Inspector General Act Passed – A New Approach to Government Accountability
The U.S. Congress on this day passed the Inspector General Act, which requires that all federal agencies establish an Office of the Inspector General.
The little-known law is one of the great steps in the direction of accountability for federal agencies. The Inspector General Act was one of many reforms enacted in the post-Watergate years designed to enhance the accountability of federal agencies to the public.
In 2020 a major crisis over inspectors general erupted when President Donald Trump fired five inspectors general in the space of six weeks. The five were the inspectors general for the Intelligence community, the Defense Department, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Transportation, and the State Department. The firings reflected the fact that President Trump did not believe in independent oversight of his administration and felt he could fire any top official he disagreed with.
In fact, as president he had the power to fire inspectors general, but Trump’s actions represented the deeper problem of his autocratic personality. On a number of different issues during his presidency he made claims that he had “absolute” power to take certain actions.
See the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Justice: http://www.justice.gov/oig/
And the Office of Inspector General for the CIA: https://www.cia.gov/offices-of-cia/inspector-general/