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Metro inspector general names new head of investigations

January 19, 2018 at 9:00 a.m. EST

Metro Inspector General Geoff Cherrington has named Kimberly Howell, director of the Office of Investigations for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the agency’s new assistant inspector general for investigations.

Howell has spent her career examining fraud and discrimination issues in the nuclear energy, pharmaceutical and postal sectors.

She will replace Isabel Cumming, who is leaving to become Baltimore inspector general.

“I want to thank AIGI Cumming for her strong leadership and dedication and I congratulate her promotion to Baltimore city IG,” Cherrington said.

In an interview, Howell said she hopes to focus on issues from contract fraud, to discrimination and job retaliation, to the troubled MetroAccess program.

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“I’ve heard there are a lot of problems there,” she said of Metro’s paratransit service for the elderly and people with disabilities. She described her focus as “making sure that Metro assets are being used appropriately– the contract fraud, any discrimination issues…a wide variety.”

Howell lives in Anne Arundel County and grew up in Prince George’s County.

She began her career as a special agent for the U.S. Secret Service in 1993. She moved up to positions as a special agent for the U.S. Postal Service OIG and the special prosecution staff for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations.

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Prior to working at NRC, she was deputy assistant inspector general for investigations at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

But Howell said some of her most relevant experience comes from her time at the Postal Service OIG, where she dealt with contract fraud, misuse of assets and discrimination cases. Some Metro employees have alleged they have faced retaliation when reporting safety issues.

At NRC, Howell is responsible for ensuring licensees with access to nuclear materials abide by safety guidelines.

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“They’re all safety related cases … lying on safety records or fire safety checks of the nuclear reactor — we have some where they’re medical physicists misusing radiation doses,” she said. “They are very complex.”

Howell is expected to make a salary of $170,000 annually. She starts at Metro OIG on March 5.