You can always speak to your supervisor, or if you are uncomfortable with that, bring it to our Ombudsperson, [Assistant Inspector General] Mike Beard, or if that doesn’t work, to me personally.”
Front Section, Pages 3 on 04/25/2014