Author Topic: State Department Officials Interfered With IG Investigations of Sexual Misconduct  (Read 965 times)

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Offline happyg

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Add another scandal to the list. State Department officials in Washington interfering with Inspector General investigations to avoid bad press, accountability and scandal? You don't say:

CBS News has uncovered documents that show the State Department may have covered up allegations of illegal and inappropriate behavior within their ranks.

 The Diplomatic Security Service, or the DSS, is the State Department's security force, charged with protecting the secretary of state and U.S. ambassadors overseas and with investigating any cases of misconduct on the part of the 70,000 State Department employees worldwide.

 CBS News' John Miller reports that according to an internal State Department Inspector General's memo, several recent investigations were influenced, manipulated, or simply called off. The memo obtained by CBS News cited eight specific examples. Among them: allegations that a State Department security official in Beirut "engaged in sexual assaults" on foreign nationals hired as embassy guards and the charge and that members of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's security detail "engaged prostitutes while on official trips in foreign countries" -- a problem the report says was "endemic."

 The memo also reveals details about an "underground drug ring" was operating near the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and supplied State Department security contractors with drugs.

And yes, things that happened were in fact illegal.


Aurelia Fedenisn, a former investigator with the State Department's internal watchdog agency, the Inspector General, told Miller, "We also uncovered several allegations of criminal wrongdoing in cases, some of which never became cases."


 Keep in mind that State Department officials (and the Obama administration in general) are constantly citing "ongoing criminal investigations within a department" as a reason why they can't comment or take responsibility for a situation. It turns out, at least in the State Department, the so-called "internal investigation" was being sidelined by people within the Department.

Prostitutes? Check. Cover-up? Check. Everyone still has a job? Check. A Kennedy covering up sex? Check.


The State Department Inspector General's memo refers to the 2011 investigation into an ambassador who "routinely ditched ... his protective security detai" and inspectors suspect this was in order to "solicit sexual favors from prostitutes."

Sources told CBS News that after the allegations surfaced, the ambassador was called to Washington, D.C. to meet with Undersecretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy, but was permitted to return to his post.

Video at link

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2013/06/10/state-department-officials-interfered-with-ig-investigations-of-sexual-misconduct-n1616770?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

Online mountaineer

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Quote
Among them: allegations that a State Department security official in Beirut "engaged in sexual assaults" on foreign nationals hired as embassy guards and the charge and that members of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's security detail "engaged prostitutes while on official trips in foreign countries" -- a problem the report says was "endemic."
**nononono*
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Online mountaineer

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Atlantic Wire


Was a U.S. Ambassador Really Soliciting Prostitutes, and Who Covered It Up?
The Atlantic WireBy Dashiell Bennett | The Atlantic Wire – 2 hrs 59 mins ago..

 
CBS News claims that several criminal investigations involving State Department employees, including at least one ambassador, were covered up or ignored in order to avoid embarrassing the diplomatic service. According to a memo written by the department's Inspector General's office, several members of the Diplomatic Security Service, which is in charge of protecting American diplomats overseas, were told to back off or stop investigating some of the cases, ensuring that no charges were ever brought.

Among the alleged crimes that were covered up: Reports of a "drug ring" near the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, claims about a State employee in Beirut sexually assaulting foreign nationals, and agents on security details (including some who were protecting former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton) soliciting prostitues while on official trips. It's also likely that foreign (and "hostile") intelligence agencies were aware of the behavior.

In the most shocking incident, a U.S. ambassador in a "sensitive deployment" was believed to be eluding his own security detail so that he could "solicit sexual favors from prostitutes" in a public park. According to CBS's well sourced John Miller, despite being recalled to Washington for scolding from his bosses, that person is still the ambassador. 

It is worth noting that in all of these cases, no charges were ever brought forward and all the allegations might have all turned out to be nothing. However, no one knows for sure because the investigations were shut down before they could be completed. It's also not the kind of story the State Department (or the Obama administration) needs after nine months of questions about their handling of Benghazi, a similar scandal involving the Secret Service, and the whole "non-stop spying on everyone in America" thing.  ...

Click on link for rest of story
« Last Edit: June 10, 2013, 07:08:07 pm by mountaineer »
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