Showing posts with label ambassador. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Memo Alleges Prostitution & Drugs Against Clinton's Security Detail.

State Department accused of covering up sex and prostitution investigation

Published June 11, 2013

FoxNews.com

WASHINGTON – The U.S. State Department’s ability to investigate wrongdoing by its staff is under question after a report that the agency tried to cover up several crimes committed has surfaced.

Some of the allegations are against then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s security detail who allegedly hired prostitutes, a U.S. ambassador accused of trolling public parks for paid sex and a security official in Beirut committing sexual assaults on foreign nationals.

An internal memo from the State Department’s inspector general listed eight examples of wrongdoing by agency staff or contractors.

The memo also seems to indicate that the government agency tried to use its authority to stop the investigation and instead, opting to have the official, whose name has not been released, meet with Undersecretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy in Washington. The official was then allowed to return to his job overseas.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters during Monday’s daily briefing that the department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security has requested a “review by outside, experienced law enforcement officers” who are working with the IG’s office to make “expert assessments about our current procedures.”

Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called the allegations of misconduct appalling and said he would ask congressional staff members to start an investigation into all of the accusations.

However, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid stonewalled reporters Tuesday when asked about the alleged misconduct and possible cover up.

"I don't know what you're talking about," the Nevada Democrat said. "What are you talking about? ... I don't know what you're talking about."

According to the memo first obtained by CBS News, four members of Clinton’s security detail received one-day suspensions.

Allegations of misconduct are not new and have plagued the Obama administration for awhile.

In April 2012, members of the president’s Secret Service detail were caught in a prostitution scandal involving 12 women they picked up during an official trip to Colombia. The Secret Service was slow to disclose any information and issued only limited public statements in the weeks following the incident in Cartagena.

In the end, a dozen agents, officers, supervisors and 12 other U.S. military personnel were implicated in a night of heavy drinking and misconduct.

Prostitution, drugs alleged in State Department memo

By Ashley Fantz and Jill Dougherty, CNN

updated 6:39 AM EDT, Wed June 12, 2013

Washington (CNN) -- Senior State Department and Diplomatic Security officials may have covered up or stopped investigations of inappropriate or even criminal misconduct by staff, according to an internal memo from the department's Office of the Inspector General.

The timeline surrounding the allegations places the incidents during former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's tenure, opening the possibility that a widening scandal might taint both her record and her possible political aspirations. Clinton has also taken heat for the department's response to the September 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.

The memo itself, purportedly written by Ambassador Larry Dinger, describes some of the information as coming from office chatter.

"Sometimes the sources are one or more agents who became aware of the case from colleagues in what, given cubicles, can be a collegial environment," the memo says.

Regarding the latest allegations, CNN was provided the documents by a lawyer for a whistle-blower who is a former senior inspector general investigator.

They include:

• An active U.S. ambassador "routinely ditched his protective security detail in order to solicit sexual favors from both prostitutes and minor children," the memo says. The ambassador's protective detail and others "were well aware of the behavior," the memo asserts. When a diplomatic security officer tried to investigate,undersecretary of state for management Patrick Kennedyallegedly ordered the investigator "not to open a formal investigation."

On Tuesday, CNN obtained a statement from the ambassador, who vigorously denied the allegations, calling them "baseless."

A source close to the investigation of the ambassador told CNN that the ambassador's security detail reported to the inspector general that the ambassador would leave his house at night without notifying the detail. The detail followed the ambassador and saw the ambassador once go to a park that's known for illegal activity, the source told CNN. The detail said they never witnessed the ambassador engage in any sexual activity, the source said.

The ambassador went to Washington and was asked what he was doing and he denied any wrongdoing, the source told CNN. The ambassador explained that sometimes he fights with his wife, needs air and he goes for a walk in the park because he likes it.

Kennedy also issued a statement Tuesday, saying it is his responsibility "to make sure the department and all of our employees -- no matter their rank -- are held to the highest standard, and I have never once interfered, nor would I condone interfering, in any investigation."

• A State Department security official in Beirut allegedly "engaged in sexual assaults" against foreign nationals working as embassy guards. The security official, the Office of the Inspector General says, was also accused of committing "similar assaults during assignments in Baghdad, and possibly Khartoum and Monrovia." The office's memo says that an inspector general's investigator who went to Beirut to try to conduct an investigation was not given enough time to complete the job.

