Pentagon's top investigator to resign after a year on job
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon's inspector general is resigning after just over a year in the job and at a time when defense spending has skyrocketed but personnel shortfalls in the oversight office have strained its ability to probe allegations of waste, fraud, and abuse.
Claude Kicklighter, 74, took over as the military's top investigator in April 2007. He'll be replaced by Gordon Heddell, the Labor Department's inspector general since January 2001.
The Defense Department announced the changes yesterday. It's not clear whether Heddell, who will hold the post in an acting capacity, will be officially nominated for the position.
Kicklighter's departure marks yet another shift in leadership at this key Pentagon office. In September 2005, Joseph Schmitz resigned to be chief operating officer and general counsel for Prince Group, which owns security contractor Blackwater Worldwide. Schmitz's more than three-year tenure as Pentagon inspector general was marred by allegations he improperly interfered with two ongoing investigations to protect senior Bush administration officials.
An independent inquiry later cleared Schmitz of any wrongdoing.
A deputy inspector general, Thomas Gimble, ran the office after Schmitz left and until Kicklighter arrived.
Kicklighter, who had retired from the Army in 1991 after a 35-year career, was viewed as a solid choice for the post when the defense budget was nearing $600 billion a year and procurement fraud cases in Iraq and Afghanistan were on the rise.
After retiring from the military, Kicklighter held a number of senior positions at the Defense, State, and Veterans Affairs departments before becoming inspector general.
In a March 31 report to Congress, Kicklighter's office outlined major challenges in overseeing the military's perpetually growing budgets and bureaucracy.
The office estimated that nearly half of the military's $316 billion weapons budget went unchecked last year because the inspector general's office lacked the personnel.
The inspector general's office also has been stretching its staff to investigate corruption and fraud cases overseas, primarily in Iraq and Afghanistan, where tens of thousands of contractors have been hired to help run operations.
