Review of the State Department's Office of the Inspector General, Foreign Service

A GAO report followed up on the recommendations presented in a previous report to the Office of Inspector General, Foreign Service, of the State Department (DOS). Very little action has been taken on the recommendations to date, and several problems still remain. The Foreign Service Act needs to be amended to allow more flexibility in meeting the intent of the recommendations. DOS has proposed its own legislation which falls short in several areas: (1) it does not maximize the degree of independence allowed inspectors and auditors; (2) it does not give adequate emphasis to the auditing function in relation to the investigating function; and (3) reports could be more substantive if inspections were on a regional or worldwide basis, and if inspectors also evaluated the results of ongoing functions. It was also found that the Inspector General is not performing all of the functions reassigned from the Office of Inspector General for Foreign Assistance.