September 30, 2007 (LPAC)--There's another Gonzales-type scandal brewing in the Bush-Cheney administration--this time in the State Dept. over investigation of mishandling of contracts relating to Dick Cheney's Iraq war fiasco.

On Sept. 28, the head of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), revealed that two employees of the State Department's Office of the Inspector General have gone public with charges that they were threatened with possible termination of their jobs if they cooperated with Waxman's investigation of the IG's office. According to the two agents, who have gone public with their allegations, they were told not to do voluntary interviews with Waxman's staff, and if they did IG Howard Krongard "could retaliate and you would have no recourse," that they could be fired and "It would affect your ability to get another job." One of the agents, Special Agent Ron Militana, confirmed the allegations in an interview with the Washington Post.

As LPAC has previously reported, Waxman is investigating charges that imply that Krongard has turned the State Department IG's office into a protection racket for Bush and Cheney (see Waxman slug). While the State Department and committee Republicans are complaining that Waxman is "shooting first and asking questions later," the Post includes another tidbit of information that tends to support Waxman. Last year, when the Congress was pushing legislation to renew the office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), Krongard was closely involved in the White House's efforts to shut down the SIGIR's operations, according to an internal administration source.