Interior watchdog to lawmakers: ‘We need to be independent’

By Michael Doyle | 07/24/2024 06:26 AM EDT

The inspector general also tangled with lawmakers over how investigations of IGs are conducted.

Mark Lee Greenblatt.

Interior Inspector General Mark Lee Greenblatt on Tuesday. House Oversight and Accountability Committee/YouTube

The Interior Department’s watchdog warned lawmakers Tuesday during an occasionally heated hearing that he and his fellow inspectors general face a “significant risk” to their independence if budgeting policies don’t change,

Mark Lee Greenblatt, while touting myriad accomplishments of the 73 Offices of Inspector General spanning federal agencies, nevertheless sounded the alarm about the OIGs’ reliance on those same departments for their funding.

“We need to be independent from the agencies, and that independence is key to all we do,” Greenblatt advised a House Oversight and Accountability subcommittee.

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While Greenblat has been Interior’s inspector general since January 2019, on Tuesday he was speaking in his capacity as chair of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency. The group known as CIGIE oversees the individual inspectors general — a situation that can sometimes get a bit tricky.

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