State Dept. IG Krongard to testify before House oversight committee Wednesday

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Cookie To Be Chewed At House Hearing Wednesday
By Spencer Ackerman - November 12, 2007, 11:56AM

It's official: embattled State Department Inspector General Howard "Cookie" Krongard will finally testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday.

Krongard, for the uninitiated, is the IG voted most likely to... not investigate waste, fraud and abuse. In September, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), the oversight committee chairman, accused him of scuttling investigations into corruption in State activities and contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Matters got worse when Krongard's subordinates told Waxman that his aides threatened retaliation against them for going public. Condoleezza Rice promised that Krongard would answer the charges. The FBI got involved. It's a whole to-do.

Come Wednesday at 10 a.m., Krongard will get a chance to explain himself. As of last week, the hearing focused primarily on the whistleblower-protection question. Aides to the committee said last week that there were no preconditions to Krongard's testimony, and lo and behold, the title of the current hearing is now the broad-brush "Assessing the State Department Inspector General."

Can't wait for Wednesday? Check out the Mighty Justin Rood's newest piece on the State Department's allergy to accountability in Iraq and Afghanistan.