WASHINGTON - Feb. 18, 2011 (Saving Seafood)  Saving Seafood has obtained from multiple sources the unreleased April 2, 2010 report of the Commerce Department Office of the Inspector General (OIG) on Destruction of NOAA Office of Law Enforcement (OLE) Documents During an Ongoing OIG Review.  The report describes document destruction by former OLE Director Dale Jones while his office was under investigation and while litigation was ongoing. Senior NOAA officials have downplayed the significance of the shredding incident, stating that "no destruction of agency records before their scheduled retention took place", however the OIG report found "Such office-wide document destruction was not a routine function for OLE; rather, the Director and Deputy Director told us this was the first such exercise in their ten-plus years with OLE."

On Wednesday, reporter Armen Keteyian specifically referenced this report, referring to Director Jones' destruction of documents as a "shredding party," on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.  Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, who has championed whistleblower laws, told CBS "I want to make sure that heads roll. Because you know in a bureaucracy, if heads don't roll, you don't change behavior."

The report "found that [former] Director [Dale] Jones, along with certain senior and administrative staff, undertook this document destruction without regard to the careful, deliberate management of records required by federal regulation and Department of Commerce (DOC) policy."  Although Mr. Jones is no longer involved with law enforcement, he remains an employee of NOAA with a six-figure salary.

Last June, Saving Seafood requested a copy -- complete or redacted -- of the April 2 report from both NOAA and the Office of the Inspector General (OIG).  NOAA indicated they had no objection to releasing it, but stated that as a publication of the OIG, the decision is not theirs.  The OIG advised Saving Seafood that due to privacy concerns, it was their decision not to release the report.