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Trump's Nominee for CIA Watchdog Lied to Congress, Is Under Investigation
Trump's White House has nominated Chris Sharpley as the Inspector General for the Central Intelligence Agency. Sharpley is currently the acting Inspector General until confirmed by Senate.
Two former CIA employees say the Trump administration’s nominee to be CIA inspector general misled Congress last month when he testified. The allegations against Sharpley have prompted concerns among both Democratic and Republican senators and could delay his confirmation.
During Sharpley’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Oct. 17, Senator Dianne Feinstein cited a published report that showed there were pending complaints against him. “What do you know about this?” she asked. “If there are complaints, if there are investigations out there, I’m unaware of it,” he said.
Only five days earlier, the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general, which is investigating [one of two] complaint, had asked to interview Sharpley in the matter and been told he would be available after his testimony on Capitol Hill.... the investigating attorney for DHS frequently visited the CIA inspector general’s office this year to review relevant documents.
“In light of these facts, we believe Mr. Sharpley should explain in detail precisely how it is possible that he could have been unaware of any open investigations against him at the time he testified,” the senators wrote.
Sharpley lied to the Senate Intelligence Committee which should immediately disqualify him. But even if that lie may doom him, shouldn't the two investigations against him charging retaliation against CIA whistleblowers have already caused his removal from consideration?
Lawyers for Andrew Bakaj and Jonathan Kaplan, both ex-employees of the CIA inspector general’s office, say Sharpley is one of the CIA officials named in pending complaints they filed in 2014 and 2015. The complaints...allege Sharpley.... violated whistleblower safeguards by retaliating against the staffers for reporting wrongdoing in the inspector general’s office. Bakaj’s security clearance was suspended and he was placed on administrative leave, and Kaplan received a warning letter that ultimately resulted in the loss of his security clearance.
The role of Inspector General is of crucial importance to our functional government. Smart Dissent discussed this at length in August.
BE SMART ABOUT: Inspector Generals - What Do They Do and Why Are They At Risk?
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