The following e-mail was sent to NOAA Enforcement staff on February 12, 2007 by Joann Mclean, Supervisory Program Analyst, National Marine Fisheries Service Office of Law Enforcement, on behalf of John Oliver, Deputy Assistant Administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service.  It was a follow-up to an all-hands conference call held on February 7, 2007 addressing complaints received by the NOAA Administrator about the Office of Law Enforcement.
 
Bill Hogarth was the Administrator of National Marine Fisheries Service from 2001-2007.  He is currently dean of the College of Marine Science at the University of South Florida.  Dale Jones was the director of the Office of Law Enforcement. NMFS Administrator Eric Schwab removed him from that position earlier this year amidst an inspector general's report critical of his handling of the Enforcement Office, including complaints that he destroyed documents during the inquiry, and mishandled funds from enforcement fines. Mr. Jones is currently "a fisheries program specialist working on the integration of NMFS trade monitoring program with the government-wide international trade data system."
 
The text of the email follows:
 
 
--------------------------
 
 
Hello All,

Bill wanted me to do a follow up with everyone – so first let me say it was our pleasure to hold an "all hands" call with the Office of Law Enforcement (OLE) and to meet briefly with the OLE National Leadership Team (NLT).  For those of you who could not make the call and in the interest of assuring clarification for those who may not have been able to hear everything because of interference or poor connections, I am sending this follow up message.

Bill Hogarth and I were pleased to have had the opportunity to talk with you all. In this widely dispersed and very busy agency we do not often have the opportunities that we would like to have to visit and talk with employees face to face.  Several recent incidents within the OLE prompted us to recognize that we needed to communicate specific information to you regarding those matters, to take the opportunity to initiate some ongoing communications improvements, and to express our appreciation for your work and dedication.

A number of weeks ago several email messages that raised concerns about some issues within the OLE were sent to Vice Admiral Lautenbacher the NOAA Undersecretary.  Though it is not typically the practice to respond to anonymous messages NOAA leadership takes the management and direction of Offices within NOAA as a serious matter.  Since one of the senders did provide their name and relationship to the OLE, the Vice Admiral directed the messages (including the anonymous ones) to me and Bill and asked that we look into them. 

The primary thrust of the messages centered around the concerns and perceptions of the writers with regard to the management and leadership of the OLE.   They can generally be characterized as suggesting that Director Dale Jones was not managing the OLE properly in several areas.  Some of the primary areas that they viewed as problematic were practices involving hiring, promotions and transfers. 

The messages also regenerated some previously expressed concerns that were reviewed by NOAA management and Workforce Management (WFM) a few years ago with regard to the role and authority of the Director and several other persons hired into management positions within the OLE. 

I recognize that some of you were aware of these messages and the allegations though perhaps the majority of you probably were not.  It would not have been appropriate or constructive to detail the specifics of the allegations during our call nor to reiterate them herein.  Our intent is simply to communicate to you collectively as an Office that all of the allegations were investigated.  A team of two persons independent of the OLE, Captain Rick Brown of the NOAA Corps, who currently serves in my office as the Fisheries Executive Officer, and Cecilia Collins of NOAA Workforce Management conducted the investigation at my direction.  In addition to looking into allegations, they also did interviews with the SAC’s and a random sampling of OLE employees.
 
The result was that none of the allegations made were sustained.  They were determined to be unfounded.
 
We did however determine that it would be in everyone’s best interest to work toward the identification and implementation of some ways to improve communications within the Office of Law Enforcement and in some cases with me and Bill.  We viewed our call the other day as the first step toward that and we will be working with Dale to assure that we open the lines of communication to assure that any unresolved issues are raised and constructively handled. 

Another key matter that we discussed was the proposed change commonly referenced as the "Journeyman 13" issue (now pay band IV.) Again, though all of you may not be aware of this matter, it is of key interest to the Special Agents.  This matter involves a recommendation by Dale made several years ago to reclassify the journeyman level position of the Special Agent to a GS 13 and the Assistant Special Agents to a GS 14 in keeping with the systems of the Commerce Department's Bureau of Import Security (BIS) and many other federal agencies that employee Special Agents.  This matter was raised as a common concern by some of those persons contacted during our investigation of the aforementioned concerns.  I can assure you that Dale and his staff has worked diligently to get this change made.  The NOAA Workforce Management Office (formerly HR) has also worked extensively on the matter.  Once again, it is not appropriate nor would it be constructive to go into great detail as to why this has taken so long.  Let me assure you it is not Dale’s fault.  Suffice it to say that the issue has our full attention and that I am working closely with Diane Moseley of NOAA Workforce Management in coordination with the Department of Commerce Workforce Management Office in an effort to get this matter resolved as soon as possible.  Though I cannot promise a positive outcome I hope that it will be and I am optimistic that we will have resolution soon. 

Since the conclusion of the call there have been additional communications between my office, Dale's and WFM with regard to both the 13/14 issue and the need to expedite hiring. 

We have also initiated work toward improvement of communications within the OLE at all levels and our Office.  

We want to strongly encourage your communication of questions within the OLE to assure the resolution of outstanding questions or concerns.  If necessary we invite you to email Bill or me to resolve a matter that you feel strongly cannot be or that has not been communicated to the OLE management.  However, I want to strongly discourage the use of anonymous communications to do this.  It is simply not constructive, productive or credible.  There are many other ways to assure that your concerns are raised more constructively.  We have already begun to explore some of the other solutions mentions during the call such as the use of an ombudsman or other similar systems to target opening communications.  We want to assure that the "doors are open". 


In conclusion, Bill and I expressed both our strong support for Dale as Director of OLE and the OLE management as well as our appreciation for the work that you are all doing.  This includes not just agents but the administrative staff and others who also play a key role in making everyone successful.  You are very responsive to our requests and handle them professionally and comprehensively.  We here very few complaints from the fishing community or public about your services and we’re pleased with the work of the Office of Law Enforcement.  You should all be very proud of your Office and the work that you do. 



Thank you,

John Oliver, Deputy Assistant Administrator