[NYTr] Brother's role forces exit of Blackwater investigator Howard Krongard

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

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Baltimore Sun - Nov 15, 2007 (No URL provided)


Brother's role forces exit of Blackwater investigator

By David Wood

WASHINGTON - Howard Krongard, the embattled State Department inspector
general who is accused of blocking investigations into security
contractor Blackwater Worldwide, abruptly recused himself from all
Blackwater inquiries yesterday after a congressional panel confronted
him with evidence that his brother is serving on a company advisory
board.

The spreading Blackwater scandal involves allegations that its armed
security guards, under contract to the State Department to guard
diplomats in Iraq, killed at least 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in
September. The results of an FBI investigation, which reportedly found
that the Blackwater guards acted rashly and without obvious
provocation, are under review at the State Department.

Krongard's elder brother, A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard, was chief executive of
Alex. Brown & Sons in Baltimore before serving in the No. 3 position at
the CIA.

Testifying under oath before the House Oversight and Government Reform
Committee yesterday, Howard Krongard at first denied as an "ugly rumor"
that his brother had any financial interest or position with
Blackwater. "I specifically asked him," Krongard insisted.

But Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, a Baltimore Democrat, produced a letter
from Blackwater chairman Erik Prince asking "Buzzy" Krongard to serve
on the firm's advisory board.

When Howard Krongard disputed it, Cummings went on, producing an e-mail
sent from Blackwater to his brother, dated Sept. 5, that said, "Welcome
and thank you for accepting the invitation to be a member of the board."

Cummings also observed that the Blackwater board was meeting in
Williamsburg, Va., this week, "as we speak."

Howard Krongard, 67, was known as "Cookie" while a student at City
College and later at Princeton. An international lawyer, he was
appointed, with no previous government experience, as the State
Department's top investigator in 2005. His brother served from 1998
until 2004 as counsel and executive director of the CIA under George
Tenet, the previous director. In the 1950s, he was a championship
lacrosse player at City College and Princeton.

Howard Krongard returned from a break in the hearing yesterday, saying
he had contacted his brother, who confirmed his relationship with
Blackwater. He said he would immediately recuse himself from all
Blackwater investigations.

Reached yesterday evening at his home in Lutherville, the elder
Krongard, 71, confirmed that he attended his first meeting of the
Blackwater board of advisers Monday night and Tuesday. He denied any
conflict of interest between his position on the board and his
brother's service as State Department inspector general. "Why would
there be a conflict?" he said. "My brother operates independently of
me, as I do of him.

"Maybe there is an appearance of a conflict of interest," he said.

The House committee opened an investigation of Krongard's tenure at the
State Department this fall, including allegations that he blocked
Justice Department investigations into waste and fraud in connection
with the construction of the new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, and that he
refused to work with the department on a probe of Blackwater for
alleged arms smuggling, according to a report issued yesterday by the
committee's majority staff.

The embassy construction is behind schedule, $144 million over cost
"and has potentially life-threatening construction deficiencies," the
committee's chairman, Democrat Rep. Henry A. Waxman of California, said
yesterday.

"Billions of dollars are at stake" in this and other investigations
into waste and fraud in Iraq and the alleged abuse by Blackwater,
Waxman said. "That underscores why Mr. Krongard's office is so
essential [and] why it needs to meet the highest standards."

Republican Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticut, speaking for the
committee's minority, dismissed the allegations against Krongard as
"salacious" and "unproven."

In his testimony, Krongard also responded to criticism that he had been
abusive to his staff. "I have been brusque. I have been shrill. I have
been hard on people," he said. "I think 'abusive' may be strong,
because I don't intend to abuse anybody."

Krongard insisted that he agreed to be inspector general with no
political agenda "other than to do the best job I could."

He said he has no political ties and has never spoken to the president
or anyone else in the White House during his 2 1/2 years in Washington.
He said he'd been to the White House "only as a tourist."

As testimony unfolded after to the disclosure yesterday, Cummings
described the Blackwater investigations as "one of the most
high-profile issues facing the State Department."

"I know you're sensitive to conflicts - would you agree that you should
recuse yourself from anything dealing with Blackwater investigations?"
Cummings asked Krongard.

Krongard responded: "Yes, sir."

Immediately? Cummings asked.

"Absolutely," said Krongard.

After learning of his brother's connection to Blackwater, Krongard told
the committee: "I'm not my brother's keeper, and we do not discuss our
business with each other."

He added, "We have gone to great lengths to keep our professional
experiences separate, because of his position and because of my
position."

A State Department spokesman said last night that he had no other
comment on Krongard's testimony.