Biden criticized for leaving watchdog jobs empty for over 2 years.

President Joe Biden has yet to appoint inspectors-general (IG) at the departments of Treasury and State, as well as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). This has raised concerns from both sides of the aisle, with Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), the chair of the Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, urging Biden to fill these vacancies.

“The Inspector General (IG) community conducts essential oversight of federal agencies and programs, safeguarding taxpayer funds and shining the light on waste, fraud, and abuse. That essential oversight function is undermined by prolonged vacancies of IGs responsible for carrying out that mandate,” Comer told Biden in a June 5 letter.

Comer highlighted that the U.S. Department of State (State) IG position has been vacant for over 1,100 days with no nominee; the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) IG position has been vacant for over 850 days; and the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) IG position has been vacant for almost 1,500 days. These vacancies are limiting transparency and holding back efforts to ensure the federal government is working efficiently on behalf of the American people.

Why Are IGs Important?

There are 72 presidentially appointed IGs whose job is to ferret out waste, fraud, and abuse at federal departments and agencies. The IGs are presidential appointees who answer to Congress. Since their creation in 1978, the IGs have exposed trillions of wasted tax dollars.

The IGs have also sometimes found themselves at the center of major national political scandals, as in 2019 when Department of Justice IG Michael Horowitz exposed multiple FBI abuses and misrepresentations in four bureau applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court (FISA). The applications were approved on the basis of false or incomplete information and resulted in substantial surveillance of multiple officials in President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign in the Russiagate controversy.

What Can Be Done?

Comer, Hassan, and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) have urged Biden to “swiftly nominate qualified individuals” to fill the three vacancies Comer included, as well as three more, including the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), the National Security Agency (NSA), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC).

Hassan and Grassley reminded Biden that “the absence of an IG at the Department of the Treasury is concerning due to the challenges it faces in areas including: management of cyber threats, anti-money-laundering/terrorist financing in conjunction with Bank Secrecy Act enforcement, as well as oversight of portions of CARES Act spending. The Department of State OIG conducts oversight of more than $76 billion used by the State Department to conduct its programs and operations in the U.S. and abroad. Its oversight responsibilities currently include funds sent to Ukraine.”