{"id":1404016,"date":"2022-03-28T08:15:32","date_gmt":"2022-03-28T12:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1404016"},"modified":"2022-03-28T08:15:41","modified_gmt":"2022-03-28T12:15:41","slug":"ig-shrugs-at-decade-long-security-lapses-at-voice-of-america-parent-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ig-shrugs-at-decade-long-security-lapses-at-voice-of-america-parent-agency\/","title":{"rendered":"IG Shrugs at Decade-Long Security Lapses at Voice of America Parent Agency"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fig-shrugs-at-decade-long-security-lapses-at-voice-of-america-parent-agency%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1404016&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/justthenews.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/social_media_share\/public\/2020-05\/GettyImages-51705940_0.jpg?h=5bed4ef4&#038;itok=s66T16ZK\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>The State Department&#8217;s in-house watchdog and congressional Republicans have very different appraisals of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the government-run news agency responsible for broadcasting America&#8217;s message to the world.<\/p>\n<p>The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) shrugged at concerns by USAGM&#8217;s first Senate-confirmed CEO, Michael Pack, that it had <a href=\"https:\/\/justthenews.com\/government\/federal-agencies\/hold-federal-agency-broadcasts-americas-message-had-chronic-security\">routinely ignored security protocols &#8220;for at least a decade<\/a>&#8221; while using the same visas intended for au pairs to hire foreign nationals as journalists.<\/p>\n<p>By contrast, House Foreign Affairs Committee GOP members continue hounding the agency for rehiring senior officials dismissed by Pack for security and financial lapses \u2014 and in one case, inventing a doctorate \u2014 once the Biden administration took office.<\/p>\n<p>A week before the new president fired him, Pack formally asked OIG to investigate USAGM&#8217;s myriad problems dating back to the first Obama term.\u00a0Eleven months later, on Dec. 27, OIG published the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20211227175221\/https:\/\/www.stateoig.gov\/system\/files\/aud-si-ib-22-01_-web_508.pdf\">&#8220;unclassified&#8221; results<\/a> of its investigation, which were heavily redacted by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).<\/p>\n<p>It found that USAGM &#8220;had taken or was taking corrective action to address these issues,&#8221; particularly by transferring its &#8220;investigations for newly hired employees and reinvestigations of current employees&#8221; to the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) in 2018.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The vast majority of federal agencies already outsource their reviews to DCSA, but USAGM was one of very few non-intelligence agencies given &#8220;delegated authority&#8221; by OPM to do its own.<\/p>\n<p>Given that OPM and ODNI are monitoring USAGM&#8217;s progress on its remediation plans, &#8220;OIG is not making any recommendations related to this issue,&#8221; the report said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It included acting CEO Kelu Chao&#8217;s full and oft-italicized response, which claims OIG rebutted &#8220;the crux of Mr. Pack&#8217;s assertions.&#8221; She claimed USAGM actually &#8220;over-investigat[ed]&#8221; staff and called it &#8220;highly significant&#8221; that OIG decided against an audit of the personnel security program.<\/p>\n<p>Pack, a veteran filmmaker perhaps best known for his <a href=\"https:\/\/manifoldproductions.com\/ClarenceThomasfilm.html\">PBS documentary on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas<\/a>, told Just the News the OIG report was &#8220;bizarre.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It ignored the concerns that OPM and ODNI brought &#8220;directly&#8221; to him &#8220;in a way I could not ignore,&#8221; Pack said, and the methodology section of the report &#8220;doesn&#8217;t even claim to have done research, [but] merely talked to disgruntled employees.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Just the News has viewed three versions of the report. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stateoig.gov\/system\/files\/aud-si-ib-22-01_-web_508.pdf\">original was removed<\/a>, apparently in January, and replaced by a &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20220125153332\/https:\/\/www.stateoig.gov\/system\/files\/aud-si-ib-22-01_-_rdweb_posting_508.pdf\">sensitive but unclassified<\/a>&#8221; (SBU) version. After Just the News notified OIG that fragments of sentences were now missing, making them unintelligible, it uploaded <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stateoig.gov\/system\/files\/aud-si-ib-22-01_-_web_posting_508_3.pdf\">yet another version<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>OIG spokesperson Mark Huffman said the later versions available to the public have &#8220;the correct SBU markings&#8221; but that the designation is crossed out because it&#8217;s redacted.