Inspectors General

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Department of Justice's (DOJ) efforts to establish an Office of Inspector General (OIG).

GAO found that: (1) the Attorney General established OIG on April 14, 1989, as the 1988 amendments to the Inspector General (IG) Act required, and transferred internal audit, investigation, and inspection units and 261 personnel to OIG; (2) DOJ was in the process of interviewing candidates for the IG position, which the President would fill subject to Senate confirmation; (3) Acting IG appointed deputy IG and assistants, and wrote a draft order detailing OIG powers and law enforcement authorities; (4) Acting IG signed a memorandum of agreement with the Counsel of the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), which stated that OPR would continue to have jurisdiction over investigations of certain DOJ employees, and transferred 20 positions from OIG to OPR to conduct the investigations; and (5) although statutory law prohibited the use of funds provided in any prior act for relocating, reorganizing, and consolidating DOJ offices, functions, and activities, and prevented Acting IG from completing planned restructuring of OIG, Congress passed 1990 appropriations bills that would allow further OIG restructuring to proceed.