Commissioner Interviews Might Have Prevented Criticism of IG Report
The largest-ever internal FCC probe might have been less vulnerable to complaints of inadequacy had investigators spoken with more current and former agency leaders, the Office of Inspector General said Monday. In its twice yearly review of its efforts, the office addressed criticism by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps. All three termed the report a whitewash (CD Oct 9 p2). Besides describing efforts to interview two former Media Bureau officials who claimed their bosses discouraged the reports’ release, the IG’s analysis said it might have been a good idea to talk to FCC members and former Chairman Michael Powell about complaints that media-ownership reports were quashed.
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“Requiring the sitting Commissioners to submit to interviews and requesting that former Chairman Powell and some of his staff agree to be interviewed might have prevented certain criticisms of this investigation,” the IG said. Boxer, Copps and others said the IG should have queried commissioners and Powell, who led the FCC 2001 to 2005, the period during which the reports were written but not released. “We remain convinced, however, that the OIG did not have a basis on which to demand or request such interviews and to have done so would have been to abuse the powers of the office for the sole purpose of shielding the OIG from potential criticism,” the IG said.
Investigators decided against interviewing Powell, his former aides or commissioners for lack of “leads, much less evidence” that any had taken part in a document coverup, the IG said. Inspector General Kent Nilsson “specifically questioned” aides on why they hadn’t queried Powell or his former advisers, as staff members had expected to do, the office said. Nilsson was told that, even if his office had authority to compel testimony, his staffers couldn’t justify such interviews, it said. “Although OIG did not necessarily anticipate resistance to being interviewed on the part of these individuals, the lack of investigative support for seeking their testimony decided the matter,” the IG said.
The office also drew fire for not interviewing Bill Johnson, who was deputy bureau chief at the time when the reports were alleged to have been suppressed. The report noted that Johnson said he was “willing, if not eager, to be interviewed in his retirement” (CD Oct 10 p1). He had criticized a report on radio consolidation, among those said to have been suppressed. But “further investigation revealed that these criticisms played no role in the decision at issue and thus the OIG did not seek such an interview,” it said. “Revisions based on that reviewer’s concerns were not made or addressed with him because the Media Bureau Chief decided the report should not go further towards release.”
“Reasonable minds could differ” on whether Ken Ferree, then Media Bureau head, should have released the radio study, the IG said. “This does not affect our view that the actual decision of the Media Bureau Chief was not improper.” The IG said lack of evidence argued against referring for prosecution an effort to “distract attention” from the report or conceal the draft’s existence. “Because different management was in place and OIG did not receive reports of similar situations during the extensive investigation, it was not necessary to refer this matter,” it said.
More than a dozen attempts were made to speak with two former bureau staffers who the IG said had alleged document suppression or similar “criminal conduct,” the office said. Both former staffers, economists Adam Candeub and Keith Brown, declined to speak, the IG said. Investigators researched Candeub’s teaching schedule to try to find a time to contact him, “repeatedly reminding Mr. Candeub that OIG staff and the court reporter would arrange essentially to be in any place at any time convenient” for him -- to no avail, it said. Brown, whom staffers tried to contact more than eight times, also refused to participate, it said. “Mr. Brown stated that he did not trust ’the IG process.'” Brown didn’t respond to requests to comment.
Candeub believes it’s a “pity” the FCC “just can’t get over its public humiliation at getting caught,” he told us. “This was a report that was so egregious and sloppy that it prompted calls from United States senators to take oversight authority of the IG away from the FCC.” He noted that Nilsson didn’t put his name on the report, which “uncritically accepts the claims of individuals, like the Media Bureau chief, when the same report concedes that the Media chief instructed his staff on numerous occasions to lie.”
On universal service, the IG finished all field work on a first round of random statistical sampling audits to examine whether USF programs follow FCC rules and regulations, the IG said. The IG has finalized 411 of 459 reports, leaving 48 reports in final review, it said. The audits estimated $1.293 billion in potential improper payments, identifying $6.17 million USF funds for recovery, it said. The huge estimate led the IG in January to start a second round of audits. For round two, ending this month, the IG directed the Universal Service Administrative Co. to give auditors “more specific” training and extra instruction on finding fraud, waste and abuse, the IG said.
The IG directly supports the Justice Department Antitrust Division in 30 E-Rate and High Cost Fund fraud investigations, and monitoring six others, the IG said. “Recent assessments, resulting from additional USF audits, suggest that the volume of work in this area will intensify over time,” it said. The IG is boosting staff to meet the challenge, it said.
As the reporting period was starting, 67 cases remained from the prior period, 33 involving USF programs referred to the Department of Justice, the IG said. Another 12, five of them USF-related, were received in the current period. Four cases, two USF-related, were closed during that period. That leaves 80 pending, with 36 related to USF, it said.