Office of Inspector General (United States)

In the United States, 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 and local governments. Each office includes an inspector general (or IG) and employees charged with identifying, auditing, and investigating fraud, waste, abuse, embezzlement and mismanagement of any kind within the executive department.

In the United States, other than in the military departments, the first Office of Inspector General was established by act of Congress in 1976^[1] under the Department of Health and Human Services to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicare, Medicaid, and more than 100 other departmental programs.^[2] With approximately 1,600 employees, the HHS-OIG performs audits, investigations, and evaluations to recommend policy for decision-makers and the public.^[3]

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 five of those terminated.^[4]

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.^[4]

Barack Obama dismissed Corporation for National and Community Service inspector general Gerald Walpin citing a lack of confidence in him.^[4] 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.^[4] Walpin sued for reinstatement, but the courts ruled against him.^[4]

In 2020, Donald Trump dismissed or replaced five inspectors general within six weeks. Two permanent inspectors general were dismissed and three acting inspectors general were replaced.^[5] 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, which other testimony and evidence largely verified. Trump also described Atkinson as "not a big Trump fan".^[6][7] 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 "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.^[8][9]

In 2025, during his second presidency, Donald Trump summarily fired as many as seventeen inspectors general late the night of January 24. The individuals affected came from positions in the Pentagon, departments of State, Veterans Affairs and Interior.^[10][11] Trump did not provide Congress with 30 days’ advance notice or a written explanation of the rationale behind the firing, as required by the Inspector General Act of 1978 and the Securing Inspectors General Act of 2022.^[12] On February 12, eight of the inspectors general fired by Trump opened lawsuits arguing that the firings violated federal statutes and requesting to be reinstated to their positions.^[12]

The Inspector General Act of 1978^[13] created 12 departmental inspectors general. Thirty years later, in October 2008, the Inspector General Reform Act of 2008 added IGs in various other areas. As of July 2014, there were 72 statutory IGs.^[14]

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.^[15] The Inspector General Reform Act of 2008^[16] (IGRA) amended the 1978 act^[13] by increasing pay and various powers and creating the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE).^[17][18]

Some inspectors general, the heads of the offices, are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.^[21] For example, both the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Labor and the inspector general of the U.S. Agency for International Development are presidentially appointed. The remaining inspectors general are designated by their respective agency heads,^[22] such as the U.S. Postal Service inspector general.^[23] 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.^[24] However, in both cases Congress must be notified of the termination, removal, or reassignment.

While the IG Act of 1978^[13] 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 appointment (and resignation under fire) of Janet Rehnquist^[25] (daughter of former Chief Justice of the United States, William Rehnquist) to the post of inspector general for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.^[26]

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.^[27] As of 2010, the CIGIE comprised 68 offices.^[28] 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 Personnel Management, the Office of Government Ethics, the Office of Special Counsel, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 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,^[29] and the use of shared training facilities and resources, such as the Inspector General Criminal Investigator Academy (IGCIA),^[30] and their Inspector General Community Auditor Training Team (IGCATS),^[31] 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.^[32]

Since the post-9/11 enactment of the Homeland Security Act of 2002,^[33] 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 warrants. 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.

Announced nominations for unfilled PAS IGs awaiting confirmation in the Senate.^[49]

Within the United States Armed Forces, 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.^[85]

• ACTION
• Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (concurrent with State Department)
• Coalition Provisional Authority
• Federal Emergency Management Agency
• U.S. Information Agency
• Iraq Reconstruction (Special)
• Panama Canal Commission
• Pandemic Recovery (Special)
• Resolution Trust Corporation
• Troubled Asset Relief Program (Special)

• Pandemic Response Accountability Committee
• Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board

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.^[2]

As of 2015, HHS-OIG had targeted hospitals and healthcare systems for Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute violations pertaining to the management of physician compensation arrangements.^[86] In 2015, a fraud alert was issued to publicize the OIG's intent to further regulate such non-compliance.^[87] 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 to automated solutions.^[88]

Glenn Fine argues that inspectors general save taxpayers billions of dollars a year and have the potential to save much more if given more resources and independence as well as more independent oversight of the inspectors generals themselves.^[89][90] He also argues that the Supreme Court of the United States and all other institutions need independent and nonpartisan inspectors general.^[90]

In the Thomas Andrews Drake case, some complainants to the Pentagon's OIG over NSA's Trailblazer Project were later raided by the FBI and threatened with criminal prosecution.^[91]

• 2020 dismissal of inspectors general
• Corruption Perceptions Index
• Federal law enforcement in the United States
• Independent agencies of the United States government

• Fine, Glenn A. (2024). Watchdogs: Inspectors General and the Battle for Honest and Accountable Government (First hardcover ed.). Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press. ISBN 9780813952468. OCLC 1425947853.
• Hilliard, Nadia (2017). The Accountability State: US Federal Inspectors General and the Pursuit of Democratic Integrity. Studies in Government and Public Policy. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 9780700623976. JSTOR j.ctt1p6qpbk. OCLC 1005678179.

• Official website
• Inspector General Vacancy Tracker by the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency