WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley is urging the acting inspector general of the Department of Defense to “consider the need to step up the war on waste” in light of aggressive reporting on waste by another watchdog agency.
“When I compare the aggressive reporting on waste by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) with what the Pentagon watchdog is producing, the contrast is striking,” Grassley wrote to Defense Department Acting Inspector General Glenn Fine. “SIGAR is serving it up on a silver platter with regularity. By comparison, the best the second largest IG office in the government can do is ‘question costs’ or argue that ‘money could have been put to better use.’ The DoD OIG needs to zero in on root causes and put the Pentagon on a steady diet of hard-hitting reports on waste.”
Grassley noted that taking on the Defense Department for flagrant waste takes courage, and SIGAR is taking heat for its strong work, such as the $36 million unwanted, unneeded building at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan. The Defense Department Office of Inspector General initially failed to challenge the Defense Department’s rebuttal of the wasteful spending and so appeared to condone waste. Ultimately, the Defense Department acting inspector general provided straightforward accounts that the building was wasteful, Grassley wrote.
Grassley said the message was like “a breath of fresh air” but he remains concerned that those within the office ranks might not be fully aligned with the acting inspector general’s thinking on waste.
“Building on the momentum created by SIGAR’s reports on waste, I encourage you to take a fresh, independent look at the way waste is being assessed and reported by the DoD Office of the IG,” Grassley wrote. “There seems to be a pressing need to beef up oversight in this critical arena. I look forward to your answer.”
Grassley’s letter is available here.
