OK, all you government conspiracy theorists, pull up a chair because this is a good one. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley recently charged that top officials at a federal agency have interfered and obstructed the efforts of its own Inspector General. What might surprise you, however, is that the ultra-sensitive agency in question isn't the CIA or the FBI, but rather the Library of Congress.

That's right, apparently the librarians over on Independence Avenue have been interfering with investigations by independent watchdog groups. Not quite as sexy as black ops at Central Intelligence is it? Well, in this post-Cold War age we're just going to have to take what we can get.

Grassley (R) has taken Librarian of the United States James H. Billington to task in a strongly worded letter, described in The Washington Post.

"Your office's attempts to influence and/or control the OIG appear in direct contravention of the principles underlying the creation of the Inspector General," Grassley opined. (Billington is expected to respond by shushing Grassley and charging him a $2 late fee for an overdue copy of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.")

Grassley's complaint stems from problems surrounding internal investigations conducted in 2008. According to the Post's report, the Library's Inspector General executed 13 federal search warrants and served 16 IG subpoenas last year. Additionally, three federal grand jury subpoenas that led to six prosecutions had been issued. The IG's efforts focused on the involvement of Library employees in child pornography possession, identity theft and embezzlement. If nothing else, the IG's investigation has proved that whoever said librarians were boring didn't know what they were talking about.

This would probably be a good time for a little background on why exactly any of this is a big deal. According to the Library's Inspector General's website, "The OIG oversees all Library of Congress programs and operations and has the independence to decide which activities to review. It conducts audits, investigations, and other reviews and reports semiannually to the Congress, and also operates a hotline so that anyone can report suspected infractions related to Library activities."

There are currently 64 federal agencies with Inspectors General in place, and these offices are given full law enforcement capacity under the Inspector General Act of 1978. While the IG's office is a part of the Library of Congress, it is still for all intents and purposes independent of the Library. The IG's stated mission is to investigate "fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement" occuring within the LOC, a mission that it appears the Library is doing its best to obstruct.

Grassley's letter included e-mails sent in August 2008 from Library COO Jo Ann Jenkins to Inspector General Karl Schornagel criticizing the tone of the IG's investigation. In the e-mails Jenkins appears to be unsure as to why the IG is investigating the case of a Library employee accused of possessing child pornography. "Why does the IG feel it necessary to get publicity on this," Jenkins asked Schornagel. "This does nothing but highlight the issue in the press."

In another e-mail Jenkins gave suggestions, apparently unsolicited, for softening the language in the IG's semiannual report to Congress. She called the original report's language "the most negative" she had ever seen.

Exchanges like this highlight what appears to be a rather acrimonious relationship between the Library's executive officers and Schornagel's investigative staff. A few meddlesome e-mails do not a scandal make, but when you couple what appears to be a tense climate at the Library with the fact that the entire point of the OIG is that it is supposed to be an intra-agency watchdog it is not unreasonable to suspect that a bureaucratic disaster is imminent. Jenkins does not appear to have actively obstructed the OIG's investigation, but her constant hovering presence over the proceedings can at the very least be described as tasteless...and even that is probably a generous assessment.

For his part, Schornagel seems to be more concerned with the fact that Congress has recently revoked his investigative staff's firearm privileges, a move that was supported by Jenkins' office. This might explain some of the apparent animosity between Schornagel and Jenkins.

Speaking with the Post, Schornagel laid out his case for keeping the funding in place to provide his staff with firearms. "The average person would have no idea that these things happen at the Library of Congress," Schornagel said. "But these things happen here as they do at other federal agencies and there's fraud, waste and abuse." Schornagel's point is valid, but what he fails to mention is that the IG's office already has the armed resources of both the Capitol Police and the Library of Congress Police to rely on when it comes to firearms.

Is the Library of Congress really such a den of iniquity that it needs three separate armed forces dealing with its employees? Is this what The D'Vinci Code hath wrought?

Inspectors General at various federal agencies are invaluable watchdogs when it comes to rooting out government abuse and mismanagement, but they are not infallible. The IG office has a political agenda just like any other government entity, and is not immune to doling out a little spin when it comes to getting what it wants.

When the IG's budget was cut, with the approval of the Chief Librarian's office, there was only one way that Schornagel and his staff could respond: by being a constant thorn in the side of an office that they felt had wronged them. The ironic part is that the spite of a depleted OIG might just be the ultimate undoing of what appears to be an LOC front office more interested in its own spin and image protection than it is with...well, whatever exactly it is they do at the Library of Congress.

Shh. That means you too, Mr. IG.

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