WASHINGTON —
The first presidentially appointed head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media breached editorial firewall regulations, engaged in gross waste of public funds and abused his authority, according to a 145-page report released Wednesday by the Office of Special Counsel.
The OSC, an independent agency empowered to investigate wrongdoing within the federal government, alerted USAGM in December 2020 to a number of allegations of wrongdoing under the leadership of Michael Pack and directed the federal agency to conduct an investigation. USAGM subsequently engaged three independent experts with backgrounds in government whistleblower protections and journalism to conduct the probe.
The experts' report, which was submitted to OSC, found evidence of gross mismanagement in two instances. It said CEO Pack engaged in gross waste when he spent $1.6 million on an unnecessary contract with a private law firm, and he failed to respect the journalistic independence and integrity of the networks he was tasked with overseeing.
Pack, a conservative documentary filmmaker, was nominated by then-President Donald Trump to his position as head of the agency that oversees six independent news networks and other entities, including Voice of America. Seven months after assuming the position, he resigned in January 2021 at the request of President Joe Biden.
The independent report focuses on six areas based on complaints from whistleblowers within the agency.
The three external...
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