I’m listening to a Lawfare podcast about Inspectors General, what they do, how they do it, and what the current administration has done to strip them of a lot of effectiveness.
During this first not-even-a-year, the administration has fired a large number of IGs across numerous agencies. These have traditionally been non-partisan positions that, among other things, are supposed to ferret out waste, fraud, abuse, and corruption within their specific agency. They have no power to actually discipline, bring criminal charges, or institute changes. They investigate and they make recommendations. I think we all know why the current administration would find them bothersome.
As I understand it, one of the main reasons this was so easy to accomplish is that the IGs are Executive Branch positions and under the current, expansive, “Unitary Executive,” theory, the President can fire pretty much anyone he or she wants within the Executive Branch.
Since Congress has, among other responsibilities, oversight and fiduciary powers could Congress (a hypothetical, functional Congress) create an IG corps, through appropriate legislation, that lived within the Legislative Branch but functioned more or less like the existing IGs? These IGs could issue reports to Congress, either on regular schedules or after specific investigations and make recommendations for potential Congressional action to correct perceived problems.
I’m sure there are plenty of difficulties with this. One big one I could foresee would be lots and lots of inter-branch battles over what materials these IGs were allowed to see and review, but I feel like at least some of that could be legislated. There are probably separation of powers issues I don’t fully comprehend as well, and certainly any number of Executive Branch personnel would be inclined to see Congressional IGs as, “spies.”
If we assume that we are saddled with the Unitary Executive Theory of government for the foreseeable future, any other ways that we could have a functional, reasonably independent IG corps (or similar body)? I think we’ve all learned that meaningful oversight of the Executive Branch is crucial; how could that be set up to be free of Presidential interference?