Posted on 01/12/2017 2:47:30 PM PST by tired&retired
I've been wondering what the process is for appointing Inspector Generals so I did a little research. Here is a summary, along with some interesting articles on all of Obama's vacancies. For example, as of Feb. 8th, 2012 the longest vacancy has been at the State Department, which has gone 1,484 days—over four years—without a permanent IG, at a time when the Department has taken on the responsibility and challenge of managing scandal-prone private security contractors in war zones. As of today, there are seven IG positions that have been vacant for more than a year.
TITLE 5 App. > INSPECTOR > § 3 Prev | Next § 3. Appointment of Inspector General; supervision; removal; political activities; appointment of Assistant Inspector General for Auditing and Assistant Inspector General for Investigations
How Current is This?
(a) There shall be at the head of each Office an Inspector General who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, without regard to political affiliation and solely on the basis of integrity and demonstrated ability in accounting, auditing, financial analysis, law, management analysis, public administration, or investigations. Each Inspector General shall report to and be under the general supervision of the head of the establishment involved or, to the extent such authority is delegated, the officer next in rank below such head, but shall not report to, or be subject to supervision by, any other officer of such establishment. Neither the head of the establishment nor the officer next in rank below such head shall prevent or prohibit the Inspector General from initiating, carrying out, or completing any audit or investigation, or from issuing any subpena during the course of any audit or investigation.
(b) An Inspector General may be removed from office by the President. If an Inspector General is removed from office or is transferred to another position or location within an establishment, the President shall communicate in writing the reasons for any such removal or transfer to both Houses of Congress, not later than 30 days before the removal or transfer. Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit a personnel action otherwise authorized by law, other than transfer or removal.
Tracking Vacancies in Federal Inspector General Offices http://inspectorsgeneral.org/news/2012/02/13/tracking-vacancies-in-federal-inspector-general-offices/
Newsletter of the Association of Inspectors General
The vast U.S. federal government contains no shortage of regulators and overseers who are involved in many aspects of American business and life. But while these people watch out for potential misconduct in areas such as agriculture, commerce, or elections, a new report from the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) asks the question: Where are the watchdogs who are supposed to be watching the watchdogs?
On Wednesday, POGO released “Where Are All the Watchdogs?”, an investigative project tracking vacancies in the offices of statutory inspectors general at federal agencies. At launch, the report found 12 vacant IG seats (out of a total of 73), ranging from spots that have been open for less than two weeks to one—at the U.S. Department of State—that has been unoccupied since January of 2008.
The nonpartisan POGO clearly does not see the IG vacancy rate as good news. “As the government looks for savings and as public confidence in government is historically low, it is inexcusable that we have so many inspector general vacancies,” said POGO investigator Jake Wiens.
President Obama enters his lame duck year with eight federal agencies without Inspectors General and five Inspector General positions waiting for presidential appointments.
The Export-Import Bank, Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Commerce, National Reconnaissance Office and Department of Energy do not have IGs and are waiting for Obama to appoint a nominee.
The Department of the Interior never received a permanent IG appointment from the president until last June and Senate Republicans are not ready to confirm Obama’s choice, deputy Interior Inspector General Mary Kendall, claiming she is too close to senior political figures at the department to be considered independent.
President Obama appointed an IG nominee to the Department of Veterans Affairs in October. The IG position for the VA remains empty since late December 2013. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation received an IG nomination from the president in November 2014, but his pick is floundering in the Senate.
The longest vacancies have been at the Interior Department, where the position has sat empty nearly six years, and the State Department, which, as several pointed out, went for five years with an acting IG. That represented the entire duration of Hillary Clinton’s tenure. One witness suggested that State’s acting IG might have turned a blind eye to Clinton’s use of a private email server.
Senators to Obama: Fill the Inspector General Vacancies
By Charles S. Clark June 3, 2015
Currently, said Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department IG who chairs the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, IG slots are vacant at seven major agencies: Interior, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Veterans Affairs Department, the General Services Administration, the Export-Import Bank and the CIA. All but the CIA’s have been empty a year or more, he said, and the Obama administration has submitted nominations for only three.
http://www.govexec.com/oversight/2015/06/senators-obama-fill-inspector-general-vacancies/114412/
The State Department position of Inspector General, which, as several pointed out, went for five years with an acting IG.
That represented the entire duration of Hillary Clinton’s tenure. One witness suggested that State’s acting IG might have turned a blind eye to Clinton’s use of a private email server.
“This administration needs to be doing a better job,” said Ranking Member Tom Carper, D-Del., noting efforts in past congresses to pressure Obama. “But we’re not entirely pure as a committee, since many nominations have been held up here for months or more.”
