Christopher Sharpley

Summary

Christopher Robert Sharpley (born May 21, 1957)[1] was the Acting Inspector General of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 2015 to 2017.[2] He was nominated by President Donald Trump in September 2017 to become Inspector General of the CIA[3] but failed to receive confirmation in the United States Senate.[4]

Christopher Sharpley
Acting Inspector General of the Central Intelligence Agency
In office
February 1, 2015 – September 9, 2017
PresidentBarack Obama
Donald Trump
Preceded byDavid Buckley
Succeeded byChristine Ruppert (Acting)
Personal details
Born
Christopher Robert Sharpley

(1957-05-21) May 21, 1957 (age 66)
Trenton, New Jersey, U.S.
EducationAmerican University (BA)
Naval Postgraduate School (MA)

Biography edit

Sharpley received a B.A. from American University in 1981 and was then commissioned as a United States Air Force officer through the ROTC program at Howard University. He later earned an M.A. from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1986. He served on active duty in the Air Force until 1992 and then in the Air Force Reserve until 2002.[1]

In his first leadership function, Sharpley was a Director of Security Operations in the U.S. Air Force. Afterwards, he became the Deputy Inspector General for Investigations and Inspections at the United States Department of Energy.[5]

He then became Deputy Inspector General for Investigations at the Federal Housing Finance Authority[6] and Deputy Special Inspector General for Investigations[7] for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP). In this capacity, he was responsible for the coordination of combined teams of special agents, investigators, analysts, and attorney advisors who as experienced financial and corporate fraud investigators conducted criminal investigations into persons in or out of government who misused or even stole TARP funds.[8] He was part of an investigation into the collapse of a proposed partnership between Colonial BancGroup, Florida's sixth-largest bank, and a mortgage lender, Taylor, Bean & Whitaker, based in Ocala, Florida, that could have brought the entities more than $500 million in federal bailout money.[9]

Central Intelligence Agency edit

Since July 2012 he has been Deputy Inspector General at the CIA,[10] becoming for a surprisingly long time the acting successor of Inspector General David Buckley[11] who retired in January 2015,[12] as Shirley Woodward, nominated by President Barack Obama in June 2016, was pending her Senate approval.[13]

In 2016, Sharpley uploaded a report about the CIA's earlier torture practices to the office's internal computer network and then destroyed the hard disk, following standard protocol. Another employee then inadvertently deleted the software copy from the server.[14]

On January 3, 2017, without having held any hearing, the outgoing Senate sent Woodward's nomination back to the President,[15] enabling Sharpley to stay Acting Inspector General. On September 5, 2017, new President Donald Trump nominated him to the post;[4] in October 2017, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence held a hearing on Sharpley's nomination.[16] After failing to receive further consideration in the Senate, President Trump withdrew the nomination on July 23, 2018.[4]

Sharpley left as acting inspector general of the CIA in August 2018.[17]

Private sector edit

In January 2019, he was named managing director of the federal practice at the data management services provider Next Phase Solutions, LLC

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Questionnaire for Completion by Presidential Nominees" (PDF). U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. 22 September 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  2. ^ HEARING BEFORE THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE, ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION, congress.gov, September 21, 2010, retrieved January 4, 2010
  3. ^ Giaritelli, Anna (September 1, 2017). "Trump picks 42 key administration nominees, including heads of NASA and Office of National Drug Control Policy". Washington Examiner. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  4. ^ a b c "PN925 — Christopher R. Sharpley — Central Intelligence". U.S. Congress. 23 July 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  5. ^ "President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Personnel to Key Administration Posts". whitehouse.gov. September 2, 2017. Retrieved 13 October 2017 – via National Archives.  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  6. ^ "Case 1:11" (PDF). Office of Inspector General. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  7. ^ "Special Inspector General for Troubled Asset Relief Program". The Federal Register. 1 October 2010. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  8. ^ "Quarterly Report to Congress April 21, 2009" (PDF). Office of the Special Inspector General. 21 April 2009. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  9. ^ "Agents Raid Bank and Lender in Florida". The New York Times. 3 August 2009. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  10. ^ CIA watchdog nominee scolded for lack of preparation, apnews.com, 18 October 2017, retrieved 4 January 2018
  11. ^ "Leadership". Central Intelligence Agency. 5 June 2017. Archived from the original on October 12, 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  12. ^ CIA Inspector General David Buckley to Resign, time.com, January 6, 2015, retrieved January 4, 2017
  13. ^ Chowdhry, Aisha (June 17, 2016). "Obama taps former spy as CIA watchdog". FCW. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  14. ^ "CIA watchdog 'accidentally destroyed' copy of 'torture report'". The Hill. 16 May 2016. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  15. ^ PN1549 — Shirley Woodward — Central Intelligence, congress.gov, 3 January 2017, retrieved 4 January 2018
  16. ^ "Senate Intel to Hold Confirmation Hearing Next Week for CIA Inspector General Nominee Christopher Sharpley". Richard Burr. 12 October 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  17. ^ Nelson, Matthew (2019-01-15). "Former CIA Official Christopher Sharpley Joins Next Phase's Federal Practice". ExecutiveBiz. Retrieved 2020-06-14.