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Wednesday, February 07, 2007
The Long Arm of Dick Cheney
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Yesterday on Capitol Hill, two top government investigators testified before the House Homeland Security Appropriations Committee that their investigations have been obstructed - specifically because of delays they have encountered in dealing with the department's office of general counsel. This office just happens to be headed up by Philip Perry, Vice-President Dick Cheney's son-in-law.
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Philip Perry (arrow) w/ In-Laws
Photo: Robert Galbraith / REUTERS
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Comptroller General David Walker from the Government Accountability Office insists the delays are not the fault of any one person, describing the problem as "systemic."
GovExec.com reports:
"[Homeland Security] has been one of our persistent access challenges," Walker testified. "When you have more lawyers in a meeting than program people, you know you got a problem. Something needs to be done about this," Walker said. "There needs to be an understanding that if the general counsel's office is going to get involved, it's clearly got to be the exception rather than the rule," he added. "Right now the system is structured to delay, delay, delay ... We haven't had a situation where they refuse information but it might take months to get it."
Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner confirmed Walker's testimony, saying it sometimes took his office weeks or months to get documents and responses to investigations. Let's hope Congress will be following up on these reports.
Posted by Adam Hughes
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