Pentagon’s inspector general resigning after one year on the job

WASHINGTON (AP)— The Pentagon’s inspector general is resigning after just over a year in the job and at a time when defense spending has skyrocketed but personnel shortfalls in the oversight office have strained its ability to probe allegations of waste, fraud and abuse.

Claude Kicklighter, 74, took over as the military’s top investigator in April 2007. He’ll be replaced by Gordon Heddell, the Labor Department’s inspector general since January 2001. The Defense Department announced the changes Wednesday. It’s not clear if Heddell, who will hold the post in an acting capacity, will be officially nominated for the position.

Kicklighter’s departure marks yet another shift in leadership at this key Pentagon office. In September 2005, Joseph Schmitz resigned to be chief operating officer and general counsel for the Prince Group, which owns security contractor Blackwater Worldwide.

Schmitz’s more than three-year tenure as Pentagon inspector general was marred by allegations he improperly interfered with two ongoing investigations to protect senior Bush administration officials.

A deputy inspector general, Thomas Gimble, ran the office until Kicklighter arrived.

Kicklighter, retired from the Army in 1991 after a 35-year career, was viewed as a solid choice when the defense budget was nearing $600 billion a year and procurement fraud cases in Iraq and Afghanistan were on the rise.