The Navy's Inspection System Could Be Improved

The Naval Inspector General inspection system is much smaller than the Air Force or Army systems and covers only about 20 percent of the Navy's activities; the other activities are inspected by individual commanders. Both groups rely extensively on temporary inspectors who normally are taken from the headquarters staff offices of the activity conducting the inspection.

The Naval inspection system differs from the Air Force and Army systems whose headquarters and command-level inspection staffs inspect the lower levels of their organizations. The Navy relies on each level within the chain of command to inspect its immediate subordinates. Generally the Inspector General does not receive copies of lower level inspection reports, and significant problems these inspections disclose are not referred to him. While this highly decentralized system provides some formal oversight of Naval activities and prevents duplication of inspections by different levels, it could be more effective. If the headquarters Inspector General expanded his inspections to include lower level Navy activities, the Secretary of the Navy and the Chief of Naval Operations would get an independent assessment of the units' condition and a better overall picture of the state of the command. Additional full-time staff would probably be required, but the benefits of their work should justify the investment. Additional professional positions could be filled by civilians.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: George L. Egan Team: General Accounting Office: Financial and General Management Studies Division Phone: (202) 275-5824