Federal agency investigated Tshibaka in 2011 over 'time and attendance' allegations

In 2011, the federal government investigated Kelly Tshibaka, now a candidate for U.S. Senate and endorsed by the leaders of the Republican Party, over allegations that she submitted false time and attendance records as a federal employee.

In an email she sent to friends on Aug. 16, 2011, Tshibaka referred to the investigation and said “I have been completely exonerated!!!” A copy of the email, in which she says she was falsely accused for claiming to work hours that she did not work, was forwarded to me by a reader.

At the time, Tshibaka worked as an assistant to the Inspector General within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

In 2018, the National Reconnaissance Office released what appears to be a redacted version of the Tshibaka investigation in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

The 2011 investigation dealt with claims that an assistant to the Inspector General in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence claimed to have worked 596 hours that she did not work over three years, about 10 percent of the employee’s time.

The names are blanked out, but what the document contains about the employee’s job title, work history, the timeline of the investigation and other details all point to Tshibaka. The investigation is not an exoneration. but it is possible that that ODNI rejected its findings.

Tshibaka’s resume says she was principal advisor to the ODNI Inspector General on “legal, legislative, policy, personnel, budget, planning and facilities matters” at the time of this investigation.

The employee subjected to the 2011 NRO investigation, an advisor to the ODNI Inspector General, “recorded 596 questionable hours on her time and attendance records from 3 March 2008 to 25 February 2011.”

The investigation “found sufficient evidence to support a conclusion” that the employee’s actions violated federal regulations and policies.

The NRO document, dated June 29, 2011, says the Department of Justice “declined prosecution in favor of agency administrative action.” The Inspector General recommended that the Chief Management Office of ODNI “review the facts of this case and determine any appropriate disciplinary action.”

“The questionable hours included shortages on days she claimed to have worked compensatory time, unexplained absences during the day, and inappropriate charging of hours to excused absences when she was previously on approved leave for the entire workday when there was an early dismissal for federal holidays,” the report said.

The ODNI employee targeted by the investigation said that for most of the disputed hours she was working remotely, while some of the hours were for outdoor fitness activities and some were recording errors by her or others.

The employee at first estimated that for 85 percent of the questioned hours she had worked remotely, while 15 percent of the time she was getting exercise. She later revised this statement and said that no more than seven times did she charge compensatory time for physical fitness activities.

The 596 hours did not include the hours the employee “spent participating in Agency Christian Fellowship (ACF) or other Bible studies with friends, having lunch in the cafeteria, and interviewing employees for a book she had intended on writing.” These would be additional hours in which the employee was not conducting official work, the report said.

There were dozens of folders on her work computer related to the employee’s church activities, the report said. The employee said that she interviewed people about 20 times during lunch for her proposed book. “She opined that the time was ‘de minimis,’” the report said.

She said she did not know how much time she spent on Bible studies, meetings or praying with friends in the cafeteria or elsewhere. “We’re allowed to talk to people,” the investigation quoted the employee as saying.

Tshibaka wrote in her 2011 email that she was given the choice of “working anywhere else in my agency” and that the Lord had delivered her from a “toxic work environment.”

She switched jobs the next month, taking a new position within ODNI as “Special Advisory, Civil Liberties and Privacy Office” from September 2011 until July 2013, according to her resume.

The months of the investigation “have been the worst of our lives,” she wrote in August 2011, “but I’ve experienced the gift of suffering.”

Tshibaka wrote that she had been falsely accused by a “friend.” She also said that the OIG investigators did their report “without receiving my exculpatory evidence, and concluded I was guilty.”

“My management took issue with the report and with how the investigation was conducted. They discounted it almost completely before even receiving my evidence,” she wrote. “Then my evidence sealed it for them—I have been vindicated.”

The investigation began when an employee of the Inspector General’s office of the defense agency complained about another employee claiming “an excessive amount of compensatory time.” The agency referred the matter to the National Reconnaissance Office because the issue dealt with a staff member of the ODNI Inspector General’s office.

The complainant said the other employee “never opened the vault in the mornings or closed the vault at the end of the workday.”

The investigation quoted at least three employees, including one who may have been a supervisor, as saying she was dedicated, committed, efficient and a hard worker.

Alaskans deserve to see the full charges made against her, the unredacted report and the evidence that Tshibaka said vindicated her. In addition the candidate should release whatever report ODNI made after being advised to determine any appropriate disciplinary action. The report put a value of $36,000 on the disputed 596 hours. Tshibaka should reveal if she paid a fine or restitution.

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