cross-posted from
unbossed
Did you catch that report about the misdeeds of our former Chair of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting on Wednesday? And today?
If so, you owe it to the comprehensive report written by the Inspector General for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The report is not a pretty sight - corruption, misdeeds, violations of ethics. Page after page. Lots of details.
The CPB IG investigation was responsible for Kenneth Tomlinson's resigning in disgrace in early November, just a few weeks ago.
Two years ago, even one year ago, who ever heard of Inspectors General. Now they are constantly in the news. Thank God for Inspectors General. They are keeping our government honest.
A few months ago, just after we scooped the
Denver Post by three months on the Toll Roads - E-470 story (not that you'd know it by reading the
Denver Post, I posted a piece on resources for
investigative blogging and another on
other investigative blogging resources.
I'd planned to do more, but with all the stuff that keeps happening, current events kept getting in the way. So let me return to the topic and talk about <drum roll, trumpets> inspectors general reports. I use them a lot. I should use them more. If only 0.0001% of bloggers would pick an IG and check out what they're reporting, the liberal blogosphere would improve its game by about 5000%.
So here's a bit about IGs and some links to find out more.
Inspectors general are basically hall monitors for government agencies at all levels. In this case, the hall they monitor is a government agency.
Before you consider a career in the lucrative field of Inspector Generalship, perhaps you'd like a few details.
Were you aware that IGs have to deal with the same sorts of workplace troubles we all do? When you say bad things about your boss, you can expect them to get cheesed off and maybe fire you. The same is true for IGs. Only their ultimate bosses are people with real clout, so the IGs are right to be concerned and to want protections.
You also might want to make certain you have the right temperament to be an IG.
A sampling of where IGs work
The IG for the Peace Corps has to deal with a frightening list of problems - crimes, including sexual assault and rape; kidnapping; disappearance; death (by any means - including suicide); and acts of terrorism. Makes you want to sign up for the Peace Corps today.
On everyone's must-read list is the Treasury's IG page. Seriously. Treasury includes the IRS, and they hold a lot of confidential information. Problems can happen. Problems have happened. They just don't make your paper's front page. But they make the IG's. Check it out. Treasury's IG has. And has some more. Go break the news to the rest of us.
Even small agencies, such as the National Labor Relations Board have IGs with less sophisticated webpages.
In case you need it, here is the url for the IG for Homeland Security. These folks are and will be auditing FEMA performance. Keep an eye on what they're saying. Make it public.
We are even exporting the concept to Afghanistan and to Iraq.
BTW, IGs even have professional associations - Association of Inspectors General - and resources to help them do their important and difficult jobs.
How you can locate URLs for IGs
You can find links to IGs and their reports here. Notice that one agency with no link and no access to their IG reports or even the IG's identity is the CIA.