• A member of Clinton's security detail allegedly "engaged prostitutes while on official trips in foreign countries." The inspector general's agent assigned to investigate "concluded" that the "prostitution problem was endemic."

• In Iraq, an "underground drug ring" may have been operating near the U.S. Embassy and "supplying" drugs to State Department security contractors, but an agent sent to investigate the allegations was prevented from completing the job.

The allegations were first reported Monday by CBS.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki responded Monday.

State Dept. Pushes Back on Report of Prostitutes, Cover-ups

By KIRIT RADIA (@KiritRadia_ABC) and DANA HUGHES (@dana_hughes)

June 11, 2013

The State Department is strongly denying allegations from a former department investigator who claimed top officials tried to halt or delay several potentially damaging investigations.

Aurelia Fedenisn, the whistle-blowing former investigator, also claimed that when the department's Office of Inspector General tried to expose the interference in a report, that language was scrubbed.

A senior State Department official offered a point-by-point pushback in response to an internal Office of Inspector General memo dated Oct. 23, 2012, obtained by ABC News, that detailed eight investigations by the investigative arm of the department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security.

The memo alleged that, in those cases, senior officials interfered with the investigations.

The cases, according to the memo, included allegations that an ambassador solicited prostitutes in a park near a U.S. embassy, that several members of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's security detail hired prostitutes while on official travel, and that a drug ring was running near the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

In each of those cases, the memo alleged, more senior officials, including, in some cases, individuals close to Clinton, called off the investigations.

But the senior official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, insisted that the investigations were not called off for political reasons. Instead, the official claimed, full investigations were done and in many cases there was insufficient evidence to warrant prosecutions or in-house discipline.

A Nov. 20, 2012 draft of the inspector general's report, also obtained by ABC News, included many of the details included in the Oct. 23 memo, as well as attempts to block the investigations.

A Dec. 4, 2012 draft, however, watered down the language, focusing more on the need for investigative independence.

By the time the final report was issued in February, all of the details were removed, reduced to a line that the investigative arm of diplomatic security "does not have that independence."

But again, the senior State Department official claimed the language was removed because, when asked to provide evidence to back up those claims, the Office of Inspector General was unable to do so.

"Tell us when and show us how," the official recalled saying. "Show me."

AMBASSADOR ALLEGEDLY LINKED TO STATE DEPARTMENT PROSTITUTION ALLEGATIONS WAS IN THE NEWS FOR CONTROVERSIAL REMARKS TWO YEARS AGO

Jun. 12, 2013 6:59am Sharona Schwartz

Ambassador Reportedly Linked to State Department Prostitution Allegations Was in the News for Controversial Remarks Two Years Ago

U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman (Image source: U.S. State Department)

The U.S. ambassador reportedly named in the State Department Inspector General’s memo regarding allegations of soliciting prostitutes made news two years ago after he said the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was responsible for sparking a new kind of anti-Semitism in Europe, a statement that prompted prominent Republicans to call then for his removal.

CBS News reported on Monday that it obtained documents showing that the highest ranks of the State Department “may have covered up allegations of illegal and inappropriate behavior within their ranks.”

It further reported that State Department agents told their department’s Inspector General that “they were told to stop investigating the case of a U.S. Ambassador who held a sensitive diplomatic post and was suspected of patronizing prostitutes in a public park.”

Though CBS News did not report which ambassador was named, the New York Post later reported it as being U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman, and Gutman issued a statement calling the allegations “baseless.”

According to the internal State Department Inspector General’s memo cited by CBS, the ambassador “routinely ditched … his protective security detail,” and it was suspected by inspectors that this was in order to “solicit sexual favors from prostitutes.”

After a summons to Washington to meet with a senior State Department official, the ambassador was allowed to return to serve out his term, according to CBS.

