"The top-ranking official at the National Park Service has apologized for behaving “in an inappropriate manner in a public hallway” in the wake of an inspector general’s investigation into an anonymous allegation that the official had made a gesture involving his genitalia in front of other employees.
In a staff-wide email to Park Service employees on Friday, P. Daniel Smith wrote that as “a leader, I must hold myself to the highest standard of behavior in the workplace. I take my responsibility to create and maintain a respectful, collegial work environment very seriously. Moving forward, I promise to do better.”
As The Washington Post first reported, an anonymous agency employee wrote to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke in March to describe how Smith shortly after taking office as the Park Service’s deputy director “grabbed his crotch and his penis and acted out as though he was urinating on the wall.” A witness to the alleged crude gesture said it took place while Smith was telling a story to another employee at the headquarters of the Interior Department, which houses the Park Service."
