Senate Intel Chair: Pentagon Office DID Break The Law
By Spencer Ackerman - February 8, 2007
As vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) was often outmaneuvered by GOP chair Pat Roberts (R-KS), when it came to prewar intelligence. In response to the Pentagon inspector general's report on the Office of Special Plans, however, Rockefeller is hinting that era is fully closed. From a Rockefeller statement, just released:
“The IG has concluded that this office was engaged in intelligence activities. The Senate Intelligence Committee was never informed of these activities. Whether these actions were authorized or not, it appears that they were not in compliance with the law.
“In the coming days, I will carefully review all aspects of the report and will consult with Vice Chairman Bond to determine whether any additional action by the Senate Intelligence Committee is warranted.”
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002515.php Schmitz as Inspector General
Schmitz was nominated by President George W. Bush to be Defense Department Inspector General on June 18, 2001. His nomination was held up in the Senate Armed Services Committee for unknown reasons until March 21, 2002, when he was confirmed by the full Senate by voice vote. In his confirmation hearings, committee Democrats expressed concern about a letter that Schmitz had written to the Washington Times in 1991 in which he had accused then-candidate Bill Clinton of treasonous actions and had inappropriately signed the letter with his military rank.
According to an AP report dated December 5, 2001, the Inspector General's office had recently failed a "peer review" audit in which it was shown that IG officials had destroyed documents relating to an investigation. Iowa Republican Senator Charles Grassley, a supporter of the Schmitz nomination and critic of the IG's office, commented that "nce President Bush's nominee for the IG job is in place, he will need to clean house from top to bottom. Heads must roll," because of the document destruction.
Upon taking office, Schmitz hired L. Jean Lewis, a Republican operative and whistleblower in the Whitewater Affair. Lewis, a former Resolution Trust Corporation investigator, was a pivotal figure in publicizing the alleged financial misdeeds of President Bill Clinton and wife Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. She marketed products with pictures of Mrs. Clinton and the logo "B.I.T.C.H.: Bill, I'm Taking Charge. Hillary." Schmitz eventually created the position of "Chief of Staff" for Lewis.
Insight Magazine, in its September 30, 2002, issue, reported that shortly after his arrival at the IG, Schmitz ordered a "bottom-up review" that was conducted by Military Professionals Resources, Inc. (MPRI), a defense contractor based in Alexandria, Va. The review resulted in the removal of a number of senior civil servants in the agency. Sen. Grassley quoted by Insight, said, "The new inspector general, Mr. Joe Schmitz, has already started to clean house. Heads have started to roll with more to come . . . Based on what I've heard and seen, the Independent Review Team appears to be on the right track. The team appears to see the very same problems that I see and seems to be headed toward a hard-hitting final report." According to the September 23, 2002 issue of Defense Week, the removed civil servants filed a complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, a government agency that investigates whistleblower complaints and Hatch Act violations. In its June 23, 2003 issue, Defense Week reported that the matter was settled to the satisfaction of both parties involved, but suggested that the removed civil servants had been vindicated.
According to the Los Angeles Times (September 25, 2005), Schmitz had an "unusual fascination" with Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a Prussian officer appointed Inspector General of the Continental Army by George Washington. "The Nation" (September 25, 2005) magazine reported that Schmitz spent three months redesigning the seal of the Inspector General's office to include elements of von Steuben's family crest, including the von Steuben family motto, Sub Tutela Altissimi Semper, "Under the Protection of the Almighty." (Schmitz was quoted in the LA Times article as saying that the eagle of the previous seal looked "like a chicken".) Schmitz authored an article in the in-house journal of the federal inspectors general about Von Steuben and mentioned him in virtually every speech he made while in office ("The Enduring Legacy of Inspector General von Steuben," Public Inquiry, F/W 2002, <1>. "He was consumed with all things German and all things Von Steuben," said a government official quoted in the LA Times article. "He was obsessed."
Schmitz also took an unusual interest in the sex slave trade. His office investigated the involvement of the U.S. military in the sex trade in South Korea, Bosnia, and Kosovo, but found little beyond the propensity of soldiers to frequent brothels, an inexcusable moral lapse, according to Schmitz's testimony before Congress and an article he wrote that was published on the website of the World Security Network. <2>.
Schmitz's downfall apparently began when he and John A. "Jack" Shaw, former DoD Deputy Undersecretary for International Technology Security signed an agreement giving Shaw authority to investigate telecommunications contracting fraud in Iraq sometime in 2003. According to the Los Angeles Times (September 3, 2005), Shaw used the results of his investigation to steer contracts to friends. When confronted with the case, Schmitz referred it to the FBI for investigation, even though IG agents claimed they had enough evidence of Shaw's illegal activities for prosecution.
The Los Angeles Times article also claims that Schmitz interfered in other investigations of senior officials:
The Air Force Academy sex scandal, in which senior Air Force Academy officials were accused of failing to investigate rape allegations by female cadets.
A contracting scandal involving the Air Force and Boeing Corporation, in which senior Air Force officials, including former Air Force Secretary James Roche, were accused of steering contracts to the Boeing Corporation. Before presenting his report to Congress, Schmitz allegedly sent it to the White House for review. The names of several White House officials were reportedly redacted from the report. Sen. Charles Grassley was quoted by the Los Angeles Times as saying to Schmitz, "That decision ... raises questions about your independence." Testimony by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in which he blamed his lack of oversight on incompetency, was deleted, said Schmitz, because Rumsfeld had not said anything relevant. <3>
Grassley, who had become disillusioned with Schmitz, was particularly upset by Schmitz's plans to travel to Potsdam, Germany at taxpayer expense, where he was to speak at a ceremony commemorating Baron von Steuben. Schmitz was forced to cancel the trip.
Resignation
Schmitz resigned as Defense Department Inspector General on September 9, 2005 in order to take a position with the Prince Group a holding company for Blackwater USA, which provides security services and training to the U.S. military in Iraq and elsewhere. In a letter dated June 15, 2005, and posted on the Inspector General's website on September 2, 2005, Schmitz recused himself from investigating all matters related to Blackwater.
The Los Angeles Times quoted Danielle Bryan of the Project on Government Oversight as saying, "He's a person who did not put the appearance of ethics above all else . . . That is not the way the government should function. These are the kind of things that make the general public distrust government."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_E._Schmitz http://www.defenselink.mil/bios/schmitz_bio.html(Hat-tip to KoKo01 for posting this Wiki extract earlier)
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