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He defended the robustness of the investigation, noting OIG reviewed OPM and ODNI assessments and documentation and interviewed their officials, as well as those with DCSA and USAGM, &#8220;to understand to what extent current and newly hired USAGM employees possess valid suitability and national security determinations.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Three weeks before OIG&#8217;s report, Empower Oversight Whistleblowers &#038; Research filed a <a href=\"https:\/\/empowr.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/2021-12-09-JF-to-DOS-OIG-USAGM-FOIA.pdf\">Freedom of Information Act request<\/a> seeking an earlier OIG report on Pack&#8217;s suspension of security clearances for six senior officials accused of chronic security lapses.<\/p>\n<p>OIG <a href=\"https:\/\/whistleblower.org\/press-release\/government-accountability-project-applauds-us-office-of-special-counsel-for-finding-substantial-likelihood-of-wrongdoing-by-voice-of-america-us-agency-for-global-media-political-leadership\/\">reportedly found<\/a> that the senior officials were whistleblowers who endured retaliation from Pack, who had no &#8220;legitimate basis&#8221; to suspend their clearances, but State does not appear to have made the report public, the request says. (It&#8217;s briefly mentioned in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stateoig.gov\/system\/files\/semiannual_report_to_congress_-_fall_2021_508.pdf\">OIG&#8217;s latest report to Congress<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>The whistleblower group seeks all investigative reports related to internal whistleblower retaliation during Pack&#8217;s seven-month tenure and OIG&#8217;s communications regarding Pack with Capitol Hill and USAGM personnel.<\/p>\n<p>The group&#8217;s founder Jason Foster, former chief investigative counsel to then-Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), told Just the News that State&#8217;s FOIA officer had still not responded to the group&#8217;s request more than two months later. Huffman told Just the News that OIG was &#8220;currently working on&#8221; a response and expects to have it &#8220;ready soon.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8216;Stonewalling to cover up&#8217;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Texas Republican Rep. Michael McCaul has been demanding answers from Chao, the acting CEO, for nearly a year about rehiring a &#8220;personal friend&#8221; \u2014 a possible violation of ethics rules \u2014 toa senior job in Voice of America.<\/p>\n<p>Career staff purportedly determined in December 2020 that the official had falsified credentials and abused public funds, then after the presidential transition, they suddenly claimed the investigation was not &#8220;complete,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/gop-foreignaffairs.house.gov\/press-release\/mccaul-demands-answers-on-usagm-personnel-and-management\/\">McCaul wrote in October<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The only report shared with Congress from the second investigation is &#8220;incomplete, rife with factual omissions and abbreviated explanations&#8221; at odds with the original, more detailed &#8220;notice for proposed removal,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>After five fruitless requests for more information, committee staff confirmed with with the accused official&#8217;s university in France that she never earned a doctorate and that she had not presented a diploma or transcript to USAGM.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The French embassy told staff the matter was also under legal review. Committee Republicans suspect USAGM is &#8220;stonewalling to cover up what has transpired,&#8221; including whether the official&#8217;s security clearance is legitimate, McCaul said.<\/p>\n<p>Just the News has viewed the Jan. 5, 2021 &#8220;Notice of Proposal to Suspend\/Remove&#8221; issued to the official by her superior at VOA, which says she invented a doctorate from a French school. The 15-page letter details multiple whistleblower complaints regarding her management of the network, waste of government funds, &#8220;potentially fraudulent expenditures&#8221; and doling out &#8220;excessive overtime&#8221; to her favorites on staff.<\/p>\n<p>This coalition is waiting for Republicans to take back the House this fall so USAGM will be legally obligated to answer GOP subpoenas, according to the employee: At that point &#8220;we&#8217;ll absolutely get to the bottom of this coverup.