"All We Did Was Work."

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9. "It's necessary for me to be able to do my job."

EPA chief defends spending on travel and soundproof booth
By MICHAEL BIESECKER and JOHN FLESHER
Dec. 07, 2017

Pruitt said the booth serves as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, known as a SCIF, which typically are secure rooms used to house computers and equipment for communicating over classified government networks. Former EPA officials said that explanation doesn’t make much sense.

There was already a SCIF at EPA headquarters in Washington where officials with the appropriate levels of security clearance can go to access classified information. EPA employees rarely deal with government secrets. The agency does occasionally receive, handle and store classified material because of its homeland security, emergency response and continuity missions.

Pruitt said he needed the booth to have a secure phone line with which he could communicate with the White House, located just a few blocks away.

“Cabinet level officials need to have access to secure communications,” Pruitt said. “It’s necessary for me to be able to do my job.”