Durbin, Grassley Seek Additional Clarity From DHS IG On Alleged Suppression And Delay Of Widespread Sexual Harassment And Misconduct Findings

Statement

U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, are once again pressing the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (DHS OIG) to address reports that it has delayed and downplayed reports of sexual harassment and misconduct at DHS.

In an April 26 letter to DHS Inspector General (IG) Joseph Cuffari, the Senators cited documents released by the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), which suggested that IG Cuffari and/or senior officials in his office minimized findings related to domestic violence and slowed the release of an unpublished report on apparent widespread sexual harassment and misconduct at DHS. As noted in their letter, these documents raise serious concerns about the delayed release of the unpublished support. The Senators further asked IG Cuffari to explain the reasoning for the removal of certain information related to domestic violence from a prior draft report.

"In your May 13 response, you acknowledge that you removed findings regarding employee discipline from a November 2020 Office of Inspector General (OIG) report on domestic violence by DHS personnel and a draft, unpublished OIG report on sexual harassment and misconduct," the Senators wrote in today's letter. "You also provided a detailed explanation for the conclusions you reached with respect to each report. However, your responses also raise additional questions, and we write again to seek further clarity."

In their letter, Durbin and Grassley note that Cuffari provided his rationale for removing certain findings and critiques from his November 2020 report due to the need for the Office of the Inspector General to act in an objective manner, with Cuffari stating at one point in his May response to the Senators' April letter that "[a]n Inspector General is in no position to substitute the subjective preferences of an inspector for the considered strategic judgments of agency attorneys and managers."

The Senators continued, "In recent years, however, the Department of State and Department of Justice (DOJ) OIGs have published similar reports, albeit with slightly different scopes and methodologies, and have provided recommendations that could be read to critique agency decision making in these areas… It is unclear why DHS OIG would be unable to make similar critiques."

The Senators went on to express their concern regarding the delay of the unpublished report on sexual harassment and misconduct--and IG Cuffari's statement that the report may not be released. The Senators noted that "[a]mong other troubling findings, more than 10,000 survey respondents reported having experienced sexual harassment or misconduct… [i]t is unclear why [OIG] analysis of [these] original survey results would not be useful to DHS leadership." In his May 13 response, IG Cuffari stated that he approved a project proposal under which DHS OIG will administer another survey in Fiscal Year 2023.

The Senators concluded, "Your response to our inquiry has not resolved the significant concerns that we expressed in our April 26 letter. Furthermore, our review of your response has led to additional questions regarding the editorial process and decision making surrounding the draft report and subsequent non-release."

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