Gutman said in a statement quoted by Foreign Policy: “I am angered and saddened by the baseless allegations that have appeared in the press and to watch the four years I have proudly served in Belgium smeared is devastating,” he said.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Diplomatic Security in Light of Benghazi

By Scott Stewart

It has been more than two weeks since the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, that resulted in the death of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, yet the attack remains front-page news. One reason is that it has become unusual for a U.S. ambassador to be killed. After the 1968 assassination of John Mein in Guatemala -- the first ever U.S. ambassador to be assassinated -- several others were killed in the 1970s: Cleo Noel Jr. in Sudan in 1973, Rodger Davies in Cyprus in 1974, Francis Meloy Jr. in Lebanon in 1976 and Adolph Dubs in Afghanistan in 1979. However, following improvements in diplomatic security during the 1980s, no U.S. ambassador has died as a result of a hostile action since Ambassador Arnold Raphel, who was killed in the plane crash used to assassinate Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in August 1988.

Another reason for the continued publicity is that it is an election year. Since foreign policy is an area where Republicans believe President Barack Obama is vulnerable, Stevens' death has become highly politicized. In any event, the Benghazi attack remains in the headlines. Unfortunately, as one goes beyond those headlines, there are many misunderstandings that have persisted in both the media coverage and the public discussions of the incident. There simply are not many people who understand how diplomatic facilities work and how they are protected.

With that in mind, and because other U.S. diplomatic facilities remain in harm's way due to the protests occurring throughout the Muslim world, it is an opportune time to again discuss diplomatic security.

Responsibilities

First, whenever discussing the security of diplomatic facilities, it must be understood that, by treaty, the responsibility for the security of diplomatic facilities lies with the host government. This clear responsibility was codified in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which took effect in 1964.

This is generally not a problem in a developed, friendly country. There is little doubt that the Australian government will take the appropriate steps to ensure that the U.S. Embassy and the British High Commission in Canberra remain safe. The problems with the responsibilities outlined in the Vienna Convention occur when a diplomatic facility is located in a country that is either unable or unwilling to provide adequate security.

The U.S. government has learned this lesson the hard way. For example, in 1979, the U.S. embassies in Tehran and Islamabad were overrun. In both cases, the host governments could have taken action to stop the mobs attacking the embassies but chose not to. A few years later in Lebanon, the U.S. Embassy and Embassy Annex were targeted in massive bombing attacks in 1983 and 1984, respectively. In these attacks, it was weakness that prevented the Lebanese government, which had been exhausted by civil war, from providing adequate protection for the facilities.

The situation in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012, very much resembled the one in Lebanon at the time of the embassy bombings. The Libyan central government has very little authority outside of Tripoli, the capital, and heavily armed tribal and regional militias control many parts of the country. Some of this has changed since locals angry at Ansar al-Sharia, a group believed to have participated in the Benghazi attack, stormed the compounds of some Islamist militias in the Benghazi area, evicting them and turning the compounds over to the government. Nevertheless, the militias left with most of their weapons and will continue to be a threat in the future.

The U.S. government learned from the incidents of the 1970s and 1980s that host governments cannot always be expected to provide security adequate to counter all threats in a country. In response to this reality and the increased attacks against U.S. diplomatic missions, U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz set up a commission in 1984 to study the problem and find ways to increase security at U.S. facilities abroad. The panel, headed by Adm. Bobby Inman, was formally called the Advisory Panel on Overseas Security but is widely referred to as the Inman Commission. In addition to recommending a more robust cadre of agents to protect facilities, the Inman Commission made recommendations on physical and procedural security standards for diplomatic facilities. Embassies and consulates constructed in accordance with these physical security standards are often referred to as Inman facilities.

Based on the findings of the Inman Commission, the Department of State's Office of Security was expanded to become the Diplomatic Security Service in 1985. The U.S. Congress codified and funded these changes in the Omnibus Diplomatic Security and Antiterrorism Act of 1986.

Funding Issues

However, as we've previously noted, funding for diplomatic security follows a notable boom and bust cycle. The influx of funding for diplomatic security provided by the 1986 Omnibus Act quickly evaporated. By the early 1990s, security budgets were being severely squeezed again. This budget crunch affected physical security upgrades at embassies as well as the hiring of new Diplomatic Security Service agents and forced cuts in things such as local guard program budgets. The Crowe Commission, which was appointed to investigate the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in August 1998, concluded that these funding cuts had severely hampered efforts to increase security at U.S. facilities abroad.

