Environmental Protection Agency administrator and industry lobbyist Scott Pruitt has retained an 18-man personal security force and, according to some reports, Pruitt has restricted access to the entire floor his office is located on.
Pruitt is also reportedly known to frequently leave his office and use phones in other offices to avoid being listened to, or something, but he won't have to do that for much longer.
The EPA is building a sound-proof room just for him.
The agency signed a $24,570 contract earlier this summer with Acoustical Solutions, a Richmond-based company, for a “privacy booth for the administrator.” The company sells and installs an array of sound-dampening and privacy products, from ceiling baffles to full-scale enclosures like the one purchased by the EPA. The project’s scheduled completion date is Oct. 9, according to the contract.
Typically, such soundproof booths are used to conduct hearing tests. But the EPA sought a customized version — one that eventually would cost several times more than a typical model — that Pruitt can use to communicate privately.
The obvious question is what information is he so desperately trying to keep private and who is he keeping it from? Who does he think is listening to him?
The EPA already has a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) for discussing classified information, but Pruitt is building a separate one inside his own office.
Pruitt is almost certainly doing something illegal in private.