EPA removes staffer whose report questioned Pruitt's security needs: report

[highplainsdem]

Source: The Hill

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) removed a career employee Tuesday who signed off on a report that Democrats used to undermine Administrator Scott Pruitt’s security needs, Politico reported.

Mario Caraballo was the deputy associate administrator of EPA's Office of Homeland Security.

His office wrote a report in February evaluating a memo by Pruitt’s security detail that reported various apparent threats against him to justify his need for 24-7 security and first-class flying, among other steps.

-snip-

A source told Politico that the EPA justified firing Caraballo by citing an issue from his military service years ago that had been resolved and reviewed by the EPA, but that agency leaders were unhappy with Caraballo’s report.

-snip-

Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/382529-epa-removes-staffer-whose-report-questioned-pruitts-security-needs

[groundloop]

1. I hope he sues the shit out of Pruitt

We have a bunch of fucking crooked bullies running this country, damn we need to kick their asses out ASAP.

[marble falls]

2. If that disqualifies this guy, when is Pruit walking out with a security guy, carrying a box of...

desk crap???

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. The WaPo says he has been placed on leave. Firing someone is a whole different thing.

It's still early in the game. Things will be sorted out. Anyway:

Energy and Environment

EPA documents question justification for Pruitt’s 24/7 security detail, first-class travel

By Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis April 10 at 4:30 PM

[e-mail]; [e-mail]

This post has been updated.
....

Also on Tuesday, according to two current agency staffers, a career official who had been involved in some of the assessment cited in the senators’ letter to Barrasso, was removed from his post. Mario Caraballo, a military veteran who served as deputy associate administrator at the EPA’s Office of Homeland Security, was placed on leave. It was unclear whether the move, first reported by Politico, was triggered by the release of information related to Pruitt’s security.
....

Juliet Eilperin is The Washington Post's senior national affairs correspondent, covering how the new administration is transforming a range of U.S. policies and the federal government itself. She is the author of two books — one on sharks and another on Congress, not to be confused with each other — and has worked for The Post since 1998. Follow @eilperin

Brady Dennis is a national reporter for The Washington Post, focusing on the environment and public health issues. He previously spent years covering the nation’s economy. Dennis was a finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for a series of explanatory stories about the global financial crisis. Follow @brady_dennis

Of course, when he gets back from leave, he might find himself assigned to the important Office of Paper Clip Inventory.

[procon]

4. Trump's style of management by vendetta trickles down through his administration

as his appointees mimic his revenge to retaliate against anyone who speaks truth to power.

[riversedge]

5. The Secret Service identified no reports of behaviors of interest against Pruitt, and internal re

Pruitt lies. lies lies.


X-posted:


https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=edit&forum=1002&thread=10474648





Documents contradict EPA claims on threats to Pruitt, Democrats say


https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/10/documents-contradict-epa-claims-threats-984459

By EMILY HOLDEN

04/10/2018 12:45 PM EDT


Records from the EPA, Secret Service and a terrorism task force fail to back up EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s claims that he faces the kinds of threats that would justify his multimillion-dollar, round-the-clock security detail, two Democratic senators wrote Tuesday when asking for a congressional review of his spending.

Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.), the ranking member on the Environment and Public Works Committee, and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) wrote to Chairman John Barrasso (D-Wyo.) on Tuesday demanding oversight hearings and citing the non-public documents: an internal EPA review, Secret Service threat assessments and a Joint Terrorism Task Force report.

The Secret Service identified no “reports of behaviors of interest” against Pruitt, and internal reviews dispute “the administrator’s claims that the nature of the threats against him justify his expenditures,” Carper and Whitehouse wrote.

The EPA Office of Homeland Security‘s intelligence team concluded that an earlier threat assessment prepared by Pruitt's security team "DOES NOT employ sound analysis or articulate relevant ‘threat specific’ information appropriate to draw any resource or level of threat conclusions regarding the protection posture for the administrator,” according to a section of the Feb. 14 memo reproduced in the senators' letter (emphasis included). The memo concluded that EPA intelligence officials had "not identified any specific credible direct threat to the EPA administrator," according to the letter.


None of the incidents listed concern air travel, according to the letter. Pruitt’s aides have said he needed to fly first class after encounters with passengers..............



Also see:


https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=edit&forum=1014&thread=2033935


Verified account @nytimes
51m51 minutes ago

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse claims to have a document disputing Scott Pruitt's need for costly travel and other security measures

Link to tweet

Link to tweet