An Inspector General (IG) is a senior oversight official embedded inside a government department or agency but structurally insulated from its day-to-day chain of command. The IG's job is to conduct audits, inspections, and investigations of the agency's programs, contracts, and personnel, and to report findings to both agency leadership and the legislature.
In the United States, the modern IG system was created by the Inspector General Act of 1978, which established statutory IGs across federal departments. The law has since been amended repeatedly, notably by the Inspector General Reform Act of 2008, which created the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) to coordinate the community. There are two main types of US federal IGs:
- Presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed IGs at large cabinet departments (e.g., Defense, State, Justice, Health and Human Services).
- Designated Federal Entity IGs appointed by agency heads at smaller bodies.
IGs typically have authority to issue subpoenas for documents, take sworn testimony, and refer criminal matters to prosecutors. They publish semiannual reports to Congress summarizing investigations, monetary recoveries, and unimplemented recommendations.
The concept is not uniquely American. The United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), established by General Assembly resolution 48/218B in 1994, performs an analogous internal-audit and investigation function for the UN Secretariat. Many militaries also maintain an Inspector General office responsible for discipline, readiness inspections, and complaints — a tradition tracing back to 18th-century European armies, including the role created for Baron von Steuben in the Continental Army in 1778.
Because IGs often surface politically inconvenient findings, their independence is a recurring point of friction. In the US, statute requires the President to give Congress 30 days' advance notice and reasons before removing an IG, a safeguard added to deter retaliatory firings.
Example
In April 2020, President Donald Trump removed Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson, who had forwarded the whistleblower complaint that triggered Trump's first impeachment to Congress.
Frequently asked questions
Most US federal IGs report simultaneously to the head of their agency and directly to Congress, typically through semiannual reports, which preserves their independence from agency leadership.
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