Both the lawmakers and witnesses named inspectors general — acting and permanent — who got in trouble, among them:
Acting Veterans Affairs IG Richard Griffin, for his controversial handling of reports on whistleblower charges of scheduling delays at VA hospitals;
Acting Homeland Security Department IG Charles Edwards, since resigned, for abusive spending on promotional items; and, Commerce Department IG Todd Zinser, who previously was acting and whose resignation has been called for by lawmakers and POGO for alleged retaliation against whistleblowers.
“The disadvantage of being acting IG is you have less credibility because there’s no vetting,” said Danielle Brian, executive director of POGO. “There’s an incentive to curry favor with the agency head to get appointed, and they’re often more lapdog than watchdog.” Some acting IGs, such as Lynne Halbrooks, who recently left the Defense Department’s shop, “try to shield the agency from bad press” and overclassify documents, Brian said, recommending that the Defense Department IG not absorb the functions of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, as some have proposed.
The Department of Defense is the only federal agency unable to get a clean audit opinion. A recent Department of Defense Inspector General (DoD IG) report provides another example of the profound financial management problems at the Pentagon.
The IG found the Army “could not adequately support” $2.8 trillion in adjustments in one quarter and $6.5 trillion for the year (yes, that’s trillion with a “T”). The number is so high because the same financial accounts could be corrected, reclassified, and reconciled multiple times. Each time such an adjustment was made, it was calculated as a separate transaction, and those adjustments added up. In one example that DoD IG spokeswoman Bridget Ann Serchak provided AMI Newsire, unsupported adjustments totaled to $99.8 billion for a $.2 billion balance.
The IG’s findings echo a 2013 Reuters investigation into the Navy by Scot Paltrow, which found that Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) supervisors pressured accountants to plug in false numbers to make the Navy’s totals match the Treasury Department’s accounts. “The accountants continued to seek accurate information to correct the entries” after they met initial deadlines, Reuters reported. “In some instances, they succeeded. In others, they didn’t, and the unresolved numbers stood on the books.”
Jack Armstrong, a former DoD IG official who audited the Army General Fund, told Reuters the Army numbers were likely similarly fudged in this instance. “They don’t know what the heck the balances should be,” he said.
Congress required the entire Pentagon to pass a complete financial audit by September 30, 2017, and both the Democratic and Republican platforms call for auditing the Pentagon. Mike McCord, DoD’s Comptroller, anticipated last winter that “it will take a couple more years.”
You clearly discovered something amazing about Hillary Cilnton’s term at the Department of State: it’s entirely true that she was never subject to an inspector general!!!
It’s too bad most of your information is wrong of bizarrely out of date. (For instance, State got an IG shortly after Clinton left.)
Some 33 federal agencies are required by law to have presidentially appointed inspectors general to identify wasteful practices and general government misconduct. But, according to the Project on Governmental Oversight, the Obama administration has left these positions open for, on average, 613 days, which is hundreds of days longer than even President Clinton, who was second with 453 days.
Johnson said having acting inspectors general in these roles is not the same as those who confirmed by the Senate.
I posted the date of the article for reference purposes. While that article was in 2012, I felt it was important for people to know.
I could find no report of how many vacancies exist now.
Especially true if approved by resident O'Bungler !
and a DemoRAT !
Five years with no 'oversight' in the most corrupted "Department of SNAKE"
is a lapse both by Congress , and the GOP !
These are the watchdogs to drain the swamp.
You wrote that in 2012? The date you entered in the form was today’s. It was very easy to find that the State Department vacancy was filled.
I like Vanities, personally. I’ve written several, usually with very strongly positive feedback, and I’m interested in any independent reporting someone does. Just try to keep up to date, or make your time frames much more clear.
But overall, great catch — I don’t mean to sound negative.
If I were given an IG position, the first thing I would do is match OPM records with actual real people in the department.
5.56mm
In my experience, regardless of political leanings, they always adhered to their sworn obligation to enforce the law they enforced!
“In my experience, regardless of political leanings, they always adhered to their sworn obligation to enforce the law they enforced!”
How’dja get 1 of those fellers to do an “IG Job” on the prez ??
My recollection is there is a professional society of “Inspectors General”. Are the membership rolls of the organization on the decline?
My recollection is there is a professional society of “Inspectors General”. Are the membership rolls of the organization on the decline?
I went to their website and did a search on vacancies. There were no current articles or listings. It is apparent that both Obama and Clinton kept the watchdog position of IG empty, especially for Hillary as Sec. of State.
“Having worked with IG Agents in several agencies, they play a CRUCIAL ROLE in policing their respective agencies!
In my experience, regardless of political leanings, they always adhered to their sworn obligation to enforce the law they enforced!”
Both Bill Clinton and Obama kept a lot of the positions empty, thus not needing Senate approval of the interim IG. This is how they allowed Hillary to use her home server without the IG stepping in.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.