State Department 'tried to suppress investigations into sexual assaults, drug use and prostitute solicitation within its own ranks'

• An internal memo obtained by CBS News reveals specific instances where investigations were 'influenced, manipulated or simply called off'
• One investigation regarded allegations that a U.S. ambassador was soliciting prostitutes in public parks
• Another allegation of prostitute solicitation involved members of Hillary Clinton's security personnel
• The State Department says the notion that it wouldn't pursue such allegations is 'preposterous'

By HAYLEY PETERSON

PUBLISHED: 16:06 EST, 10 June 2013 | UPDATED: 16:09 EST, 10 June 2013

 
 
 

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The State Department may have covered up allegations of sexual assaults and drug use within their ranks, according to an internal memo obtained by CBS News. 

The memo reveals at least a half dozen specific instances where investigations into illegal or inappropriate behavior on the part of State Department personnel were 'influenced, manipulated, or simply called off' by senior officials, CBS News' John Miller reports.

Miller reports that the cover-ups involved 'allegations that a State Department security official in Beirut "engaged in sexual assaults" on foreign nationals hired as embassy guards 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."'

Secretary of State John Kerry pauses during a joint news conference with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, Monday, June 3, 2013, at the State Department in Washington

An internal memo has revealed that members of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's security detail were investigated for engaging prostitutes while on official trips in foreign countries

The memo, written by the Inspector General's office, also references an 'underground drug ring' operating near the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad that provided drugs to U.S. security contractors, as well as a U.S. ambassador who was routinely soliciting prostitutes in a public park. 

In the case of the ambassador, State Department officials directed the IG's office to stop investigating the official. He was called to D.C. to meet with Undersecretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy and then allowed to return to his job.

 

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Miller spoke to Aurelia Fedenisn, a former investigator for the State Department Inspector General, who said investigators expect some influence but that 'the degree to which that influence existed and how high up it went, was very disturbing.'

The memo details investigators' concerns that cases were being manipulated by senior State Department officials. In the final report, however, all references to specific cases had been removed, Miller reports. 

Allegations of misconduct revealed by an internal memo involve U.S. diplomatic officials around the world

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki pushed back against the CBS report during a press briefing on Monday. 

The 'notion that we would not vigorously pursue criminal misconduct in a case, any case, is preposterous,' she said. 'We take allegations of misconduct seriously and we investigate thoroughly. All cases mentioned in the CBS report were thoroughly investigated or under investigation.'

Psaki added that the State Department has responded specifically to the Inspector General's claims that its investigations are being influenced. 

'The department has responded to the recommendations in the [Inspector General's] report,' she added. 'Diplomatic Security has taken the further step of requesting additional review by outside experience law enforcement officers on top of the [Inspector General's] inspection so that officers with law enforcement experience can make expert assessments about our current procedures.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2339178/State-Department-tried-suppress-investigations-sexual-assaults-drug-use-prostitute-solicitation-ranks.html#ixzz2VrnoOvAo
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