State Official, Brother Are Called for Hearing

State Department Inspector General Howard J. Krongard and his brother Alvin will be summoned before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform early next month to assess the truthfulness of some of Howard Krongard's statements to the panel, committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) announced yesterday.

Krongard told the committee Wednesday that he was unaware his brother was an advisory board member for Blackwater Worldwide, a State Department contractor under investigation in connection with the fatal shootings of Iraqi civilians by its security guards.

Krongard retracted that statement later during the hearing and recused himself from all matters involving Blackwater, saying he had clarified his brother's involvement in a telephone conversation with him during a recess.

But his testimony was further contradicted by Alvin "Buzzy" Krongard, who told committee staff members Thursday that the inspector general had specifically asked him about his involvement with Blackwater before the hearing and knew of his plans to join the board, according to a memo released by Waxman.

Late yesterday, Alvin Krongard resigned from the Blackwater advisory board, according to Blackwater founder and Chairman Erik Prince.

"In light of the unfortunate and distracting public attention to allegations that Buzzy's membership on our Advisory Board has created an 'Apparent Conflict of Interest' for his brother, State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard, Buzzy has tendered his resignation, and I have reluctantly accepted it," Prince said in a statement, which added that the brothers have "not been close for years."

Howard Krongard went before the oversight committee Wednesday to answer charges that he had thwarted investigations of the construction of a new U.S. embassy in Baghdad and of Blackwater employees involved in weapons smuggling in Iraq.

Early in the hearing, Krongard called lawmakers' assertions that his brother Alvin was a Blackwater board member "ugly rumors." But when subsequently confronted with paperwork by the committee, he said he had called his brother and acknowledged the connection.

In a memo to oversight committee members yesterday, Waxman said Alvin Krongard told committee staffers that he watched his brother's testimony on television and that "you could have blown me over" when he heard his brother deny knowledge of his Blackwater connection.

Waxman said he plans to hold another hearing the week of Dec. 3, "to provide members the opportunity to assess whether the Inspector General provided truthful testimony to the committee."