In defense of the inspectors general
The reports don’t read like Shakespeare, but they do play a vital role in a healthy democracy.
The institution of the inspector general is under attack, with more than a dozen IG firings across the government. While IG reports are public, it’s not the sort of reading most people do on a Sunday afternoon. The reports don’t read like Shakespeare, but they do play a vital role in a healthy democracy.
I led U.S. State Department inspection teams to Colombia, Denmark, Chad, Mauritania, Nepal and Bangladesh. I reported to the inspector general, Steve Linnick, who was fired in the first Trump administration. Now, eight IGs are challenging their dismissals in the second Trump administration.
At the State Department the team looks at consular operations, security, execution of foreign policy, morale and stewardship of the resources. Inspections are an inch deep and a mile wide. If an audit is required, that inspection will be an inch wide and a mile deep. Every correspondence is fair game. Over the years, inspectors general have found waste, fraud and abuse at multiple agencies and saved taxpayers billions of dollars. The Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency estimates IGs provide U.S. taxpayers $26 for every dollar invested in their efforts.
I can tell you why. Inspectors don’t work in a vacuum. There are dozens of IGs across government and they collaborate to update standards and ensure evaluations are thorough, unbiased and effective. As a profession, the IGs continue to improve. There is a “Blue Book” of standards that serves as one guide. The State Department’s Foreign Affairs Manual is another.
More than that, the IG team in the field is backstopped by an army of fact checkers, editors and researchers. The team itself reads every word of the draft report out loud and every sentence is challenged. If you can’t defend a finding with multiple sources and references, it is out. That sort of rigor is what impressed me most. There is no “old boys network,” or wink-and-a-nod. An IG visit usually prompts an embassy to turn itself inside out to be sure everything is being done by the book. When it isn’t, the reports present clear findings and remedies.
Sometimes the remedy is removal of the ambassador. Ambassadors can elevate morale, or create toxic environments. It is the IGs job to interview everyone, including local staff, to determine “the tone at the top” and be sure the ambassador is contributing to mission morale.
There is also a classified report, so that Congress can have a full picture of embassy operations. That ensures physical security and national security coordination.
Not everything gets into the final report. Sometimes, the team counsels ambassadors offline. At one hardworking embassy employees complained that the ambassador had them going off on long trips “up country” for reasons only the ambassador understood. That meant staffers had little time for their families on weekends. In talking to the ambassador, it became clear he had a weakness: kids. Anytime he got an invitation from a school or youth group he took it, knowing that connecting with young people made the most lasting impact. His heart was in the right place. He decided to travel with a “lighter footprint” on weekends to give his staff a breather.
An IG inspection is not just about dollars and cents. It’s a chance for an embassy to take a close look at itself, determine its priorities, and improve. IGs are independent, non-political and focused on the mission. They take accountability seriously and provide the American taxpayer and Congress with clear eyed reports on everything from embassy operations in a war zone to counter drug programs to visa adjudications. An inspector general visit can strike fear into an embassy, but it should be seen as an opportunity to get better. If the Trump Administration is interested in reducing waste, fraud and abuse, the IGs are the first line of defense.
Tom Armbruster served as U.S. Ambassador to the Marshall Islands from 2012-2016.
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