Foreign Service Officers File Complaint with GAO; Allege Criminal Actions by Diplomatic Security Service, Office of Medical Services - Yahoo! News

Foreign Service Officers File Complaint with GAO; Allege Criminal Actions by Diplomatic Security Service, Office of Medical Services - Yahoo! News:

The group, Concerned Foreign Service Officers, was created to expose increasing abuse of the security clearance process by the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service (DS) to circumvent Federal labor laws and established personnel practices. The group asserts that the State Department is increasingly misusing a poorly managed and regulated security clearance process to circumvent federal personnel regulations, to bypass EEO laws, and to punish dissenters within the agency.

The group has also documented improper and coercive interview techniques, fraudulent statements in investigative reports, suppression or destruction of evidence, improper seizure of personal property, misapplication of security regulations and numerous other improprieties in DSS cases.

The State Department's own Inspector General has criticized DS investigations, noting that 69 percent of the investigations performed by DS do not meet federal standards and urging DS to develop better investigative procedures. Concerned Foreign Service Officers believes that these abuses undermine the integrity of the security clearance process and damage national security.

Condo must have missed the memo. Shame, shame!