Imagine if a baseball umpire feared they’d be fired for calling a strike against a Yankee batter. Would you have confidence in the fairness of the game? Of course not.
That is the situation facing America’s federal inspector general (IG) community. IGs are the independent umpires in our federal government, unbiased auditors and investigators who call balls and strikes to prevent and detect waste, fraud, and abuse.
The phrase “without fear or favor” is a guiding mantra for IGs. This means they must be empowered to investigate and issue findings about misconduct and waste without concern for their jobs and without putting their thumb on the scale for any person, party, or political ideology.
The first part of that mantra is now under attack with reports of fear inside IG offices that doing their jobs could get them fired. The White House has sent a clear message to IGs: there are consequences for oversight it doesn’t like. The most recent example is the removal of the acting IG at the Education Department after she launched reviews of the Trump administration’s overhaul of the agency on its programs.
This is the polar opposite of what the American public needs and deserves.
As the primary oversight bodies in federal agencies, Offices of Inspector General are taxpayer representatives on the inside. They are Americans’ eyes and ears in the federal bureaucracy, hunting for misconduct and inefficiencies.
The key to their efficacy is independence. That means these watchdogs must be protected from political pressures or fear of losing their jobs for oversight that crosses the White House or Congress. That independence is crucial for thorough, unbiased assessments and findings based solely on evidence, rather than sugarcoated conclusions that Congress or the president wants. Often, IGs arrive at findings that upset officials but are factual and serve the public.
As the U.S. Department of the Interior IG, my office issued numerous reports that the White House or agency political leadership of both parties disagreed with, sometimes vehemently. I considered their arguments, but ultimately determined that despite their objections, the evidence dictated a different outcome. That’s an essential part of an IG’s role—arriving at evidence-based conclusions without fear no matter who might be upset.
IGs are a unique and valuable element of the U.S. federal system, widely recognized as effective watchdogs for government accountability. As chair of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), I hosted foreign delegations that marveled at America’s IG system and passionately inquired how to implement a robust accountability mechanism in their countries.
First established in 1777 by the Second Continental Congress, today’s modern IG system was created in 1978 following Watergate amid concerns about government accountability. The role of IGs has evolved to deliver results for American taxpayers. The 2024 CIGIE Annual Report indicates OIGs identified a whopping $71.1 billion in monetary accomplishments, and OIG investigations resulted in more than 3,600 criminal prosecutions and more than 1,000 civil actions.
The president’s firings and demotions have undermined the very construct and strength of our IG system. President Donald Trump started his term by firing 17 IGs (including me) in January. A few days later, the president fired the USAID IG immediately after he issued a report with negative findings about agency budget cuts. This government-wide IG decapitation means the once-robust IG community operates in a culture of fear, likely reticent to open sensitive investigations or issue negative findings.
Americans’ primary oversight entities—rather than rooting out waste and misconduct—now are poised to be rubber stamps for whatever administration is in power. “Without fear or favor” will become “with fear and favor.”
Investigators must be able to work without fear because the stakes often are sky high. For example, the Department of Commerce Acting IG initiated an audit looking at protocols for and obstacles to hiring at National Weather Service field offices, along with the circumstances surrounding the Texas floods. Will auditors have access to the information they need? Will they have independence and be empowered to issue negative or unvarnished findings if supported by the evidence? I certainly hope so because their findings could help save lives.
Baseball has remained an institution in America for more than 150 years largely because it is reflective of a core American value: fair play. There are rules with umpires. Similarly, IGs have become engrained in our government because they help ensure fairness and root out corruption. But if the administration’s decimation of the IG community continues, IGs will be diminished and lack credibility, and Americans will continue to lose confidence in our government. We must guard against further erosion of the primary accountability and transparency function in our federal system, which is turning Americans’ agency watchdogs into presidential lapdogs afraid to call balls and strikes.
Mark Lee Greenblatt is a former inspector general of the U.S. Department of the Interior and chair of the Council of Inspectors General, as well as the author of Valor: Unsung Heroes from Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front (Taylor Trade).
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
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