Inspectors General Offices Under Bush Corrupted

The regional Inspectors General offices in the Dept. of Veterans Affairs (VA) have become a collective political hatchet, rejecting their role as watchdogs ensuring good government and delivery of government services, in favor of an agency ranging from hostile to incompetent.

Unfortunately for the country this abandonment of impartial oversight by inspectors general extends throughout the government.

Joshua Kurlantzick reports in The New Republic's Look Who's Not Looking:

... Alas, Krongrad and Bowen's cases are hardly unique. In Washington, inspectors general in each cabinet agency are supposed to serve a vital role, operating as the watchdogs inside the federal government who sniff out fraud, misconduct, self-dealing, waste, and a host of other criminal activities. But under the Bush administration--surprise, surprise--inspector general positions have been filled by White House loyalists or outright hacks, leaving agencies virtually unpoliced. And while the inspectors general do nothing, the administration says nothing. No one is watching the watchers.

During previous administrations, the White House appointed impartial inspectors general, many of whom had extensive backgrounds in the areas they would police. As a 2004 report by the Democrats on the House Committee on Government Reform revealed, in the Clinton administration, over 60 percent of Inspectors General had some past experience conducting audits--the essential task of an IG--and less than one-quarter of Clinton IG appointees had previous political experience, meaning they were not hardcore Clinton loyalists. Under Bush, the committee found that more than 60 percent of Bush IG appointees had previous political experience, like working for a Republican White House, and more than half of them had been contributors to President Bush or other GOP candidates. Less than 20 percent of the Bush Inspectors General had any previous auditing experience.

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