Joseph E. Schmitz

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Joseph Edward Schmitz is a conservative lawyer, former Inspector General of the Department of Defense and executive with Blackwater USA, a private contractor providing security services to the U.S. military.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Schmitz as Inspector General 3 Resignation 4 Similar Actions of Bush Administration Officials 5 References 6 Links

[edit] Biography

Joseph Edward Schmitz is the son of the John G. Schmitz, former California State Senator, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and U.S. Presidential candidate (1972). Schmitz attended Catholic schools as a child and Georgetown Preparatory School while his father served in Congress. He holds a B.S. (1978) from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland and a J.D. (1986) from Stanford University. He was on the wrestling team at the Naval Academy.

Upon graduation from the Naval Academy, Schmitz served in the U.S. Navy for approximately four years, including a stint as an exchange officer with the German Navy. Schmitz left active duty and was in the Naval Reserve until 2002, when he retired with the rank of Captain. After leaving active duty, Schmitz attended law school. He clerked with James L. Buckley, Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and was a special assistant to Attorney General Edwin Meese III during the Reagan Administration. Schmitz entered the private sector in 1987, eventually joining the Washington DC firm of Patton Boggs LLP. He was an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University in the 1990s. In 2001, he was nominated by President George W. Bush for the position of Inspector General of the Department of Defense.

Schmitz is a member of the Federalist Society and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. He was also an attorney for US English, an organization devoted to making English the official language of the United States, and a "Young Leader Alumnus of the American Council on Germany."

A young Schmitz was portrayed by child actor Cody Jones in the TV movie "The Mary Kay LeTourneau Story: All-American Girl" (2000).

Schmitz was mentioned by name on a September 2002 "Dateline NBC" episode entitled "Teacher's Pet" about sister Mary Kay Letourneau.

[edit] Schmitz as Inspector General

Schmitz was nominated by President George W. Bush to be Defense Department Inspector General on June 18, 2001. His nomination was held up in the Senate Armed Services Committee for unknown reasons until March 21, 2002, when he was confirmed by the full Senate by voice vote. In his confirmation hearings, committee Democrats expressed concern about a letter that Schmitz had written to the Washington Times in 1991 in which he had accused then-candidate Bill Clinton of treasonous actions and had inappropriately signed the letter with his military rank.

According to an AP report dated December 5, 2001, the Inspector General's office had recently failed a "peer review" audit in which it was shown that IG officials had destroyed documents relating to an investigation. Iowa Republican Senator Charles Grassley, a supporter of the Schmitz nomination and critic of the IG's office, commented that "[o]nce President Bush's nominee for the IG job is in place, he will need to clean house from top to bottom. Heads must roll," because of the document destruction.

Upon taking office, Schmitz hired L. Jean Lewis, a Republican operative and whistleblower in the Whitewater Affair. Lewis, a former Resolution Trust Corporation investigator, was a pivotal figure in publicizing the alleged financial misdeeds of President Bill Clinton and wife Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. She marketed products with pictures of Mrs. Clinton and the logo "B.I.T.C.H.: Bill, I'm Taking Charge. Hillary." Schmitz eventually created the position of "Chief of Staff" for Lewis.

Insight Magazine, in its September 30, 2002, issue, reported that shortly after his arrival at the IG, Schmitz ordered a "bottom-up review" that was conducted by Military Professional Resources Inc. (MPRI), a defense contractor based in Alexandria, Va. The review resulted in the removal of a number of senior civil servants in the agency. Sen. Grassley, quoted by Insight, said, "The new inspector general, Mr. Joe Schmitz, has already started to clean house. Heads have started to roll with more to come . . . Based on what I've heard and seen, the Independent Review Team appears to be on the right track. The team appears to see the very same problems that I see and seems to be headed toward a hard-hitting final report." According to the September 23, 2002 issue of Defense Week, the removed civil servants filed a complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, a government agency that investigates whistleblower complaints and Hatch Act violations. In its June 23, 2003 issue, Defense Week reported that the matter was settled to the satisfaction of both parties involved, but suggested that the removed civil servants had been vindicated.

