CBS: State Dept. Covered Up Drug, Prostitution Rings in Diplomatic Ranks Sandy Fitzgerald
10 Jun 2013
The State Department has been covering up allegations of illegal behavior within its ranks, including drug trafficking by contractors in Iraq and the use of prostitutes by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's security personnel, according to a newly uncovered internal Inspector General's memo.
CBS News reports it has seen a memo citing eight specific examples including claims that a State Department security official in Beirut "engaged in sexual assaults" on foreigners hired as embassy guards.
Another case involved members of the security detail that was supposed to be protecting Clinton on her frequent overseas trips. The report said their use of prostitutes was "endemic."
In addition, the memo details an underground drug ring in Baghdad that supplied State Department security contractors with drugs, CBS says.
Aurelia Fedenisn, who worked for the Department's Inspector General, told the network there were also several allegations of criminal wrongdoing that were never prosecuted, with Diplomatic Security Service agents telling the Inspector General's office that senior State Department officials had told them to back off.
"We were very upset,"
Fedenisn told CBS. "We expect to see influence, but the degree to which that influence existed and how high up it went, was very disturbing."
In one of the alleged cover-ups, State Department agents told the Inspector General to stop investigating a case of an ambassador in a sensitive diplomatic post who "routinely ditched ... his protective security detail." The inspectors believe that was because he was meeting prostitutes.
After the allegations against him surfaced, sources said, the ambassador was called to Washington for a high-level meeting, but was sent back to his post.
Fedenisn told CBS the activities "present a serious risk to the United States government."
Mike Pohelitz, a retired senior DSS agent involved in one of the cases, told CBS he was ordered to stop investigating. He said he believed the order came from "somebody high in the Diplomatic Security Service."
The State Department refused comment on "specific allegations of misconduct, internal investigations or personnel matters."
"Not all allegations are substantiated," the department said in a statement to CBS. "It goes without saying that the Department does not condone interference with investigations by any of its employees."
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