Washington, D.C. – More than a dozen staff members of the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) were recognized Thursday for outstanding professional achievements at the 19th Annual Inspector General Community awards ceremony.
"SIGAR employees work tirelessly – many of them in a conflict zone – to protect the American taxpayer," said Special Inspector General John F. Sopko. "I'm very proud that their talent and hard work continues to be recognized by their peers."
Congress created SIGAR in 2008 to provide independent and objective oversight of Afghanistan reconstruction projects and activities. Since its founding, SIGAR has been recognized with 21 CIGIE awards.
The awards were presented by the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) in a ceremony at the Ronald Reagan Building. Former U.S. Sen. Tom A. Coburn was keynote speaker.
The following CIGIE awards were presented to SIGAR employees:
- AUDIT AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE to Christopher W. Borgeson, Jerome J. Goehring, Preston S. Heard and Zachary J. Rosenfeld, for outstanding work in identifying critical weaknesses and fundamental challenges in planning, executing and sustaining $488 million in U.S. investments to improve Afghanistan's extractives industries.
- INVESTIGATIONS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE to Lawrence J. Gleisner, for exceptional collaboration with personnel from other federal investigative agencies to successfully detect a fuel theft scheme operating out of Camp Brown at Kandahar Airfield. The investigation led to multiple prosecutions, stiff prison terms and $26.8 million in penalties and seizures. Gleisner, a SIGAR special agent, worked with representatives – also honored by CIGIE -- of the FBI, Department of Justice, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), Army Criminal Investigation Command and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
- SPECIAL ACT AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE to Michael Bindell, Solange Toura Gaba, Clark Irwin, Vong Lim, Jennifer Manzullo, Olivia Paek, Emmett Schneider, Deborah Scroggins, Daniel Weggeland, Genevieve Wilson and Joseph Windrem, for excellence in providing a sustained source of comprehensive data and independent and objective analysis needed by Congress to oversee the nearly $115 billion appropriated for the U.S. reconstruction effort in Afghanistan.