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Senator Warns Pentagon Watchdog Against Altering Documents

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A senator is concerned the Pentagon’s watchdog compromised its independence by altering a document on behalf of the Department of Defense.

Sen. Chuck Grassley thinks the Defense Department’s inspector general shouldn’t have edited the Pentagon’s formal response to a Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction report that revealed $36 million was spent on an unnecessary 64,000 square foot building at Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan.

“I am concerned that the OIG gave the appearance of impropriety when it became directly involved in the editing process of the department’s outgoing correspondence to SIGAR,” the Iowa Republican wrote to Defense Department IG Jon Rymer.

“The OIG put itself in the position of taking ownership of the department’s decisions. That raises questions about the OIG’s independence from the department it oversees,” Grassley said in the letter that was released Tuesday.

“It would have been more appropriate for the OIG to prepare a memo for either the secretary or the deputy secretary regarding the OIG position on the issues raised by SIGAR,” Grassley continued. “That would have kept the OIG from becoming directly involved in the department’s decision-making process.”

Grassley is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and has long been among the most active advocates in Congress for the 72 IGs who fight waste and fraud in the executive branch.

Grassley requested that Rymer provide an explanation by Jan. 22. He is also seeking additional records, such as investigation documents regarding mismanagement of the $36 million building or a reason why no investigation was conducted, as well as the names of IG staff and lawyers that reviewed SIGAR’s draft report.

The Defense Department IG had not conducted an investigation into the unnecessary building as of Jan. 8, 2015, according to a memo from Rymer.

SIGAR’s report on the building was publicly released in May 2015.

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