WASHINGTON — The State Department’s embattled security chief stepped down under pressure Wednesday as the fallout from last month’s deadly Blackwater USA shooting of 17 Iraqis in Baghdad claimed its first political casualty.
Richard Griffin’s forced resignation came amid growing questions about the use of private contractors to protect diplomats in Iraq, according to officials familiar with the circumstances of his departure.
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. Rice accepted the resignation, which is effective Nov. 1, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
Griffin, an ambassador-rank official who was previously deputy director of the U.S. Secret Service and inspector general for the Department of Veterans Affairs, had been in his current job since June 2005.
Earlier Wednesday in Baghdad, the Iraqi Cabinet upheld the finding that the guards opened fire without provocation. Blackwater says the convoy it was protecting was attacked first.
The Iraqi Cabinet also renewed calls for Blackwater’s expulsion and set up a committee to look into repealing a directive that gives private contractors virtual immunity from prosecution.
