DHSSenate panel to investigate DHS IG office
The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is investigating the Inspector General at DHS on allegations of nepotism, abuse of power, and covering up a Secret Service prostitution scandal.
The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is investigating the Deputy Inspector General at DHS on allegations of nepotism, abuse of power, and covering up a Secret Service prostitution scandal.
The L.A. Times reports thatthe panel has asked Deputy Inspector General Charles Edwards to provide the committee with two-and-a-half years of documents, and requested permission to interview four employees who worked under Edwards.
Edwards has been the most senior official in the DHS Office of the Inspector General since early 2011, and some lawmakers argue he has tried to get on the side of the Obama administration by altering reports in hopes of being nominated as the permanent head of the IG office.
Edwards received a letter on 27 June from Senators Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri) and Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) advising him that Senate investigators are looking into allegations that he was “susceptible to political pressure,” and that he failed to divulge information about the misconduct of Secret Service agents who were caught with a prostitute before a White House trip to Columbia in 2012.
There have been “numerous” complaints from employees that Edwards improperly hired his wife as a government auditor and arranged for her to work by phone from India for seven months. Edwards’s subordinates also complained that he gave bonuses to employees who helped him write a dissertation paper for a Ph.D. course at Nova Southeastern University and complete lesson plans for a class at Capitol College.
Edwards released a statement denying all wrongdoing, adding that the allegations are “completely without merit.”
“I will defend myself against these personal attacks,” Edwards wrote. He said that similar allegations have been reviewed and dismissed by other oversight bodies.
“I am very disturbed that false allegations have been made against me, but more importantly, I am very concerned that this matter may negatively impact the important oversight work of the Office of Inspector General,” Edwards wrote.
