The long-awaited Inspector General report on former Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko was finalized last week, and in more than 100 pages the report describes dozens of instances wherein Jaczko manipulated information to advance his own policy agenda and used bullying tactics to get his way, creating an atmosphere of confusion and, at times, fear. A summary of the report sent to Congress and circulated widely, but late last week RW Monitor obtained a copy of the full report, which was not released by NRC. The report found that, while Jaczko never violated any explicit legal restrictions, he did "interpret his authority broadly," and provided "inconsistent testimony" to Congress during hearings in December. The IG consulted with the Department of Justice regarding its investigation. “Based on the information provided, DOJ advised that the matter did not warrant prosecution,” the IG wrote.
The IG report was triggered by an October letter that Jaczko’s four fellow NRC Commissioners wrote to the White House, claiming that Jaczko was disrupting the flow of information to their offices and creating a “chilled” working environment. A pair of hearings before both the House and Senate were held in December, and Jaczko abruptly announced his resignation May 21, which was finalized when his replacement, Allison Macfarlane, was confirmed late last week. In an official statement last week Jaczko said he has “felt confident all along that my actions have been consistent with my responsibilities and authorities as Chairman, and certainly that there was no wrongdoing. This report underscores my belief. I appreciate the Inspector General’s independent investigation and am glad to put this behind us. The report raises nothing new of substance.”
Regarding Jaczko’s personal demeanor at the agency, the report details numerous separate events recounted by NRC employees and commissioners that they considered intimidating, including Jaczko storming out of a meeting during remarks by Commissioner William Ostendorff, bringing an employee to the point of tears and angry phone calls made to staff and Commissioners when Jaczko disagreed with them. The findings are similar to those released in a prior IG report, "NRC Chairman’s Unilateral Decision to Terminate NRC’s Review of DOE Yucca Mountain Repository License Application," released in June 2011. That report determined that Jaczko "controlled information provided to the other Commissioners based on his interpretation of his statutory authority as Chairman versus the authority given to the Commission." During the course of this investigation, the IG reported, "senior NRC officials provided OIG with examples where the Chairman intervened in the development of SECY papers before they were provided to the Commission," as well as SECY papers Jaczko attempted to prevent staff from presenting to the Commission, and one in which Jaczko "directed a senior official to change the staff’s recommendation." However, the IG noted that it did not find any examples wherein Jaczko "successfully" withheld information from his fellow Commissioners.