U.N. Security Chief 'Retired' by Annan

In a surprise move, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan "accepted" the retirement "offer" of his longtime chief of headquarters security, Michael McCann, on Tuesday.

McCann, an 11-year veteran of the U.N. security and safety force and a former NYPD officer, told friends and staff that he intended to retire in July.

In March, the former coordinator of the U.N.'s international security system, Tun Myat, also "retired" from his post.

U.N. sources tell NewsMax that the U.N.'s security chiefs in Geneva and Vienna are also expected to be removed by Annan in the near future.

All of the actions come after the results of two investigations launched by the secretary-general as a response to last August's bombing of the U.N.'s Baghdad headquarters.

Those investigations labeled the U.N.'s security operations as "dysfunctional."

The Baghdad attack, the worst in United Nations history, left 22 dead and more than 150 wounded.

Annan's special representative, Sergio Vierra de Mello, was among those killed.

In March, Louise Frechette, the U.N. deputy secretary-general who coordinated Iraq policy, submitted her resignation.

Annan refused.

U.N. sources tell NewsMax that Annan kept Frechette as a buffer to protect him from any potential future Iraq criticism.

In addition to the critical investigations, McCann's NYC operations had been plagued by a series of embarrassing incidents over the past year.

Since the Baghdad attack, the U.N. headquarters security force has seen one officer commit suicide outside the General Assembly hall, another arrested in a NYPD prostitution sting and yet another charged for allegedly beating his wife.

Those came on top of "irregularities" found by a U.N. General Assembly committee in the use of funds allocated to hire new security officers and confusion regarding requests for the funding of a program to "outsource" certain functions.

The outsourcing was an attempt to bring in consultants to advise the U.N. on security matters related to the criticisms contained in the Annan investigations.

McCann's 11 years "on the force" were controversial, but perhaps were best remembered by a recent clash with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

For reasons never explained, McCann circumvented established ATF procedures to purchase a cache of highly restricted submachine guns to protect Kofi Annan.

Eventually, McCann was forced to move the guns out of U.N. headquarters under the threat of possible confiscation by the ATF.

As to who will replace the security chief, one name commonly mentioned is Eric Boswell.

Boswell formerly directed security operations at the State Department. He is currently a "consultant" on security matters at the U.N.

Another is former NYPD commissioner Bernard Kerik, who has just completed testimony before the 9/11 commission.

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