Go to Original
FBI Searches Office of Special Counsel Building
By Ari Shapiro
National Public Radio
Tuesday 06 May 2008
FBI agents on Tuesday raided the offices of Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch,
who oversees protection for federal whistle-blowers. The agents seized computers
and shut down e-mail service as part of an obstruction of justice probe, as
first reported by NPR News.
FBI agents also searched Bloch's home and a Special Counsel field office in
Dallas. A grand jury in Washington issued subpoenas for several OSC employees,
including Bloch, according to NPR sources who spoke on condition their names
not be used.
Those developments came about on a Tuesday morning that had seemed no different
from any other weekday in the Washington headquarters of the Office of Special
Counsel. But at 10 a.m., the OSC's national e-mail system went down, and the
FBI arrived.
A half-dozen FBI agents swarmed into the OSC's Washington offices, grabbing
documents and seizing computers. By 1 p.m., more than 20 agents had arrived
in the agency's D.C. bureau.
One official close to the investigation said that today's action was "significant"
and that other field offices would also be included in the investigation.
The focus of the probe appears to be Special Counsel Bloch, who was appointed
by President Bush in 2004. Bloch has been a controversial figure ever since
taking over the Office of Special Counsel, which, among other things, ensures
that federal whistle-blowers get the protection they need.
One of Bloch's first official actions was to refuse to investigate any claims
of discrimination based on sexual orientation. When the news of his refusal
was leaked to the press, career employees in his office say, Bloch blamed them
for the leak. He retaliated, the employees said, by creating a new field office
in Detroit and forcing them either to accept assignments there or resign.
This morning, FBI agents in Washington took Bloch into a separate room at OSC
to interview him, while additional investigators searched his office. They also
arrived at his home in Alexandria, Va., with a search warrant.
The Office of Personnel Management's inspector general has been looking into
allegations that Bloch retaliated against career employees and obstructed an
investigation. Sources close to the probe said the FBI's raid this morning was
related to work the inspector general had already done.
In addition to concerns about obstruction of justice, investigators are also
looking into whether Bloch violated the Hatch Act, a congressional mandate that
prohibits employees from using their offices for partisan political purposes.
Bloch has admitted to hiring Geeks on Call - a computer servicing company
- to purge his computer and two of his deputies' computers, sources said.
But he said the computers contained a virus, which necessitated a purge. Investigators
are looking into whether the purge was meant to destroy evidence related to
the current investigation.
OSC employees for months have called on President Bush to ask for Bloch's resignation.
The White House today declined to comment on the developments, as did Bloch's
lawyers and the FBI.
-------
Jump to today's Truthout Features:
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. t r u t h o u t has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is t r u t h o u t endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
"Go to Original" links are provided as a convenience to our readers and allow for verification of authenticity. However, as originating pages are often updated by their originating host sites, the versions posted on TO may not match the versions our readers view when clicking the "Go to Original" links.
Print This Story
E-mail This Story