While there was a spike in funding for diplomatic security (along with security more generally) after the 9/11 attacks, security funding has declined over the past decade. This issue has been complicated by the incredible strain placed on the system by the huge diplomatic facilities in Iraq as well as the large diplomatic presence and severe threats in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Providing security to these posts has also stretched Diplomatic Security Service personnel thin. The two Diplomatic Security Service special agents injured in the Benghazi attack were on their first tours and had been borrowed from domestic field offices in the United States for a temporary duty assignment protecting Stevens in Libya. The personnel situation is not looking much better for the future. With the agents hired after the Inman Commission in the mid-to-late 1980s retiring at a rapid rate, and with others leaving due to strain placed on their families by multiple tours in places in Iraq and Afghanistan, the 100 new special agents the Diplomatic Security Service is slated to hire this year will not be enough to replace those leaving the service.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

White House admits U.S. attacks in Libya Were Acts of Terror (but Obama still blames anti-Islam film)

White House FINALLY admits U.S. consulate attacks in Libya that killed ambassador were acts of terror (but Obama still blames anti-Islam film)

President refused to confirm al Qaeda involvement in attack where Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others were killed
White House spokesman said: 'It is self-evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack'
Ambassador Stevens said he feared increasing threat of al Qaeda
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said today there was 'no basis' for fears
Raises yet more questions about why there was not security at consulate
Comes amid claims that ringleader behind attack was former Guantanamo inmate handed over to Libya by America

By MICHAEL ZENNIE, LYDIA WARREN and LOUISE BOYLE

Sufyan Ben Qumu, Former Gitmo Detainee Released by Pres. Bush, Led Attack on U.S. Embassy in Libya

By Michael Allen, Thu, September 20, 2012

Sufyan Ben Qumu, who was reportedly once Osama bin Laden's driver, is allegedly the leader of the recent attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya, which killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador John Christopher Stevens, reports the Daily Mail.

Qumu was held for six years, without trial, at the U.S. military detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In 2007, Qumu was released from Guantanamo Bay prison by President Bush and turned over to Gaddafi on the condition that he be kept in prison.

In 2010 Gaddafi freed Qumu from prison in Tripoli, along with 37 other prisoners.

During the uprising that toppled Gaddafi, Qumu emerged as a leader of the rebels.

Qumu had prior military experience fighting against the Soviets in Afghanistan with the Mujaheddin, a group funded and armed by the Reagan administration. Later, he fought against the Northern Alliance and fought alongside the Taliban.

source: http://www.opposingviews.com

Google won't remove anti-Islam clip

Tehran, Iran (CNN) -- Iran blocked YouTube and its owner Google over the weekend because of an inflammatory movie trailer about the Prophet Mohammed that has infuriated Muslims in many countries around the world.

The sites were blocked "because of public demand," Iran's semiofficial Mehr news agency said Monday.

"Google and YouTube continued to carry the film clip that insulted our people's sacred beliefs," the agency said, citing an unnamed source in Iran's Internet Authority.

Iran was responding to a 14-minute online trailer for "Innocence of Muslims," a once obscure film that mocks Mohammed as a womanizer, child molester and killer.

Demonstrations against the movie and the country in which it was privately produced, the United States, spread across many countries this month.

Most of the demonstrations have been peaceful, but a number have been marked by violence that has left more than two dozen people dead -- among them U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other Americans killed in an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Kamran Saghafi, of the High Council for the Internet in Iran, warned Iranians not to try to access the sites.

"Internet users must voluntarily stop using those services and must not even try getting connected, even if it is just to see if they can succeed," Mehr quoted him as saying.

He said that the council was not involved in the decision to block the global Internet giants' sites, but that the action was "legal and authorized."

Mehr quoted a source in the Ministry of Technology as saying that authorities who are in charge of filtering the Internet made the decision.

Last week, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs demanded that the United States remove the controversial movie from YouTube.

President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have disavowed the video.

source: http://www.cnn.com

Obama: "Season of progress" in Middle East continues

















By: Stephanie Condon

(CBS News) Striking a hopeful but serious tone about the future of the Middle East, President Obama at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday called on his international counterparts to directly and honestly confront the sources of unrest in Muslim countries, as well as the tensions between the West and the Arab world.

