Transparency? 'Grave Concern' Over Administration Impeding IG Investigations

August 12, 2014 By Susan Jones

Oversight committees in the House and Senate are asking the Obama administration to take "affirmative steps" to make sure the nation's inspectors general have access to the materials they are legally entitled to see as they conduct their independent government investigations. “We write to express our grave concern about difficulties that certain Inspectors General have encountered in trying to obtain documents from their respective agencies,” the committee chairs wrote in an Aug. 8 letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan. “Timely and complete access to information is essential if Inspectors General are to perform their missions, and their rights to information are clearly provided for in the Inspector General Act of 1978." The letter asks Donovan to "take affirmative steps to ensure that all agencies and their staffs are properly informed and trained on the requirements of the Inspectors General Act so that IGs receive the information they need to do their jobs."........their Aug. 5 letter to the oversight committees, the 47 IGs specifically complained about "serious limitations on access to records that have recently impeded the work of Inspectors General at the Peace Corps, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Justice."...To Read More.....