By Andrew Becker – Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Offices charged with ferreting out corruption among U.S. border and immigration employees are engaged in a turf battle that has delayed some investigations and threatens to undermine a host of enforcement actions, records and interviews show.
The conflict pits the inspector general’s office in the Department of Homeland Security against the agency’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) division and the FBI.
The turf battle came to a head about a week before a failed Christmas Day terrorist attack aboard an airliner,when Assistant Inspector General Thomas M. Frost ordered the top internal affairs official at CBP to drop any investigations underway outside the inspector general’s supervision.
In a Dec. 16 memo, Frost ordered James Tomsheck, the CBP commissioner for internal affairs, “to cease criminal investigations of any matter involving a DHS program or employee.” Frost also ordered CBP to stop participating in task forces or sharing information with other agencies unless coordinated through the inspector general’s office.
Some investigators think the order contradicts calls by the Homeland Security Department, Congress and the White House demanding increased agency cooperation. But an IG official said it was meant to improve internal-affairs inquiries.
Frost declined to comment, but his deputy, James Gaughran, said having too many investigating agencies risks intelligence leaks that can jeopardize investigators’ safety.
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