Gregory Korte

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON -- The former acting inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security was suspended Thursday after a Senate subcommittee report questioned his independence and integrity.

The bipartisan report concluded that the former DHS watchdog, Charles Edwards, "jeopardized the independence" of his office. Edwards often socialized with DHS top officials, sought their advice on his investigations and audits — and even let the agency decide when and how to release reports critical of it. The findings were first reported by The Washington Post.

Under the Inspector General Act, the watchdog post reports to the Secretary of Homeland Security but is supposed to be independent of the agency.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., led the Senate investigation, which came out of whistleblower allegations that Edwards had watered down an investigative report into the Secret Service misconduct on a presidential trip to Cartagena, Colombia, in 2012.

Johnson said his investigation substantiated many of those allegations, and that the changes were made "in order to avoid embarrassing the administration in an election year."

Among the investigations questioned in the report:

• The lead investigator into the 2012 Secret Service scandal told the subcommittee that he had been directed to remove key findings from his investigation into agents accused of taking prostitutes back to their hotel rooms. That investigation identified previous incidents that put the president and national security at risk, and concluded that there was a "good old boys" network that condoned and engaged in similar inappropriate conduct. But those findings were left out of the public report.

The investigator said Edwards told the Senate subcommittee that the changes to the Secret Service report were "part of the ordinary process of editing the report" and that "no changes were politically motivated."

STORY: Questions raised again about Secret Service culture



• An investigation into Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Secure Communities program, which checks the immigration status of people arrested by state and local police. Edwards removed a discussion of whether ICE officials gave misleading statements about the program. And when the department asked when the investigation was going to be released, Edwards asked, "Which day is good?" and then released the report on the day the agency suggested.

• A report into imaging devices used for passenger screening by the Transportation Security Administration was originally classified as "Top Secret." But after sitting on the report for 124 days, Edwards allowed the TSA to attach even more sensitive information to the report, giving it an even higher classification of secrecy to ensure few people would ever see it. That prompted one of Edwards' assistants to complain that it was "obvious that they are trying to derail our report and minimize our findings."

READ:Staff report of the Senate Subcommittee on Financial and Contracting Oversight

Under congressional criticism, Edwards stepped down from the $179,700-a-year watchdog post in December and took a job in the DHS Office of Science and Technology. DHS press officials did not respond to requests to interview Edwards.

Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said in a statement late Thursday that he had placed Edwards on administrative leave while he asks the senators for more information about their findings. "Other individuals who are apparently and allegedly implicated have already left DHS and if additional information comes to light, I will continue to take appropriate action," Johnson said.

The events covered by the report happened under former Secretary Janet Napolitano, now the president of the University of California. She did not respond to a request for comment through the university.

The Senate report also substantiated several other allegations against Edwards, including that he abused agency resources by having an employee help him with his Ph.D. dissertation at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Other allegations involving nepotism, improper travel and destruction of records were not proven, the report said.

Edwards had been acting inspector general since 2011, and made no secret of the fact that he wanted a presidential nomination to fill the job permanently, the report said.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who chairs the Subcommittee on Financial and Contracting Oversight, said the report's conclusions "further highlight the need for qualified, permanent inspectors general at all federal agencies." There are nine inspector general vacancies throughout the government — including one empty for five years — meaning the acting inspectors lack the job protections and security of a permanent, Senate-confirmed inspector general.

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