Are There No Successes in this Two-Term Presidency?
October 10, 2007
New York Times Editorial
Unmuzzling the Federal Watchdogs
In a bipartisan rebuff of White House hubris, the House has overwhelmingly endorsed an overhaul of the inspector general process to insulate it from the waste, fraud and political meddling that are a hallmark of the Bush administration.
. . . narrows the grounds for removing an inspector general to specified causes, not political vagaries.
. . . The need for bolstering some 50 federal inspectors general has become a grim subtheme of the Bush administration’s arrogant massing of executive power. Most recently, State Department employees accused the White House-appointed inspector general, Howard Krongard, of blocking rather than abetting their efforts to uncover fraud and abuse in the contract billions being showered on Iraq and Afghanistan.
. . . Other allegations of compromised investigations have been raised about inspectors general at the Commerce Department, NASA, the Smithsonian Institution and the Legal Service…