Griles served as a Department of the Interior representative on Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force.

[1] In 2007, he pleaded guilty to felony obstruction of justice in the Senate investigation of the Abramoff scandal, the highest-ranking Bush administration official to do so.

Second in rank only to Norton, Griles effectively was Interior's chief operating officer and its top representative on Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force.

[3] Upon taking the job of Deputy Secretary, Griles was allowed to receive payments totaling more than $1 million from 2001 to 2005 as part of a buyout by NES while collecting his $150,000 annual federal salary.

However, a Freedom of Information Act request in September 2002 turned up evidence that Griles had met with former clients in the fossil fuel industries, despite the agreement.

"[6] On January 10, 2007, the United States Department of Justice notified Griles that charges would be brought against him for making false statements in his 2005 testimony.