Reno Set to ‘Defang’ Internal Watchdog of Her Department

Atty. Gen. Janet Reno is expected soon to ease out the Justice Department’s veteran trouble-shooter, whose internal probes have embarrassed nearly every attorney general under whom he has served and on occasion even caused discomfort at the White House.

Under a plan awaiting Reno’s approval, the Office of Professional Responsibility--headed by Michael E. Shaheen Jr. since it was created in 1975--would be placed under the supervision of the Justice Department’s inspector general.

Although the change would not eliminate Shaheen’s job, he has made clear to department officials that he will not remain in the post under an arrangement that would significantly limit his independence.

The shift is important because of what the job has become under Shaheen, a former mayor of Como, Miss., who initially joined the department’s civil rights division.

As originally envisioned by former Atty. Gen. Edward H. Levi, the office would act as the attorney general’s eyes and ears, watching over the department’s investigative operations. But it evolved into a much higher-profile operation.

Shaheen’s office conducted the investigation that led to the firing of FBI Director William S. Sessions on grounds that he abused his position.

That followed Shaheen probes that led to the departure of two of former Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh’s aides and a reorganization of the department’s top command, resurrected the probe of former Teamsters President Jackie Presser and took former Atty. Gen. Benjamin Civiletti to task for his dealings with the White House on the investigation of the late Billy Carter, when his brother was President.

Other high points included an inquiry that found the FBI, under former Director J. Edgar Hoover, had conducted pervasive harassment of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and one that examined the adequacy of the department’s antitrust investigation of IBM.

Reno’s predecessor, former Atty. Gen. William P. Barr, contends that Shaheen’s office is the only department entity “with the credibility, stature and institutional history to conduct internal investigations” of possible high-level wrongdoing and to show sensitivity in looking into allegations against law enforcement officials.

But Carl Stern, Reno’s chief spokesman, defended the proposed change on grounds of “streamlining,” because the IG already looks into misconduct by lower-level personnel, while the OPR watches over higher officials.

Critics of the proposal argue, however, that the IG wears two hats and must report findings to Congress, which they contend would hamper the new office in its efforts to conduct confidential investigations for the attorney general.

The move pleases some lawmakers, such as Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio), a champion of IGs. But critics contend it could be evidence that politics has entered the process of picking the department’s internal watchdog--an allegation Stern flatly rejects.

The skepticism arises partly because the plan was drawn up by Deputy Atty. Gen. Philip B. Heymann, who once said no individual should hold the OPR post as long as Shaheen has, a comment he has not repeated publicly since becoming the department’s No. 2 official.

Moreover, Heymann is sponsoring a onetime student of his at Harvard’s Kennedy School, Michael Bromwich, to succeed IG Richard Hankinson, whom Heymann has ordered to resign. Bromwich served for six weeks as a special assistant to Heymann in 1978 during a summer away from law school when Heymann headed the department’s criminal division.

But Bromwich, with no help from Heymann, made his own reputation as a highly regarded lawyer in the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan and then on the team that prosecuted Lt. Col. Oliver L. North of Iran-Contra fame, as well as in private law here.

His North work could cause problems with some Senate Republicans as he seeks confirmation. Bromwich’s nomination is likely to fall within weeks of the final report by Iran-Contra Independent Counsel Lawrence E. Walsh, a document that is due to be released soon and is expected to be highly critical of the Ronald Reagan and George Bush administrations.