logo The
Inspector General Act of 1978 created 12 departmental inspectors general. Thirty years later, in October 2008, the
Inspector General Reform Act of 2008 added IGs in various other areas. , there were 72 statutory IGs. The offices employ
special agents (criminal investigators, often armed) and auditors. In addition, federal offices of inspectors general employ forensic auditors, or "audigators", evaluators, inspectors, administrative investigators, and a variety of other specialists. Their activities include the detection and prevention of fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement of the government programs and operations within their parent organizations. Office investigations may be internal, targeting government employees, or external, targeting grant recipients, contractors, or recipients of the various loans and subsidies offered through the thousands of federal domestic and foreign assistance programs. The Inspector General Reform Act of 2008 (IGRA) amended the 1978 act Some inspectors general, the heads of the offices, are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. For example, both the inspector general of the
U.S. Department of Labor and the inspector general of the
U.S. Agency for International Development are presidentially appointed. The remaining inspectors general are designated by their respective agency heads, such as the U.S. Postal Service inspector general. Presidentially appointed IGs can only be removed, or terminated, from their positions by the President of the United States, whereas designated inspectors general can be terminated by the agency head. However, in both cases Congress must be notified of the termination, removal, or reassignment. While the IG Act of 1978 (daughter of former
Chief Justice of the United States,
William Rehnquist) to the post of
inspector general for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. While all of the federal offices of inspectors general operate separately from one another, they share information and some coordination through the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency. , the CIGIE comprised 68 offices. In addition to their inspector general members, the CIGIE includes non-inspector general representatives from the federal executive branch, such as executives from the
Office of Management and Budget, the
Office of Personnel Management, the
Office of Government Ethics, the
Office of Special Counsel, and the
Federal Bureau of Investigation. The CIGIE also provides specialized training to the inspector general community. Further evidence of coordination between federal offices of inspectors general can be seen by the public through the offices' shared website, and the use of shared training facilities and resources, such as the Inspector General Criminal Investigator Academy (IGCIA), and their Inspector General Community Auditor Training Team (IGCATS), which are hosted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC). Evidence of the offices' return on investment to taxpayers can be seen through their semi-annual reports to Congress, most of which are available on each office's website. Since the
post-9/11 enactment of the
Homeland Security Act of 2002, resulting in the amendment of the IG Act of 1978, Section 6e, most presidentially appointed IG special agents have had full law enforcement authority to carry firearms, make arrests, and execute
search warrants. Prior to this time, most presidentially appointed IG and some designated IG special agents had the equivalent law enforcement authorities as a result of other statutes or annually required deputation by the
U.S. Marshals Service. The 2002 amendment to the IG Act of 1978 made most deputation of presidentially appointed IG special agents unnecessary. Some designated IG special agents, however, still have full law enforcement authority today by virtue of this continued deputation. Some OIGs employ no criminal investigators and rely solely on administrative investigators, auditors, and inspectors. ==Lists of inspectors general==