[Infowarrior] - FBI Raids Special Counsel Office, Seizes Records

[Richard Forno]

FBI Raids Special Counsel Office, Seizes Records

by Ari Shapiro

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90223448

NPR.org, May 6, 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.

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. Bloch's home was also searched.

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.