Buzzy Krongard: I Told My Brother I Was Joining Blackwater’s Advisory Board

Howard “Cookie” Krongard might have just perjured himself before the House Oversight Committee.

Earlier today, the State Department inspector general repeatedly told the panel that he was unaware his brother, A.B. “Buzzy” Krongard, had joined the advisory board of State Department security contractor Blackwater. Krongard said he had a single phone conversation with his brother about the issue, in October, in which Buzzy didn’t tell Cookie he was joining the board.

Only Buzzy says that’s not true.

In an exclusive interview with TPMmuckraker, Buzzy Krongard says that in that phone conversation, he specifically told Cookie Krongard he had agreed to join Blackwater’s advisory board. “I had told my brother I was going on the advisory board,” Buzzy Krongard says. “My brother says that is not the case. I stand by what I told my brother.”

Buzzy Krongard says the phone conversation was more recent than Cookie Krongard indicated to the committee. Cookie said it took place about five or six weeks ago. Buzzy says it was about two or three weeks ago. Both men say there was just one phone conversation. How to reconcile the two accounts?

“I told him I was going on this board. He claims I didn’t tell him,” Buzzy Krongard says. “So what can I tell you?”

Buzzy Krongard says he only saw the beginning of the hearing. When asked for a reply to Rep. Chris Shays’ (R-CT) comment that Buzzy had done Cookie “tremendous damage,” Buzzy Krongard demurred. “Shays is free to have his own opinion,” he says. “It’s much more complicated than that. I’m not going to go into it, and I think anyone who knew all the facts wouldn’t have a problem with anything I’ve done.” He says that he told Blackwater to donate any compensation he’d get from sitting on the advisory board — which he pegs at between $10,000 and $15,000 annually — to charity.

The two brothers don’t speak regularly, Buzzy explains. “And after this,” he says, he expects he’ll speak to his brother “less often.”

Asked if Blackwater knew who his brother was when Erik Prince offered him a position on the advisory board, Buzzy replies, “You think I had to tell them? That they didn’t know?” He says it shouldn’t be an issue. “If [Cookie Krongard]’s got integrity, it’s not gonna matter one way or other,” he says. “If he doesn’t have integrity it’s not gonna matter.”

Buzzy Krongard did echo one line of his brother’s from the hearing. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” he asks.