Did State Department Inspector General Howard "Cookie" Krongard squelch investigations into waste and fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan? He'll at least get a hearing before the House oversight committee today. We'll be providing running updates (it's airing on C-Span3 this morning and streaming on the committee's website).

The panel's Republicans think Cookie is getting a raw deal. And right on time for the hearing, they've released a report defending him from charges of politicizing the office. Krongard, you'll recall, has been accused by committee chairman Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) of scuttling numerous investigations into State Department contracting, as well as retaliating against whistleblowers who came to Waxman with their concerns.

The executive summary claims that the committee's investigation has "descended to governing by personal attack" and says that the allegations against Krongard "remain unsubstantiated." What's more: the Democrats' "expenditure of time and taxpayer funds spent proving that the State Department IG is abrasive and abusive is itself an abuse of the Committee’s authority."

You can read the full report here (pdf). I haven't, but The Washington Post has, and it found this morsel:

But even the minority report says it found "substantial support" for Waxman's charge that Krongard routinely belittled employees or treated them harshly. "Several witnesses observed that the IG had a poor regard for government workers," the report says, noting that one said he went through several secretaries. One secretary simply did not show up for work and told others that she would not return to the front office, a witness testified.

"It was common knowledge not to speak in the staff meetings because he was heavy-handed," Patti Boyd, a former deputy assistant inspector general, told the committee staff. "People were actually afraid to say anything. So they actually said nothing." She added: "It was my observation that he disliked everyone."