State Department taps Foreign Service veteran to be acting IG

The State Department Monday named Harold Geisel, a retired career member of the Senior Foreign Service, as its acting inspector general.

Geisel served as acting State IG in 1994 and was also in senior management jobs at the department. He is the first person from outside the IG's office to head it since former IG Howard Krongard resigned under fire last December. Geisel replaces Krongard's former deputy William Todd, who recently became ambassador to Brunei.

Geisel does not need Senate confirmation. His term as acting IG could extend into 2009.

The State Department IG's office gained attention last fall when House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Henry Waxman accused Krongard of inappropriately blocking investigations into State activities in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Krongard, who Democrats said obstructed a probe into alleged arms smuggling by security contractor Blackwater Worldwide, resigned after revelations he had incorrectly said his brother was not affiliated with the company.

Regardless of leadership, auditors have argued that the State IG's office is hobbled by longstanding organizational problems. In a report last fall, GAO faulted the office for sacrificing independence by hiring too many former department officials and noted the IG's budget fell in real terms from 2001 to 2006 while State Department spending grew 50 percent.

The State IG's budget increased by about $4 million in fiscal 2008 to $33.7 million, with another $1.8 million increase in the war-related supplemental spending package now pending in Congress.

GAO has urged Congress to scrap a law mandating the State IG annually inspect all the department's overseas bureaus. Though Congress waives the requirement each year, GAO said the mandate limits the IG's flexibility because the office always must plan for the inspections.

In a January interview after his name was first floated for the IG job, Geisel told CongressDaily he had mixed feeling about the mandatory inspections. But he said his instinct was that eliminating them "is a pretty sensible recommendation, because you are limited in resources."

Geisel has served as ambassador to Mauritius and as acting deputy assistant secretary of State for logistics. In recent years, he worked as a consultant for the department while also writing on international investments for a stock-tip publication, a job he quit to avoid conflicts in his new post.

In addition to his tenure as acting IG, Geisel served as deputy inspector general and worked under former State Department IG Sherman Funk, who Geisel called his mentor. "I had a wonderful tour in the IG's office . . . It can be a force for good," he said.

"My philosophy is integrity comes first," he added. "The Hill and your agency, they have to perceive you as fair."

A State Department official familiar with the appointment said Geisel comes on board at the start of "potentially long-term growth on the part of the State Department IG." Officials in the office are planning for the possibility of increasing its oversight work in Iraq. In January, they opened a Middle East Regional Office in Amman, Jordan, where they intend to station 21 staffers.

In coming weeks, the State IG's office plans to release reports on laptop security and on State Department controls over access to passport information. The passport issue grabbed attention in March after disclosure that employees of a department contractor accessed the passport files of all three major presidential candidates.