Tipsheet State Department Officials Interfered With IG Investigations of Sexual Misconduct Katie Pavlich | June 10, 2013 10:57 AM Advertisement Add another scandal to the list. State Department officials in Washington interfering with Inspector General investigations to avoid bad press, accountability and scandal? You don't say: Advertisement CBS News has uncovered documents that show the State Department may have covered up allegations of illegal and inappropriate behavior within their ranks. The Diplomatic Security Service, or the DSS, is the State Department's security force, charged with protecting the secretary of state and U.S. ambassadors overseas and with investigating any cases of misconduct on the part of the 70,000 State Department employees worldwide. CBS News' John Miller reports that according to an internal State Department Inspector General's memo, several recent investigations were influenced, manipulated, or simply called off. The memo obtained by CBS News cited eight specific examples. Among them: allegations that a State Department security official in Beirut "engaged in sexual assaults" on foreign nationals hired as embassy guards and the charge and that members of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's security detail "engaged prostitutes while on official trips in foreign countries" -- a problem the report says was "endemic." The memo also reveals details about an "underground drug ring" was operating near the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and supplied State Department security contractors with drugs. And yes, things that happened were in fact illegal. Aurelia Fedenisn, a former investigator with the State Department's internal watchdog agency, the Inspector General, told Miller, "We also uncovered several allegations of criminal wrongdoing in cases, some of which never became cases." Recommended Trump Just Earned a Major Endorsement on Election Eve Rebecca Downs Advertisement Keep in mind that State Department officials (and the Obama administration in general) are constantly citing "ongoing criminal investigations within a department" as a reason why they can't comment or take responsibility for a situation. It turns out, at least in the State Department, the so-called "internal investigation" was being sidelined by people within the Department. Prostitutes? Check. Cover-up? Check. Everyone still has a job? Check. A Kennedy covering up sex? Check. The State Department Inspector General's memo refers to the 2011 investigation into an ambassador who "routinely ditched ... his protective security detai" and inspectors suspect this was in order to "solicit sexual favors from prostitutes."Sources told CBS News that after the allegations surfaced, the ambassador was called to Washington, D.C. to meet with Undersecretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy, but was permitted to return to his post. Tags: STATE DEPARTMENT Join the conversation as a VIP Member Login to Leave a Comment Recommended Trump Just Earned a Major Endorsement on Election Eve Rebecca Downs Is Hung Cao's Surge the Reason 'Saturday Night Live' Felt the Need to Try and Save Tim Kaine? Rebecca Downs Remember That 'Transgender' Boxer Who Beat Up a Woman? Well... Madeline Leesman There's Something Fishy Going on in PA Mia Cathell Colin Allred Touts Curious Endorsement Just Days Before Election Rebecca Downs Harris Supporters Were Asked to House Illegal Immigrants. Here's How They Responded. Madeline Leesman Trending on Townhall Videos Advertisement Trending on Townhall Media 1 Arizona -- What All the Data Shows With Less Than 24 Hours to Go 2 Trump Just Earned a Major Endorsement on Election Eve 3 Harris Team Gives a Warning About PA Election Results That Will Get the Speculation Going Advertisement Most Popular Is Hung Cao's Surge the Reason 'Saturday Night Live' Felt the Need to Try and Save Tim Kaine? Remember That 'Transgender' Boxer Who Beat Up a Woman? Well... There's Something Fishy Going on in PA Colin Allred Touts Curious Endorsement Just Days Before Election Trump Just Earned a Major Endorsement on Election Eve Rebecca Downs Advertisement
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