Repeater
Regular Member
imported post
Grassley Complains of Library of Congress Interference
[SNIP]
But Inspector General Karl Schornagel and his staff are most concerned that Congress revoked its firearms privileges with passage of the 2009 omnibus spending bill. Library officials and House appropriators supported the move, stating that the Library's OIG did not need armed law enforcement powers and could instead rely on Library of Congress Police or Capitol Police. The issue is up for reconsideration next week when the House Appropriations subcommittee on the legislative branch meets to consider next year's budget requests.
Grassley did not address the firearm issue directly in his letter, but reminded Billington that "Like any federal agency, the OIG has a responsibility to maintain adequate oversight of the agency funding along with its personnel, which requires independent and unobstructed criminal and civil investigations, evaluations and audits."
Schornagel says his agents cannot conduct effective investigations without firearms.
"The average person would have no idea that these things happen at the Library of Congress," he said in an interview. "But these things happen here as they do at other federal agencies and there’s fraud, waste and abuse."
Most concerning, Schornagel said the loss of firearm protection has jeopardized six other open investigations involving child pornography possession, computer crimes, identity theft and procurement fraud.
“Too often, inspectors general don’t have the independence they need to hold agencies accountable," Grassley said in a separate statement. "This isn’t the only case where agency leaders are trying to sabotage an inspector general’s work. I’m not going to stop my effort to empower inspectors general and also keep the pressure on them to go after mismanagement and abuse.”
Grassley Complains of Library of Congress Interference
[SNIP]
But Inspector General Karl Schornagel and his staff are most concerned that Congress revoked its firearms privileges with passage of the 2009 omnibus spending bill. Library officials and House appropriators supported the move, stating that the Library's OIG did not need armed law enforcement powers and could instead rely on Library of Congress Police or Capitol Police. The issue is up for reconsideration next week when the House Appropriations subcommittee on the legislative branch meets to consider next year's budget requests.
Grassley did not address the firearm issue directly in his letter, but reminded Billington that "Like any federal agency, the OIG has a responsibility to maintain adequate oversight of the agency funding along with its personnel, which requires independent and unobstructed criminal and civil investigations, evaluations and audits."
Schornagel says his agents cannot conduct effective investigations without firearms.
"The average person would have no idea that these things happen at the Library of Congress," he said in an interview. "But these things happen here as they do at other federal agencies and there’s fraud, waste and abuse."
Most concerning, Schornagel said the loss of firearm protection has jeopardized six other open investigations involving child pornography possession, computer crimes, identity theft and procurement fraud.
“Too often, inspectors general don’t have the independence they need to hold agencies accountable," Grassley said in a separate statement. "This isn’t the only case where agency leaders are trying to sabotage an inspector general’s work. I’m not going to stop my effort to empower inspectors general and also keep the pressure on them to go after mismanagement and abuse.”
