IGs’ Views on Current Policy Issues

As requested, we sent a questionnaire to all 57 IGs to obtain their views on current policy issues affecting them. 2. 3. 4. Do the IGs generally believe that they have sufficient independence in the performance of their work? As shown in figure 20, the survey results indicated that 81 percent of the presidential IGs and 73 percent of the DFE IGs responded that they have the level of independence needed to accomplish their mission. List of Presidentially Appointed Inspectors General

List of Designated Federal Entity Inspectors General

Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

Our objectives were to obtain (1) information on IG organization, staffing, workload, and operational issues and (2) the views of the IGs on policy issues affecting them such as term limits, law enforcement authority, semiannual reporting, and the IG selection process. One questionnaire was for attribution and requested information regarding the IGs’ organizational structure, staffing, and workload. GAO Comments

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Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO surveyed inspectors general (IG) to obtain: (1) information on their organizational structure, staffing, and workload; and (2) their views on current policy issues affecting them.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) IGs' work covers a broad spectrum of agency programs and operations; (2) in general, the IGs responded that they have the expertise and resources necessary to assemble the teams of staff needed to perform the major types of work for which they are responsible; (3) additionally, while they generally anticipate the level of work to remain the same or slightly increase across the range of areas they review, IGs anticipated the greatest increase to be in information technology reviews; and (4) IGs also indicated that they were generally satisfied with their role and the overall legislation governing them, but did identify certain potential areas for modification.