Those of you old enough to remember Watergate may remember that there were a lot of changes made to strengthen government agencies, and one was to put Inspectors General in each of the agencies. (Trump was dismantling that in his one-and-only-term, including firing Mr. Fine from his job as the acting-Inspector General in the Department of Defense. Four other IGs were also removed by Trump in his last year.) From the interview:
Glenn A. Fine [00:31:08] So inspectors general are supposed to be nonpartisan. They’re selected for their nonpartisan qualifications. That’s why typically when administrations change, the inspector general remains at large. Agencies are nominated by the president, confirmed by the Senate. But when the administration changed, it’s the IG who remains. Even though they’ve been appointed by the president. That is why, for example, I remained under President Clinton’s administration, President Bush’s administration, President Obama’s administration and the Justice Department. And also, when I was in defense in President Obama’s administration for President Trump’s administration. But that is a norm. It’s not by statute. The president does have the right to remove an inspector general. Up until President Trump, that had not happened to any significant extent. President Trump did remove five inspectors general. I was one of them in the last year of his administration, which sent a chill down among other inspectors general as well. So I make recommendations to help improve, protect and extend the role of inspectors general in the book, including giving them a term of office. If the FBI director has a term of office ten years, if the head of the Government Accountability Office has a term of office 15 years. I think inspectors general also ought to have a term of office. So I think it’s important to support inspectors general to give them adequate resources. But also, by the way, to make sure that we have a good answer to the question of who’s watching the watchdog. Inspectors general also need oversight as well. And I make recommendations about that in the book as well.