Rohrabacher put in charge of House foreign affairs investigations
As part of her drive to revamp the House Foreign Affairs Committee, incoming chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) has named Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) as her point man on oversight and investigations related to the Obama administration. "I will be establishing mechanisms for Americans to blow the whistle on waste, fraud, and abuse in State Department ...
As part of her drive to revamp the House Foreign Affairs Committee, incoming chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) has named Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) as her point man on oversight and investigations related to the Obama administration.
As part of her drive to revamp the House Foreign Affairs Committee, incoming chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) has named Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) as her point man on oversight and investigations related to the Obama administration.
"I will be establishing mechanisms for Americans to blow the whistle on waste, fraud, and abuse in State Department and Foreign Aid operations by welcoming anonymous tips," Ros-Lehtinen said, in announcing that Rohrabacher would chair the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations on Tuesday.
Ros-Lehtinen touted Rohrabacher’s past work with the subcommittee in investigating corruption in the U.N. Oil for Food program. "He also participated in investigations into foreign-owned banks under U.S. contract which violated U.S. sanctions on Iran, Cuba, and Libya," she said.
Ros-Lehtinen has pledged to put cutting the State Department and foreign aid budgets at the top of her agenda next year. Her work will be especially significant at this time, as Congress starts to write new authorization and appropriations bills for the 2011 fiscal year following the passage on Tuesday of a continuing resolution that will fund the government at current levels until March.
She also said she will establish a mechanism for the American people to be directly involved in the committee’s hearings.
Here is the list of the leaders of the House Foreign Affairs committee and subcommittees on the Republican (majority) side in next year’s Congress:
Rep. Elton Gallegly (CA), Vice Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee
Rep. Christopher H. Smith (NJ), Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights
Rep. Donald A. Manzullo (IL), Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific
Rep. Dan Burton (IN), Subcommittee on Europe and Eurasia
Rep. Steve Chabot (OH), Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (CA), Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Rep. Edward R. Royce (CA), Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade
Rep. Connie Mack (FL), Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere
"I am proud to lead this team which will protect and advance America’s interests and values, and not apologize for doing so," Ros-Lehtinen said.
Josh Rogin covers national security and foreign policy and writes the daily Web column The Cable. His column appears bi-weekly in the print edition of The Washington Post. He can be reached for comments or tips at josh.rogin@foreignpolicy.com.
Previously, Josh covered defense and foreign policy as a staff writer for Congressional Quarterly, writing extensively on Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo Bay, U.S.-Asia relations, defense budgeting and appropriations, and the defense lobbying and contracting industries. Prior to that, he covered military modernization, cyber warfare, space, and missile defense for Federal Computer Week Magazine. He has also served as Pentagon Staff Reporter for the Asahi Shimbun, Japan's leading daily newspaper, in its Washington, D.C., bureau, where he reported on U.S.-Japan relations, Chinese military modernization, the North Korean nuclear crisis, and more.
A graduate of George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, Josh lived in Yokohama, Japan, and studied at Tokyo's Sophia University. He speaks conversational Japanese and has reported from the region. He has also worked at the House International Relations Committee, the Embassy of Japan, and the Brookings Institution.
Josh's reporting has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, C-Span, CBS, ABC, NPR, WTOP, and several other outlets. He was a 2008-2009 National Press Foundation's Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellow, 2009 military reporting fellow with the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism and the 2011 recipient of the InterAction Award for Excellence in International Reporting. He hails from Philadelphia and lives in Washington, D.C. Twitter: @joshrogin
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