According to the Los Angeles Times (September 25, 2005), Schmitz had an "unusual fascination" with Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a Prussian officer appointed Inspector General of the Continental Army by George Washington. "The Nation" (September 25, 2005) magazine reported that Schmitz spent three months redesigning the seal of the Inspector General's office to include elements of von Steuben's family crest, including the von Steuben family motto, Sub Tutela Altissimi Semper, "Under the Protection of the Almighty." (Schmitz was quoted in the LA Times article as saying that the eagle of the previous seal looked "like a chicken".) Schmitz authored an article in the in-house journal of the federal inspectors general about Von Steuben and mentioned him in virtually every speech he made while in office ("The Enduring Legacy of Inspector General von Steuben," Public Inquiry, F/W 2002, [1]. "He was consumed with all things German and all things Von Steuben," said a government official quoted in the LA Times article. "He was obsessed."

Schmitz also took an unusual interest in the sex slave trade. His office investigated the involvement of the U.S. military in the sex trade in South Korea, Bosnia, and Kosovo, but found little beyond the propensity of soldiers to frequent brothels, an inexcusable moral lapse, according to Schmitz's testimony before Congress and an article he wrote that was published on the website of the World Security Network. [2].

Schmitz's downfall apparently began when he and John A. "Jack" Shaw, former DoD Deputy Undersecretary for International Technology Security signed an agreement giving Shaw authority to investigate telecommunications contracting fraud in Iraq sometime in 2003. According to the Los Angeles Times (September 3, 2005), Shaw used the results of his investigation to steer contracts to friends. When confronted with the case, Schmitz referred it to the FBI for investigation, even though IG agents claimed they had enough evidence of Shaw's illegal activities for prosecution.

The Los Angeles Times article also claims that Schmitz interfered in other investigations of senior officials:

The Air Force Academy sex scandal, in which senior Air Force Academy officials were accused of failing to investigate rape allegations by female cadets.

A contracting scandal involving the Air Force and Boeing Corporation, in which senior Air Force officials, including former Air Force Secretary James Roche, were accused of steering contracts to the Boeing Corporation. Before presenting his report to Congress, Schmitz allegedly sent it to the White House for review. The names of several White House officials were reportedly redacted from the report. Sen. Charles Grassley was quoted by the Los Angeles Times as saying to Schmitz, "That decision … raises questions about your independence." Testimony by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in which he blamed his lack of oversight on incompetency, was deleted, said Schmitz, because Rumsfeld had not said anything relevant.^[1]

Grassley, who had become disillusioned with Schmitz, was particularly upset by Schmitz's plans to travel to Potsdam, Germany at taxpayer expense, where he was to speak at a ceremony commemorating Baron von Steuben. Schmitz was forced to cancel the trip.

[edit] Resignation

Schmitz resigned as Defense Department Inspector General on September 9, 2005 in order to take a position with the Prince Group, a holding company for Blackwater USA, which provides security services and training to the U.S. military in Iraq and elsewhere. In a letter dated June 15, 2005, and posted on the Inspector General's website on September 2, 2005, Schmitz recused himself from investigating all matters related to Blackwater.

The Los Angeles Times quoted Danielle Bryan of the Project on Government Oversight as saying, "He's a person who did not put the appearance of ethics above all else . . . That is not the way the government should function. These are the kind of things that make the general public distrust government."^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Similar Actions of Bush Administration Officials

See also Janet Rehnquist, former Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services and Scott Bloch, Office of the Special Counsel.

[edit] References

[edit] Links

• NNDB Page [3].
• Inspector General of the Department of Defense website [4].
• Schmitz official DoD biography [5].
• BlackwaterUSA website [6].
• "Politicization of Inspectors General" [7], a report released by Ranking Member Henry Waxman (D-CA) of the House Committee on Government Reform.
• "The Scrutinizer Finds Himself Under Scrutiny," T. Christian Miller, Los Angeles Times, September 25, 2005. [8]
• "How Many More Mike Browns Are Out There?," Mark Thompson, Karen Tumulty, Time Magazine, October 3, 2005. [9]
• "No FBI Charges for Defense Official in Iraq Case," T. Christian Miller, Los Angeles Times, October 15, 2005. [10]
• "Tanker Inquiry Finds Rumsfeld's Attention Was Elsewhere," R. Jeffrey Smith, Washington Post, June 20, 2006. [11]