House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer is seeking answers from the Biden administration on why the president has still not appointed Inspectors General for several US agencies, including the State Department, Just the News reported.
Currently, the IG positions for State, USAID, and the Treasury Department have remained vacant throughout Biden’s presidency.
In a letter to the White House, Chairman Comer notes that the president has yet to nominate anyone for the position of State Department Inspector General, despite the position being vacant for more than 1,100 days. Additionally, the position of Inspector General for USAID (US Agency for International Development) has been vacant for more than 850 days while the Treasury Inspector General position has been vacant for nearly 1,500 days.
Comer warns that the lack of an Inspector General could harm national security, noting that both the State Department and USAID are currently “engaged in sensitive matters” that impact US interests worldwide, including the war in Ukraine, increased aggression from China, North Korea, and Iran, and the situation in Taliban-run Afghanistan.
Comer adds that the vacancy at the Treasury Department may hinder “robust oversight” of pandemic-related spending as well as the “mitigation of financial risk and instability.”
However, former Treasury Department official David Eisner told Just the News that while these vacancies must be filled, he doubts that the lack of a permanent Inspector General creates “a significant hole or vulnerability at Treasury.”
Eisner noted that Treasury’s acting Inspector General, the current Deputy IG, is “a long-time career prosecutor” who is “as thorough and tough” as the former Inspector General of the Treasury.
Last month, Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) also sent a letter to the White House urging the president to “swiftly nominate qualified individuals” to fill the vacancies, arguing that the IG offices “provide a vital service” to taxpayers by “rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse” while providing recommendations on how agencies can be “better stewards of public funds.”
