The federal House oversight subcommittee that held a hearing in Gloucester City Hall last month has now made a "formal request" to the U.S. Commerce Department Inspector General for an investigative report on a document shredding incident that apparently cost Dale J. Jones his job as police chief of the nation's oceans, Congressman John Tierney's office indicated yesterday.
Betsy Arnold, Tierney's chief of staff, also said another House subcommittee that held an oversight hearing into the law enforcement system within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had received a response from Jones to a demand for "documents and answers" about the shredding incident, possible misuse of an $8.4 million asset forfeiture fund of fines collected from the fishing industry, and other problems uncovered in a six-month probe.
Schwaab's statement and an internal memo from Risenhoover obtained by the Times did not discuss why members of Jones' team — Deputy Director Mark Spurrier, and assistant Mark Paterni and Todd Dubois — were bypassed for Risenhoover, who according to his own memo to the headquarters staff at Silver Spring, Md., and the 225 agents in eight regions, has no law enforcement experience.
Instead, Risenhoover's memo noted that, in his 20 plus years with NOAA he has worked in habitat, protected resources, legislative affairs, and as deputy chief financial officer and most recently as director of the Office of Sustainable Fisheries.
Risenhoover, however, promised "there will be no lapse in our enforcement operations" and a plan to meet all the requirements of the IG's report.
The March 4 letter signed by Kucinich and Tierney had demanded detailed answers to questions in five distinct categories, including the document shredding, the possible misuse of the fines and hiring practices.
The questions in this area involved how and why Jones' team was assembled:
"Is it true that you have hired a number of ex-Maryland police officers in executive positions … including Mark Spurrier, Mark Paterni and Harold Robbins?" the congressmen asked. "Is it true that none of these individuals had fisheries or other natural resource law enforcement experience at the time of their hiring? Is it true that none of those individuals had federal law enforcement training at the time of their hiring?"
Read the complete story from the Gloucester Times
The text of the Risenhoover internal memo follows:
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Alan Risenhoover
To: _NMFS OLE All Hands
Date: Fri, 09 Apr 2010
Subject: [Fwd: Law Enforcement Program and Operations]
All —
I wanted to get a quick note out introducing myself and provide a little background. I've been with NOAA Fisheries for a little over 20 years and during that time have worked in a number of areas – habitat, protected resources, legislative affairs, and most recently as the agency's Deputy CFO and Director of the Office of Sustainable Fisheries. As Eric noted in his email yesterday, the Office of Law Enforcement is a critical component in the management of the Nation's marine resources. To ensure that OLE is continues to play this important role in an effective manner during this transitional period, I plan on focusing on several primary areas in the coming months:
• Maintain the health of the organization during the transition – provide day-to-day direction, programmatic oversight, and connectivity to agency and NOAA leadership.
• There will be no lapse in our enforcement operations. The Nation’s marine statutes – the Magnuson-Stevens Act, Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, Marine Sanctuaries Act, and Lacy Act among others – will continue to be fully enforced. I will work with each of you to ensure effective, fair, and transparent enforcement operations.
• Substantive, timely response to OIG report findings and implementation of proposed NOAA improvements, including:
o Enforcement summit
o Administration of asset/forfeiture fund review
o Workforce management review and implementation
o Improved communications and outreach
o Process for an annual review of the enforcement program
o Reviewing and revising NOAA law enforcement operations manuals
o Immediately prioritize and develop a detailed schedule and assignments for meeting all of the requirements of OIG report and March 18 memo
• Selection of a new Director and an efficient transition to new Director and management team.
I look forward to working with each of you in the coming months and identifying and implementing improvements.
Thanks.
Alan