WASHINGTON – The State Department’s embattled security chief resigned yesterday as the scandal over last month’s deadly Blackwater USA shooting of 17 Iraqis in Baghdad claimed its first political casualty.
The resignation came amid growing questions about the use of private contractors to protect diplomats in Iraq.
Richard Griffin, the assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, made no mention of the furor in his resignation letter to President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
But his decision to step down came at a time when the department is facing withering Iraqi and congressional criticism for its security practices.
It also followed the release of a report commissioned by Rice that found serious lapses in the department’s oversight of private guards, who are employed by Griffin’s bureau and report to it.
Rice accepted the resignation, which is effective Nov. 1, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
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