The inspec­tor gen­eral says he will step aside from any future probe of the secu­rity con­trac­tor because his sib­ling is a mem­ber of its advi­sory board.

by Paul Richter
Los Ange­les Times

WASHINGTON — The State Department’s inter­nal watch­dog, accused of politi­ciz­ing his office, told a con­gres­sional panel Wednes­day that he will step aside from any future probe of Black­wa­ter USA because his brother serves on the advi­sory board of the con­tro­ver­sial secu­rity contractor.

The tes­ti­mony by Howard J. Kro­n­gard, the department’s inspec­tor gen­eral, came as a sur­prise at a con­gres­sional hear­ing about his per­for­mance. At first, Kro­n­gard denied that his brother, for­mer CIA offi­cial Alvin B. Kro­n­gard, had any inter­est in Black­wa­ter, the State Department’s pri­mary pri­vate secu­rity con­trac­tor in Iraq being inves­ti­gated for deaths of civilians.

How­ever, mem­bers of the House panel sug­gested he was in error. Dur­ing a hear­ing break, Kro­n­gard called his brother and said he learned that, in fact, Alvin Kro­n­gard agreed ear­lier this year to be a mem­ber of Blackwater’s advi­sory board, a posi­tion that pays travel expenses for meet­ings and offers $3,500 for each gath­er­ing attended.

“I had not been aware of that,” Kro­n­gard said after the break. “I want to state right now on the record that I recuse myself from any mat­ters hav­ing to do with Blackwater.”

Kro­n­gard, a for­mer cor­po­rate lawyer, has been under fire from Rep. Henry A. Wax­man (D-Beverly Hills), House Over­sight and Gov­ern­ment Reform Com­mit­tee chair­man, for imped­ing State Depart­ment inves­ti­ga­tions, includ­ing a Black­wa­ter probe.

Repub­li­cans on the com­mit­tee have argued that the accu­sa­tions were polit­i­cally moti­vated, but the dis­clo­sure by Krongard’s brother put them on the defen­sive and under­mined their defense of the inspec­tor general.

“He has done you tremen­dous dam­age,” Rep. Christo­pher Shays (R-Conn.) told Kro­n­gard. “I don’t know what kind of con­ver­sa­tion you had with him, but I would have been one unhappy guy.”

Black­wa­ter has been the department’s prin­ci­pal secu­rity con­trac­tor in Iraq. It has become the tar­get of sev­eral inves­ti­ga­tions in the after­math of a Sept. 16 inci­dent in Bagh­dad that killed 17 Iraqi civilians.

Wax­man has accused Kro­n­gard of poor man­age­ment and of imped­ing sev­eral inves­ti­ga­tions to pro­tect the Bush admin­is­tra­tion from polit­i­cal embar­rass­ment. He and oth­ers on the com­mit­tee have charged that Alvin Krongard’s ties to Black­wa­ter were the rea­son Howard Kro­n­gard side­lined an inves­ti­ga­tion into weapons smug­gling charges.

Democ­rats pro­duced a let­ter from chief exec­u­tive Erik Prince invit­ing Kro­n­gard to join the panel, which advises Black­wa­ter on how to expand its business.

Howard Kro­n­gard has denied the charges lev­eled at him by seven cur­rent and for­mer State offi­cials. “I want to say in the strongest terms I never impeded any inves­ti­ga­tion,” he said.