Environmental Protection Agency criminal agents are being diverted from their normal investigative work to provide security and drivers for agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman -- and getting long lists of do's and don'ts to keep her happy.
EPA agents assigned to investigate environmental crimes have at times been ordered to perform more personal tasks, such as returning a rental car for Whitman's husband after a trip or sitting at a table until the administrator arrived for a restaurant reservation, according to interviews with several EPA senior managers.
The lists of do's and don'ts instruct agents who chauffeur the EPA administrator to rent only a Lincoln Town Car, tune the radio to smooth jazz or classical music and set the volume low, and keep an eye out for a Starbucks coffee shop or Barnes & Noble bookstore.
The "professional conduct" lists say the former New Jersey governor prefers to be addressed as "Governor," rather than "Ma'am" or "Administrator."
After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, senior managers in the EPA's Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics and Training were instructed to help with homeland security and Whitman's protection detail by providing agents who normally investigate environmental crimes, according to memos written last year by office heads.
The agents are pulled from offices around the country for several days at a time, depending on where Whitman travels, and the added duties are straining already overtaxed resources in the crime unit, the managers said. They spoke only on condition of anonymity, for fear of reprisal.
The agents normally investigate alleged violators of environmental laws, gathering evidence for criminal prosecutions.
One manager said an agent on a security detail was directed by Whitman to return her husband's rental car to the airport so the Whitmans could catch a flight together.
A second manager said an agent was told by the head of Whitman's personal security team to hold a reserved restaurant table until Whitman arrived for dinner. The agent is paid $100,000 a year to investigate environmental crimes, the manager said.
With agents already designated for homeland security tasks, the regional offices sometimes are left without investigators for days at a time when Whitman is in town.
"Up to a week, all work will shut down in an area office to facilitate the protective service detail," one manager said.
EPA officials said the added security was necessitated by the post-Sept. 11 terrorism concerns and specific threats against Whitman, which they declined to describe. They said the agency is trying to minimize the impact of the added duties on the 220-agent Criminal Investigation Division.
"We dedicate a minimum amount of resources to the protective detail," said Leo D'Amico, chief of the EPA's criminal enforcement office, which includes the investigative division. "We will adjust our level as our on-scene people see fit."
D'Amico, whose name appears as the author of one of the do's and don'ts memos, said he knew of no instance in which an agent was asked to return a personal rental car or to perform any other personal chore for Whitman.
