CRUMBLED: State Department IG Cookie Krongard ResignsSo that’s what happened to Cookie Krongard’s forthcoming perjury hearing. Today, the embattled State Department Inspector General faced reality and resigned.
Krongard, you’ll recall, was accused of seemingly endless laxity in investigating State Department contractor fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan; and of retaliating against whistleblowers in his own office. Things got much worse when he denied knowledge, under oath, that his brother was on the advisory board of Blackwater, a huge State Department contractor. He quickly reversed himself. And after that, Cookie’s brother contradicted him in an interview with TPMmuckraker.
Here’s McClatchy’s Warren Strobel:
In an e-mail to his staff, obtained by McClatchy, Krongard said that he plans to leave the government by Jan. 15.In a reference to the upheaval in the inspector general’s office in recent months, he told his staff: “I also ask you, frankly, to make an effort to reduce the static that interferes with the harmony we would like to achieve.”
There was no immediate comment from the State Department.
Translated from the Cookiese, that reads, “Please don’t leak anything even more embarrassing about me as I enter this new, humiliating phase of my life.”
Update: Cookie’s full email is after the jump.
Here’s Cookie’s letter of resignation. Note the line about “rumoring, backbiting and complaining.”
Colleagues:On the second anniversary of my swearing-in, I shared my thoughts with you in a Message From the IG in the May 2007 issue of “OIG Briefs”. Looking back on the two prior years which had flown by, I told you “I am pleased with our accomplishments in some areas and realize there is much to be done in others”. These same thoughts continue today.
As I take this opportunity to advise you of my decision to retire from Government service as of the close of business on January 15, 2008, in accordance with the attached letter, I believe other parts of that Message remain appropriate as well, even as I depart:
“I urge each of you to reflect on what we have accomplished, under very difficult circumstances; to take pride in your work and view each product you participate in as going out with your name on it; and to give [my successor] your support as we go forward. I also ask you, frankly, to make an effort to reduce the static that interferes with the harmony we would like to achieve. We have enough challenges to focus on without spending energy in rivalries between functional offices, SA-3 and SA-39, and Foreign Service and Civil Service, or in rumoring, backbiting and complaining. Obviously, some of that is unavoidable human nature, especially in government and in any limited-resource environment. Nevertheless, let’s do our best to keep this to a minimum, to recognize things will never be perfect, to understand that all decisions cannot please all people, and most of all, to keep our eye on the ball that keeps us all here: to make OIG, the State Department, BBG, and the Federal government better places, more efficient organizations and more effective in accomplishing their objectives.”
Making OIG and the Department more efficient and effective is what brought me here. I want to thank so many of you who have supported and appreciated what I have accomplished and tried to accomplish toward that end, particularly the large number who have reached out to me in recent weeks to show support. Supporters are often less vocal than critics, but very much appreciated.
I leave with a distinct feeling of satisfaction in my time as a volunteer to public service — whether it is in the MERO as noted in the attachment, in the efficiencies introduced into the inspection process, or even in the 2006 audit of the Department’s financial statements, which resulted in reliable financial information for the Department and others and which I remain certain was the correct course of action at that time despite contrary views from some in OIG. I have simply tried to do the very best job I could, and I leave imploring each of you to do the same.
Good luck and Godspeed to all of you.
Howard