At NASA, IG Robert Cobb, whose previous work experience
includes a stint as associate counsel to the president, faced an investigation
by the FBI and the presidential oversight office for allegedly retaliating
against whistleblowers and shutting down some of his department’s most crucial
investigations. In their final report, the investigators concluded Cobb had
informed agency officials about internal investigations and shut down reports
that might have hurt NASA. The investigation also found Cobb was so chummy with
NASA head Sean O'Keefe that they’d meet
regularly for private lunches and play golf together. Still, Cobb remains on
the job. (Inspectors General at the Commerce Department and the Environmental
Protection Agency also have faced investigations of possible misconduct.)
Over at the Pentagon, the Department of Defense’s former
Inspector General, Joseph Schmitz (who, again, had no auditing background) has
earned a monster of a rap sheet: He allegedly stonewalled Congress when it
demanded information on whether Schmitz had stopped criminal investigations; he
played down complaints about Halliburton’s overcharging for government
contracts; and he essentially suggested that Abu Ghraib wasn’t a big deal.
Shortly after Republican Senator Charles Grassley announced that he’d launch an
investigation into this behavior, Schmitz resigned--and took a job with
Blackwater’s parent company.
When Inspectors General do take their job seriously, though,
they get punished for it. The CIA’s Inspector General, John Helgerson, has
gained a reputation for doling out tough, unwelcome criticism. In particular,
in 2004, he warned that the Agency’s detention policies might “constitute cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.” So it’s no surprise that his office is the now the subject of a
CIA probe. According to The
New York Times, “The inquiry
was ordered by the C.I.A. director, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, in
response to complaints about aggressive investigations by Mr. Helgerson’s
office into the agency’s counterterrorism programs.” (Partly because of the
Helgerson fiasco, the House recently passed legislation designed to make
Inspectors General more independent.)