Download Locations:
Summary:
Statutory offices of inspector general consolidate responsibility for auditing and investigations within a federal department, agency, or other organization. Established by public law as permanent, nonpartisan, independent offices, they now exist in nearly 60 federal establishments and entities, including all departments and the largest agencies as well as many smaller boards, commissions, and governmental corporations. Under two major enactments--the Inspector General Act of 1978 and its amendments of 1988--the inspectors general (IGs) have been granted a substantial amount of independence and authority to carry out their basic mandate to combat waste, fraud, and abuse, now including the use of their personnel in counter-terrorism efforts.1 Recent statutes, moreover, have added a new IG for Tax Administration in Treasury; converted the IG in the Tennessee Valley Authority to a presidential appointment subject to Senate confirmation; consolidated some foreign policy agencies into the State Department, thus ending their separate IG offices; and created a Criminal Investigator Academy and an Inspector General Forensic Laboratory. This report is updated as events require.
