A dozen top federal departments and agencies have gone without Inspectors General (IG) — the government’s front line of defense against waste and fraud — for more than two years on average, including the Department of Interior, which has been without a permanent watchdog for 8.5 years, according to data compiled by the Project on Government Oversight.
The IGs expose hundreds of billions of dollars in wasteful spending and government misconduct every year. They also recommend to the Department of Justice prosecution of hundreds of public and private sector workers accused of defrauding taxpayers.
The IG system was created by the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act after corrupt and incompetent General Services Administration employees approved hundreds of millions of dollars worth of fraudulent invoices for furniture, painting walls and performing repairs and maintenance in federal facilities, computers and other office equipment and supplies.
In addition to the 8.5 years the Interior Department has been without a presidentially-appointed and Senate-confirmed top watchdog, there has been an IG vacancy at the Export-Import Bank of the U.S. for 3.3 years, according to POGO.
The Central Intelligence Agency has lacked a permanent IG for 2.6 years, while the vacancy has existed at the …
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