Justice Department officials are looking into a series of complaints about mismanagement and inappropriate behavior at the department’s national center for drug research in Pennsylvania.
The Justice Department has declined to comment on the matter, and while the director of the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) this week acknowledged that a review is being conducted by the Justice Management Division, he provided few specifics.
However, a source familiar with the review said it had been prompted by a series of anonymous charges from several “disgruntled employees” at the NDIC, which serves as the Justice Department’s main resource for compiling statistics on the trafficking and abuse of illegal drugs.
“There are allegations of sexual harassment, mismanagement, favoritism and inappropriate relationships between people,” said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The source maintained that the complaints had been raised in the form of letters to Congress, Justice officials and members of the press.
NDIC, which has its annual budget of more than $40 million approved by the House Select Committee on Intelligence, employs about 400 employees at its headquarters in Johnstown, Pa.
The city’s daily newspaper, the Tribune-Democrat, first reported on Wednesday that the Justice Department had sent a team of investigators to the NDIC. A statement issued that same day by the center’s director, Michael T. Horn, maintains that the NDIC invited the review by the Justice Department.
The statement, which makes no reference to any specific charges, stressed that NDIC’s responsibilities in recent years “have grown exponentially” and, as a result, “have placed additional burdens on our staff and their families.”
“NDIC continues to search for ways to ameliorate these burdens,” Mr. Horn said. “We have invited the Department of Justice’s Management Division to visit with NDIC in Johnstown and give our employees an opportunity to address any concerns they may have.”
The Tribune-Democrat, meanwhile, reported that a Justice Department memo indicated “serious management and personnel issues have been reported by employees and supervisors within the [NDIC]” during the past several months.
In editions yesterday, the paper reported that a group of NDIC employees had issued a short statement leveling charges of favoritism and public misrepresentation of the center’s accomplishments.
The employees, claiming they feared a backlash if they spoke out, said they had been communicating their concerns for more than two years to the office of Rep. John P. Murtha, Pennsylvania Democrat.
A spokesman for Mr. Murtha yesterday confirmed the office had corresponded with the employees, but declined to comment further.
In a statement, Mr. Murtha said he had not been contacted by the Department of Justice and had “no official information” about the review being conducted at NDIC.
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