State Department Official to Resign in Wake of Blackwater Criticism

[sabra]

Source: ABC News Blotter

The assistant secretary of state, who oversaw diplomatic security, plans to submit his resignation in the wake of a report critical of his handling of Blackwater security contractors, according to State Department officials briefed on the matter this morning.

Ambassador Richard Griffin told his staff he would be submitting his resignation to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

There was no immediate comment from the State Department.

Griffin's resignation follows the release yesterday of a State Department review that found serious problems with the operations of the Diplomatic Security Service, which Griffin oversaw, including lax oversight of private security contractors, including Blackwater USA.

Read more: http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/10/state-departmen.html

[DesEtoiles]

1. Well, this is something new. Why not just say FU to America and

to Congress as usual?

[Justitia]

No kidding, this actually surprised me. He must be running off to a country w/no extradition. -eom

[DesEtoiles]

8. Right - a spot just opened up on the Carlyle BOD

[cyberpj]

18. Like Dubai? Probably has a new office in the Halliburton complex there. nt

[The Backlash Cometh]

14. kick

[Rick Myers]

2. The Scooter Libby Retirement Plan

Guess he needs to 'spend more time with the family.'

[Robbien]

3. Negroponte and his penchant for Death Squads is still at State. Right?

But this unknown assistant somebody or other is the one designated to fall on his sword.

[rodeodance]

4. ah gee, NOT Rice????

[hisownpetard]

7. My reaction, exactly. nt

[maddezmom]

5. this is the guy who said it would cost 500k per yr for one security person

At the hearing, Richard Griffin, assistant secretary for diplomatic security, told the committee it would cost at least $500,000 a year to field one security employee. Griffin said the work was outsourced because the surge in security work was temporary and did not warrant the long-term costs of creating new federal positions.

According to the committee, the average Blackwater employee costs the government $400,000 a year.
http://federaltimes.com/index.php?S=3122956

[BridgeTheGap]

6. I'm sure it's because he wants to spend more time with the family

It just has to be that. They hardly ever offer any other reasons.

[maseman]

9. It's funny

We all thought that the Dems in COngress would bring down the house of cards. Hell, they are bringing themselves down. The Dems are useless, but the Repukes can't keep it together.

[BridgeTheGap]

20. Which maybe why the Dems have not done much

assuming (correctly ?) that their house of cards would collapse without any help from them.

[Barrett808]

10. State Department Security Chief Resigns (Blackwater oversight)

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/24/AR2007102401429.html

State Department Security Chief Resigns
By MATTHEW LEE
The Associated Press
Wednesday, October 24, 2007; 1:54 PM

WASHINGTON -- The State Department's security chief announced his resignation on Wednesday in the wake of last month's deadly Blackwater USA shooting incident in Baghdad and growing questions about the use of private contractors in Iraq.

Richard Griffin, the assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security, announced his decision to resign at a weekly staff meeting, according to an internal informational e-mail sent to colleagues.

"He read his letter of resignation at the weekly Diplomatic Security staff meeting," said the e-mail, which was read to The Associated Press by one its recipients. "There was no detailed reason provided and no effective date identified at this time."

Neither Griffin nor spokesmen for the department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security could be reached for immediate comment.

It was not clear if Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had or would accept Griffin's resignation.

Read more: Associated Press

[Spazito]

11. Hmmm, I suspect there is the mistaken hope that this resignation

will dampen the focus on the State Department's involvement with paid mercenaries. It won't, Iraq isn't concerned about resignations, it is outraged at mercenaries that murder Iraqi citizens and are protected by the US government/State Department.

[Maribelle]

12. Does anyone believe Griffin resigned beause of Waxman's digging?

Friday, October 5th, 2007 by Jesse Lee

On Tuesday the Oversight Committee held a hearing on Blackwater, examining several incidents in Iraq involving the private security firm. One such incident involved a Blackwater employee who shot a guard of the Iraqi Vice President, apparently while drunk, and whether the Justice Department has truly been investigating as the State Department claims. The Blackwater employee was flown out of the Iraq within two days of the incident before a proper investigation could be conducted:





Chairman Waxman: “Have the State Department people been asked any questions by the Department of Justice about this issue?”

Assistant Secretary of State Richard Griffin: “I’m sure there’s been conversation, but I can’t…”

Chairman Waxman: “You’re sure but you don’t know… Well the fact of the matter is it seems strange that if there’s this kind of situation, there hasn’t been any action by the Justice Department to date, this is almost, not quite a year, but this is the fall — nine, ten months later. I wonder what really is going on.”



Today Chairman Henry Waxman wrote to Secretary of State Rice following reports that this Blackwater contractor, who was fired at the time, was hired by another private contractor to work in the region two months later. As Chairman Waxman writes in the letter, “Serious questions now exist about whether the State Department may have withheld from the U.S. Defense Department facts about this Blackwater contractor’s shooting of the Iraqi guard that should have prevented his hiring to work on another contract in support of the Iraq War.”



Dear Madame Secretary:

I am writing to express concern that the State Department may have failed to report important facts about a private military contractor’s killing of a guard for the Iraqi Vice President and thereby facilitated the hiring of that individual to work on another contract in support of the Iraq War only two months after the homicide.

On October 2, 2007, the Committee held a hearing to examine the mission and performance of Blackwater USA and its affiliated companies in Iraq and Afghanistan. Blackwater holds a $1.2 billion contract with the State Department to provide security services to protect State Department personnel in Baghdad and around the world. The State Department, represented by Ambassador David Satterfield, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Griffin, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State William Moser, testified at the hearing...







http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=826

[truthisfreedom]

15. Presidential Medal of Freedom Opportunity!

[xxqqqzme]

13. Is he going to work for prince instead?

[WinkyDink]

16. I'd bet on it!

[libodem]

17. Appease

with another human sacrifice. I'm satisfied. Solves everything.:sarcasm:

[Scurrilous]

19. Under Siege, Blackwater Takes on Air of Bunker

<snip>

"The Blackwater USA compound here is a fortress within a fortress. Surrounded by a 25-foot-high wall of concrete topped by a chain-link fence and razor wire, the compound sits deep inside the heavily defended Green Zone, its two points of entry guarded by Colombian Army veterans carrying shotguns and automatic rifles.

In the mazelike interior, Blackwater employees live in trailers stacked one on top of the other in surroundings that one employee likens to a “minimum-security prison.”

Since Sept. 16, when Blackwater guards opened fire in a crowded Baghdad square, the compound has begun to feel more like a prison, too. On that day, employees of Blackwater, a private security firm hired to protect American diplomats, responded to what they called a threat and killed as many as 17 people and wounded 24.

Richard J. Griffin, the State Department official who oversaw Blackwater USA and other private security contractors in Iraq, resigned Wednesday.

For weeks, not a word has emerged publicly from the compound, as the F.B.I., the American military and the Iraqi government investigate the Sept. 16 and earlier Blackwater shootings in Iraq.

But in recent days, that secretive Blackwater world has begun to fray under so much scrutiny, said four current and two former Blackwater employees. They described a grating sense among many of Blackwater guards, especially those with years of experience, that the killings on Sept. 16 were unjustified."

more