At the same time, he urged world leaders -- and, no doubt, an American electorate -- to "remember that this is a season of progress."

Mr. Obama hailed the political progress in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, as well as developments outside the Arab world, as in Somalia and Burma.

"Around the globe, people are making their voices heard, insisting on their innate dignity, and the right to determine their future," he said. "And yet the turmoil of recent weeks reminds us that the path to democracy does not end with the casting of a ballot."

Beginning and ending his nearly hour-long remarks by invoking the memory of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was murdered along with three other Americans when the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya came under attack, the president laid out the values that America stands for -- the values Mr. Obama said the nation would continue to promote around the world.

"We believe that freedom and self-determination are not unique to one culture," the president said. "These are not simply American values or Western values - they are universal values. And even as there will be huge challenges that come with a transition to democracy, I am convinced that ultimately government of the people, by the people and for the people is more likely to bring about the stability, prosperity, and individual opportunity that serve as a basis for peace in our world."

Mr. Obama touted the United States' support for the different democratic movements that unfolded throughout the Middle East over the past two years, glossing over inconsistencies in the level of support his administration showed for protesters. He noted that the U.S. "insisted on change" in Egypt and was "inspired by the Tunisian protests that toppled a dictator," while failing to mention the United States' lack of support for pro-democracy protesters in Bahrain.

Mr. Obama said, "Just as we cannot solve every problem in the world, the United States has not, and will not, seek to dictate the outcome of democratic transitions abroad, and we do not expect other nations to agree with us on every issue."

Nevertheless, the president declared, "America will never retreat from the world."

Mr. Obama's remarks came just a day after his presidential opponent Mitt Romney charged that the United States' international influence has waned under Mr. Obama's leadership. The president's speech was his last international address before Election Day, and he used the opportunity to highlight ways in which he's advanced American interests on the international stage.

"It is because of the progress I've witnessed that after nearly four years as president, I am hopeful about the world we live in," Mr. Obama said. "The war in Iraq is over, and our troops have come home. We have begun a transition in Afghanistan, and America and our allies will end our war on schedule in 2014. Al Qaeda has been weakened and Osama bin Laden is no more."

Taking an assertive tone against Iran without dictating a specific deadline for action, Mr. Obama warned that the United States would eventually look past diplomacy for a way to contain Iran's nuclear ambitions.

"America wants to resolve this issue through diplomacy, and we believe that there is still time and space to do so. But that time is not unlimited," Mr. Obama said. "We respect the right of nations to access peaceful nuclear power, but... the United States will do what we must to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon."

Ahmadinejad: "We do not take seriously the threats" of Israel
Iran test-fires missiles, sinks warship-sized target

On Monday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad maintained his country's project to enrich uranium is only for peaceful purposes. Ahmadinejad expressed optimism that Iran could reach a diplomatic resolution with the U.S., but he also berated the U.S. for defending Israel, referring to Israel as a nuclear-armed "fake regime."

Mr. Obama on Tuesday also took the Assad regime in Syria to task, charging, "In Syria, the future must not belong to a dictator who massacres his people."

He said the U.S. will work for "sanctions and consequences for those who persecute; and assistance and support for those who work for this common good. Because we believe that the Syrians who embrace this vision will have the strength and legitimacy to lead."

Mr. Obama called on all world leaders to reject political violence and extremist views.

"The impulse towards intolerance and violence may initially be focused on the West, but over time it cannot be contained," he warned. "The same impulses toward extremism are used to justify war between Sunnis and Shia, between tribes and clans. It leads not to strength and prosperity but to chaos."

He specifically decried the violence across the Muslim world sparked by an American-produced, anti-Islam video. The president clarified that he considered it a "crude and disgusting" video and that it had nothing to do with the views of the U.S. government but noted that "Americans have fought and died around the globe" to protect free speech.

"I know that not all countries in this body share this understanding of the protection of free speech," Mr. Obama continued. "Yet in 2012, at a time when anyone with a cell phone can spread offensive views around the world with the click of a button, the notion that we can control the flow of information is obsolete. The question, then, is how we respond. And on this we must agree: there is no speech that justifies mindless violence."

source: http://www.cbsnews.com