Office of the Inspector General
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

In the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, Office of Inspector General (OIG) is a generic term for the oversight division of a federal or state agency aimed at preventing inefficient or unlawful operations within their parent agency. Such offices are attached to many federal executive departments, independent federal agencies, as well as
state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...
and local governments. Each office includes an inspector general (or I.G.) and employees charged with identifying, auditing, and investigating fraud,
waste Waste (or wastes) are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use. A by-product, by contrast is a joint product of relatively minor economic value. A waste prod ...
, abuse, embezzlement and mismanagement of any kind within the executive department.


History

In the United States, other than in the military departments, the first Office of Inspector General was established by act of Congress in 1976 under the
Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...
to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicare,
Medicaid Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and per ...
, and more than 100 other departmental programs. With approximately 1,600 employees, the HHS-OIG performs audits, investigations, and evaluations to recommend policy for decision-makers and the public. Ronald Reagan terminated 16 inspectors general when he entered into office in 1981. His administration explained that Reagan intended to hire his own selections. After Congress objected, Reagan rehired 5 of those terminated. George H. W. Bush also attempted to dismiss all the inspectors general when he became president in 1989, but relented after the inspectors general and Congress objected.
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
dismissed
Corporation for National and Community Service AmeriCorps (officially the Corporation for National and Community Service or CNCS) is an independent agency of the United States government that engages more than five million Americans in service through a variety of stipended volunteer work prog ...
inspector general
Gerald Walpin Gerald Walpin (September 1, 1931 – June 24, 2016) was an American lawyer and author. He served as the Inspector General of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) from January 2007 until June 2009, when he was removed ...
citing a lack of confidence in him. After Congress objected to his lack of explanation, the Obama administration cited that Walpin had shown "troubling and inappropriate conduct", and pointed to an incident that year when Walpin was "disoriented" during a board meeting of the Corporation, because of which the board requested Walpin's dismissal. Walpin sued for reinstatement, but the courts ruled against him. In 2020,
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
dismissed or replaced five inspectors general within six weeks. Two permanent inspectors general were dismissed and three acting inspectors general were replaced. Just after firing intelligence inspector general Michael Atkinson, Trump criticized Atkinson as having done a "terrible job" and that he "took a fake report and he brought it to Congress", in reference to the whistleblower complaint of the
Trump–Ukraine scandal The "Trump–Ukraine scandal" refers to efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump to coerce Ukraine and other countries into providing damaging narratives about 2020 Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden, and giving misinformatio ...
, which other testimony and evidence largely verified. Trump also described Atkinson as "not a big Trump fan". Around one month before Trump replaced Christi Grimm as acting health inspector general, he had called her report of shortages of medical supplies in American hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States as "wrong", "fake", and "her opinion", despite the report being based on a survey of 323 hospitals. Trump also questioned Grimm's motives for the report.


