WASHINGTON (AP) – The Environmental Protection Agency is spending nearly $25,000 to provide Administrator Scott Pruitt something none of his predecessors have had – a custom soundproof booth for making private phone calls.
EPA did not respond to questions Wednesday from The Associated Press about the government contract for the privacy booth ordered last month. The contract for the booth was first reported by The Washington Post.
EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman told the newspaper the booth would serve as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility. Known as a SCIF, those secure rooms house computers and equipment for communicating over classified government networks.
Former EPA officials told AP that explanation doesn’t make sense. There’s already an SCIF at EPA’s Washington headquarters, just a few floors from Pruitt’s office. EPA employees rarely deal with government secrets.