Defective pumps broke no rules

Army Corps of Engineers officials did not violate any rules when they allowed defective pumps to be installed after Hurricane Katrina, according to a report by the Defense Department’s inspector general.

The findings in the report will be reviewed by the Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal agency that handles complaints by whistle-blowers, including a corps engineer who warned in early 2006 that the pumps would not work properly.

James Mitchell, a spokesman for the Office of Special Counsel, said the inspector general’s report was a “truncated investigation” that did not analyze all the technical issues surrounding the pumps.