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Chao sought to turn the tables on McCaul in her Nov. 16 response, which ignored his requests for communications regarding the official and has not been previously reported.<\/p>\n<article class=\"align-center\">\n<\/article>\n<p>As a career employee, the accused official must remain &#8220;appropriately insulated from political pressures,&#8221; the acting CEO said, and USAGM is emerging from &#8220;the shadow of a period of substantial turmoil&#8221; resulting from the &#8220;apparent politicization&#8221; of personnel decisions in the Trump administration.<\/p>\n<p>McCaul&#8217;s concerns will be forwarded to the Office of Human Resources to &#8220;take any appropriate investigative and other actions,&#8221; Chao said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Committee Republicans told USAGM this response was not sufficient, an aide told Just the News. &#8220;We are determined to get to the bottom of this and find out how involved the acting CEO was,&#8221; said the aide.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), a member of the Oversight Subcommittee, scolded Chao in January for months of stonewalling not only him but the Democratic chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, New York Rep. Gregory Meeks.<\/p>\n<article class=\"align-center\">\n<\/article>\n<p>They jointly asked USAGM in July for \u201cany and all final reports, memoranda, and\/or recommendations \u2026 on any topic&#8221; from McGuireWoods, the outside law firm commissioned by Pack to investigate senior officials for security and financial lapses. The <a href=\"https:\/\/justthenews.com\/government\/federal-agencies\/hold-biden-quickly-rehired-senior-officials-fired-trump-serious\">Biden administration quickly rehired those who were fired<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Perry sent his own letter in August with broader demands for records, including those related to the spun-off Open Technology Fund and its <a href=\"https:\/\/justthenews.com\/government\/federal-agencies\/hold-federal-agency-broadcasts-americas-message-had-chronic-security\">refusal to detail how it&#8217;s distributing taxpayer money<\/a>, as required by its USAGM grant conditions.<\/p>\n<article class=\"align-center\">\n<\/article>\n<p>Chao&#8217;s office has made &#8220;no effort to facilitate the release&#8221; of the McGuireWoods report since then, or provided anything &#8220;resembling a substantive response&#8221; to Perry&#8217;s request for &#8220;specific information about personnel misconduct,&#8221; he wrote in January.<\/p>\n<p>Perry warned Chao that he had managed to obtain &#8220;what we believe to be the vast majority&#8221; of the McGuireWoods report, which suggests USAGM employees may have violated federal laws, and submitted it into the <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.house.gov\/meetings\/FA\/FA00\/20210930\/114085\/HMKP-117-FA00-20210930-SD002.pdf\">Congressional Record<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Perry aide Chris Fernandez told Just the News his office initially received &#8220;an email text reply&#8221; Feb. 8 from USAGM&#8217;s congressional affairs director. They demanded Chao&#8217;s response on letterhead, addressed to Perry, and finally got such a letter Feb. 18.<\/p>\n<article class=\"align-center\">\n<\/article>\n<p>&#8220;While we have not yet concluded the thorough investigation underway that addresses all issues raised, my staff has tried to maintain active communication&#8221; with committee staff, particularly on USAGM&#8217;s security designation authority and McGuireWoods documents, the acting CEO wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Chao said the agency couldn&#8217;t confirm the McGuireWoods documents in Perry&#8217;s possession were &#8220;unaltered.&#8221; The authentic documents include &#8220;privileged attorney-client communications&#8221; and sensitive career employee information protected by the Privacy Act, and must be provided to the committee &#8220;responsibly.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The State Department&#8217;s in-house watchdog and congressional Republicans have very different appraisals of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the government-run news agency responsible for broadcasting America&#8217;s message to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":498,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1404016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1404016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/498"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1404016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1404016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1404016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1404016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1404016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}