Inspectors General

Alleged Misconduct by NASA Inspector General Gao ID: OSI-95-9 February 10, 1995

This report reviews allegations of misconduct by the former NASA Inspector General, William Colvin. GAO discusses Mr. Colvin's (1) prenotification of senior NASA employees who were targets of impending Office of the Inspector General investigations, (2) unauthorized disclosure of grand jury-related information, and (3) premature closing of selected audits and investigations.

GAO found that: (1) the former IG failed to exercise professional judgment in notifying NASA officials that were subject to investigation; (2) the IG used questionable judgment in not notifying the agent in charge of the investigation that the alleged misconduct could be handled administratively; (3) the Assistant U.S. Attorney believed the alleged IG discussion of grand jury-related information did not violate federal criminal procedure provisions, since the U.S. Attorney's Office had already apprised the defendants in the matter of the impending indictment; (4) the IG did not close audits or investigations prematurely as alleged; and (5) the IG properly questioned the need for additional work because he had sufficient evidence to show misconduct with regard to the acceptance of gratuities from a NASA contractor.



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