Authority

The
Inspector General Act of 1978 The Inspector General Act of 1978 is a United States federal law () defining a standard set of Inspector General offices across several specified departments of the U.S. federal government. The Act specifically creates Inspector General positi ...
created 12 departmental inspectors general. Thirty years later, in October 2008, the Inspector General Reform Act of 2008 added IGs in various other areas. , there were 72 statutory IGs. The offices employ special agents (criminal investigators, often armed) and auditors. In addition, federal offices of inspectors general employ forensic auditors, or "audigators," evaluators, inspectors, administrative investigators, and a variety of other specialists. Their activities include the detection and prevention of fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement of the government programs and operations within their parent organizations. Office investigations may be internal, targeting government employees, or external, targeting grant recipients, contractors, or recipients of the various loans and subsidies offered through the thousands of federal domestic and foreign assistance programs. The Inspector General Reform Act of 2008 (IGRA) amended the 1978 act by increasing pay and various powers and creating the
Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency The Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) addresses integrity, economy, and effectiveness issues that transcend individual Government agencies; and increase the professionalism and effectiveness of personnel by de ...
(CIGIE). Some inspectors general, the heads of the offices, are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. For example, both the inspector general of the
U.S. Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the United States federal executive departments, executive departments of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of fede ...
and the inspector general of the
U.S. Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 ...
are presidentially appointed. The remaining inspectors general are designated by their respective agency heads, such as the U.S. Postal Service inspector general. Presidentially appointed IGs can only be removed, or terminated, from their positions by the President of the United States, whereas designated inspectors general can be terminated by the agency head. However, in both cases Congress must be notified of the termination, removal, or reassignment. While the IG Act of 1978 requires that inspectors general be selected based upon their qualifications and not political affiliation, presidentially appointed inspectors general are considered political appointees and are often selected, if only in part and in addition to their qualifications, because of their political relationships and party affiliation. An example of the role political affiliation plays in the selection of an inspector general, and the resulting pitfalls, can be seen in the 2001
Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
appointment (and resignation under fire) of Janet Rehnquist (daughter of former Chief Justice of the United States,
William Rehnquist William Hubbs Rehnquist ( ; October 1, 1924 – September 3, 2005) was an American attorney and jurist who served on the U.S. Supreme Court for 33 years, first as an associate justice from 1972 to 1986 and then as the 16th chief justice from ...
) to the post of inspector general for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. While all of the federal offices of inspectors general operate separately from one another, they share information and some coordination through the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency. , the CIGIE comprised 68 offices. In addition to their inspector general members, the CIGIE includes non-inspector general representatives from the federal executive branch, such as executives from the
Office of Management and Budget The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). OMB's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, but it also examines agency programs, pol ...
, the
Office of Personnel Management An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific d ...
, the Office of Government Ethics, the
Office of Special Counsel The United States Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is a permanent independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency whose basic legislative authority comes from four federal statutes: the Civil Service Reform Act, the Whistleblower Prot ...
, and the
Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
. The CIGIE also provides specialized training to the inspector general community. Further evidence of coordination between federal offices of inspectors general can be seen by the public through the offices' shared website, and the use of shared training facilities and resources, such as the Inspector General Criminal Investigator Academy (IGCIA), and their Inspector General Community Auditor Training Team (IGCATS), which are hosted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC). Evidence of the offices' return on investment to taxpayers can be seen through their semi-annual reports to Congress, most of which are available on each office's website. Since the
post-9/11 The post-9/11 period is the time after the September 11 attacks, characterized by heightened suspicion of non-Americans in the United States, increased government efforts to address terrorism, and a more aggressive American foreign policy. Pol ...
enactment of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, resulting in the amendment of the IG Act of 1978, Section 6e, most presidentially appointed IG special agents have had full law enforcement authority to carry firearms, make arrests, and execute
search warrant A search warrant is a court order that a magistrate or judge issues to authorize law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person, location, or vehicle for evidence of a crime and to confiscate any evidence they find. In most countries, ...
s. Prior to this time, most presidentially appointed IG and some designated IG special agents had the equivalent law enforcement authorities as a result of other statutes or annually required deputation by the U.S. Marshals Service. The 2002 amendment to the IG Act of 1978 made most deputation of presidentially appointed IG special agents unnecessary. Some designated IG special agents, however, still have full law enforcement authority today by virtue of this continued deputation. Some OIGs employ no criminal investigators and rely solely on administrative investigators, auditors, and inspectors.


Lists of inspectors general


Presidentially-appointed, Senate-confirmed (PAS) inspectors general


Establishment inspectors general


Special inspectors general


Vacancies and pending nominations

Announced nominations for unfilled PAS IGs awaiting confirmation in the Senate.


List of presidentially-appointed inspectors general

;Afghanistan Reconstruction (Special) ;Agency for International Development ;Department of Agriculture ;Central Intelligence Agency ;Department of Commerce ;Corporation for National and Community Service ;Department of Defense ;Department of Education ;Department of Energy ;Environmental Protection Agency ;Export-Import Bank ;Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ;Federal Emergency Management Agency ;Federal Housing Finance Agency ;General Services Administration ;Department of Health and Human Services ;Department of Homeland Security ;Department of Housing and Urban Development ;Intelligence Community ;Department of the Interior ;Internal Revenue Service ;Department of Justice ;Department of Labor ;National Aeronautics and Space Administration ;National Reconnaissance Office ;National Security Agency ;Nuclear Regulatory Commission ;Pandemic Recovery (Special) ;Office of Personnel Management ;Railroad Retirement Board ;Resolution Trust Corporation ;Small Business Administration ;Social Security Administration ;Department of State ;Tennessee Valley Authority ;Department of Transportation ;Department of the Treasury ;Troubled Assets Relief Program (Special) ;U.S. Information Agency ;Department of Veterans Affairs


Designated federal entity inspectors general


List of DFE IGs

;Appalachian Regional Commission ;Architect of the Capitol ;Capitol Police ;Committee for Purchase from People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled ;Commodity Futures Trading Commission ;Consumer Product Safety Commission ;Corporation for Public Broadcasting ;Denali Commission ;Election Assistance Commission ;Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ;Farm Credit Administration ;Federal Communications Commission ;Federal Election Commission ;Federal Labor Relations Authority ;Federal Maritime Commission ;Federal Reserve Board ;Federal Trade Commission ;Government Accountability Office ;Government Publishing Office ;House of Representatives ;International Development Finance Corporation ;International Trade Commission ;Iraq Reconstruction (Special) ;Legal Services Corporation ;Library of Congress ;National Archives and Records Administration ;National Credit Union Administration ;National Endowment for the Arts ;National Endowment for the Humanities ;National Labor Relations Board ;National Railroad Passenger Corporation ;National Science Foundation ;Panama Canal Commission ;Peace Corps ;Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation ;Postal Regulatory Commission ;Postal Service ;Securities and Exchange Commission ;Smithsonian Institution ;Tennessee Valley Authority


