Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen has been asked to discipline Christine Ciccone, the assistant secretary for legislative affairs. | Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Politics Lawmakers demand Nielsen punish top DHS official

The Department of Homeland Security’s top watchdog is recommending that the agency’s chief, Kirstjen Nielsen, punish a top official who is refusing to cooperate with the department’s inspector general as part of a high-profile retaliation probe, according to a memo released Thursday by a trio of congressional Democrats.

The Democrats — House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel, House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings and Senate Foreign Relations ranking member Bob Menendez — are demanding that Nielsen follow the inspector general’s recommendation to discipline Christine Ciccone, the assistant secretary for legislative affairs.


“It is outrageous that a senior Department of Homeland Security official has not complied with requests of the Inspectors General of the Departments of State and Homeland Security,” the lawmakers said in a joint statement. “Targeting of career government employees at the State Department, US Agency for International Development or any federal agency is unacceptable, and it is imperative that this kind of behavior not be tolerated.”

They also demanded Nielsen update their committees by Friday “on how the department is ensuring that Ms. Ciccone upholds her responsibility to cooperation with the inspector general’s review.”

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The memo, written by DHS acting Inspector General John V. Kelly, details the claims against Ciccone, a political appointee who previously served as deputy chief of staff at the State Department. According to Kelly, Ciccone is refusing to sit for an interview as part of a wide-ranging investigation into politically motivated retaliation against senior State Department officials.

“Ms. Ciccone is a key witness in State OIG’s review,” Kelly wrote in his memo, which was also sent to the chairmen of the Senate’s Foreign Relations and Homeland Security committees. However, "she has been unwilling to schedule an interview despite repeated requests made to both her and her attorney over many months.”

Last year, whistleblowers began to contact the committees of Engel, Cummings and Menendez to detail the retaliation allegations, which were relayed to the State Department’s inspector general, prompting an investigation. Later in 2018, Ciccone jumped from the State Department to DHS. Her status as a federal employee requires her to comply with inspector general investigations.

“Ms. Ciccone’s refusal to comply with State OIG’s request for an interview sets a dangerous precedent contrary to the fundamental tenants of the IG Act, with the potential to undermine our critical oversight function,” Kelly wrote.

Tyler Q. Houlton, a spokesman for Nielsen, said the secretary is reviewing the matter.

“Christine Ciccone is an exceptional member of the DHS team and has helped advance crucial efforts to secure our homeland during her time with the department,” Houlton said.

According to the inspector general, Ciccone is demanding through her attorney that she be able to review internal documents before sitting for an interview. Kelly said the State Department’s inspector general was not required to disclose that information to Ciccone, but added that officials have agreed to give Ciccone access to her State Department email account “once her attorney provides a date certain for the interview.”

Ciccone told POLITICO she has “never refused to interview with the OIG.“

“In order to cooperate, I proactively asked for materials from my tenure so I can be helpful in the OIG’s process,” she said. “I take their responsibility and mine seriously, and look forward to the opportunity to address the false implication that there was anything other than professional and appropriate management of personnel decisions.”

The State Department’s inspector general briefed four congressional committees earlier this week about Ciccone’s refusal to sit for an interview. An aide said the inspector general asserted that Ciccone’s cooperation was critical for the investigation because she is “in possession of documentary evidence demonstrating [her] involvement in personnel actions against at least three career employees.”

Engel and Cummings have raised concerns about retaliation at the State Department.

In August, they wrote to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about his appointment of Brian Hook to serve as U.S. special representative for Iran. The lawmakers said internal documents showed that Hook, who also serves as a top policy adviser to Pompeo, “engaged in gross acts of retaliation against career State Department employees.”

