The Power of Accountability

Migrant children separated from their parents. A scheme to defraud Cook County using property tax breaks. An undisclosed thirty-year business relationship between city officials in Baltimore. These are the sorts of headlines regularly generated by offices of inspector general (OIGs)—bureaucratic units dedicated to government accountability that are commonly independent of the agencies they are charged with overseeing. In 1976, OIGs were virtually unheard of and were largely at the federal level,