WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa is expressing concern that the Defense Department Office of Inspector General (OIG) may have compromised its independence by apparently reviewing and editing the agency’s response to an inquiry from another inspector general, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).  The issue is SIGAR’s review of $36 million spent on an unneeded 64,000 square foot building at Camp Leatherneck.

“It is entirely appropriate for the (Defense) Department to respond directly to SIGAR,” Grassley wrote to outgoing Defense Department Inspector General Jon Rymer.  “However, I am concerned that the OIG gave the appearance of impropriety when it became directly involved in the editing process of the Department’s outgoing correspondence to SIGAR.

“It would have been more appropriate for the OIG to prepare a memo for either the Secretary or Deputy Secretary regarding the OIG position on the issues raised by SIGAR. That would have kept the OIG from becoming directly involved in the Department’s decision-making process. Instead, the OIG put itself in the position of taking ownership of the Department’s decisions. That raises questions about the OIG’s independence from the Department it oversees.”

Grassley noted his long-time fight to ensure independence for all inspectors general and requested an explanation for why the Defense Department Office of Inspector General participated in the internal review and editing process of the agency response to SIGAR, as well as a series of documents from the Defense Department Office of Inspector General that would explain the determination not to recommend charges of misconduct in the building debacle.

Grassley has long-standing concerns about the Defense Department Office of Inspector General’s lack of independence on audit matters.  Last year, he helped to expose how a manager in that office overruled the relevant audit team in issuing a clean opinion on an audit of the Marine Corps.  The lower level employees found the work papers did not support a clean opinion.  The inspector general later was forced to withdraw the opinion.

Grassley’s latest letter is available here.  The memo in question is available here.  

 

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