Legislative agency inspectors general


U.S. military

Within the
United States Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is ...
, the position of inspector general is normally part of the personal staff serving a general or flag officer in a command position. The inspector general's office functions in two ways. To a certain degree they are ombudsmen for their branch of service. However, their primary function is to ensure the combat readiness of subordinate units in their command. An armed services inspector general also investigates noncriminal allegations and some specific criminal allegations, to include determining if the matter should be referred for criminal investigation by the service's criminal investigative agency. The Air Force Inspector General Complaints Program was established to address the concerns of Air Force active duty, reserve, and Guard members, civilian employees, family members, and retirees, as well as the interest of the Air Force. One of the first responsibilities of the Air Force inspector general is to operate a credible complaints program that investigates personnel complaints: Fraud, Waste, and Abuse (FWA) allegations; congressional inquiries; and issues involving the Air Force mission. Personnel complaints and FWA disclosures to the IG help commanders correct problems that affect the productivity, mission accomplishment, and morale of assigned personnel, which are areas of high concern to Air Force leaders at all levels.


Former

*
ACTION Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...
* Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (concurrent with State Department) *
Coalition Provisional Authority ) , capital = Baghdad , largest_city = capital , common_languages = ArabicKurdish English (''de facto'') , government_type = Transitional government , legislature = Iraqi Governing Council , title_leader = Administrator , leader1 = Jay ...
*
Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Ex ...
* U.S. Information Agency * Iraq Reconstruction (Special) *
Panama Canal Commission The Panama Canal Zone ( es, Zona del Canal de Panamá), also simply known as the Canal Zone, was an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the Isthmus of Panama, that existed from 1903 to 1979. It was located within the terri ...
*
Resolution Trust Corporation The Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) was a U.S. government-owned asset management company run by Lewis William Seidman and charged with liquidating assets, primarily real estate-related assets such as mortgage loans, that had been assets ...


Review boards

*
Pandemic Response Accountability Committee The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) is an independent oversight committee within the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, created by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2 ...
* Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board


Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute enforcement

HHS-OIG develops and distributes resources to assist the health care industry in its efforts to comply with the nation's fraud and abuse laws and to educate the public about fraudulent schemes so that it can protect itself and report suspicious activities. Recently, HHS-OIG has targeted hospitals and healthcare systems for
Stark Law Stark Law is a set of United States federal laws that prohibit physician self-referral, specifically a referral by a physician of a Medicare or Medicaid patient to an entity for the provision of designated health services ("DHS") if the physici ...
and
Anti-Kickback Statute The Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) is an American federal law prohibiting financial payments or incentives for referring patients or generating federal healthcare business. The law, codified at 42 U.S. Code § 1320a–7b(b), imposes criminal and, par ...
violations pertaining to the management of physician compensation arrangements. In 2015, a fraud alert was issued to publicize the OIG's intent to further regulate such non-compliance. In light of such efforts and consequent record-breaking settlements, healthcare experts have begun to call for the transition from paper-based physician time logging and
contract management Contract management or contract administration is the management of contracts made with customers, vendors, partners, or employees. Contract management includes negotiating the terms and conditions in contracts and ensuring compliance with the terms ...
to automated solutions.


Criticism

Inspectors general have also been criticized for being ineffective and persecuting
whistleblower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...
s rather than protecting them. One example is from the Securities and Exchange Commission OIG. In a 2011 article by Matt Taibbi, SEC whistleblowers said that complaining to the SEC OIG was "well-known to be a career-killer." Another example is from whistleblower
Jesselyn Radack Jesselyn Radack (born December 12, 1970) is an American national security and human rights attorney known for her defense of whistleblowers, journalists, and hacktivists. She graduated from Brown University and Yale Law School and began her car ...
's book ''Canary in the Coalmine'', in which she describes her experience complaining to the
Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
OIG; instead of helping her, the IG office helped the DOJ get her fired and restricted from practicing as a lawyer. Another example is from the
Thomas Andrews Drake Thomas Andrews Drake (born 1957) is a former senior executive of the National Security Agency (NSA), a decorated United States Air Force and United States Navy veteran, and a whistleblower. In 2010, the government alleged that Drake mishandled doc ...
case, in which several complainants to the
Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...
OIG over NSA's Trailblazer Project were later raided by the FBI and some threatened with criminal prosecution.


See also

*
Federal law enforcement in the United States The federal government of the United States empowers a wide range of law enforcement agencies to maintain law and public order related to matters affecting the country as a whole. While the majority of federal law enforcement employees work for ...
*
2020 dismissal of inspectors general In April and May 2020, United States President Donald Trump dismissed the inspectors general (IGs) of five cabinet departments in the space of six weeks. The inspectors general removed were Michael K. Atkinson, Intelligence, on April 3; Glenn Fi ...


Explanatory notes


Citations


Further reading

*


External links

*
Inspector General Vacancy Tracker
by
Project On Government Oversight The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is a nonpartisan non-profit organization based in Washington, DC, that investigates and works to expose waste, fraud, abuse, and conflicts of interest in the U.S. federal government. According to its webs ...
(POGO) {{authority control 1976 establishments in the United States Federal government of the United States United S