Inspectors general

As the 30th anniversary of the law creating the Inspector General system approaches, POGO has seized the moment to closely examine how effective this critical component of our government actually functions. POGO distributed a questionnaire to all 64 statutory IGs, receiving responses from 49 of them. Many were found to lack sufficient resources, the ability to tap into their own budgets, reliable in-house legal advice, autonomy over their own websites, and unfettered investigative authority. POGO's findings raise critical questions that must be addressed; to that end, the report makes a number of recommendations aimed at improving Inspector General independence so IGs can better serve the U.S. taxpayer by ferreting out waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct. POGO distributed a questionnaire to all 64 statutory IGs, receiving responses from 49 of them. Many were found to lack sufficient resources, the ability to tap into their own budgets, reliable in-house legal advice, autonomy over their own websites, and unfettered investigative authority. POGO's findings raise critical questions that must be addressed; to that end, the report makes a number of recommendations aimed at improving Inspector General independence so IGs can better serve the U.S. taxpayer by ferreting out waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct.