This Lead Inspector General (Lead IG) report to United States Congress on Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) is the seventh quarterly report detailing the overseas contingency operation (OCO). This report summarizes the quarter’s key events, provides an update on the nine Strategic Lines of Effort to Counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and describes completed, ongoing, and planned Lead Inspector General (Lead IG) and partner agency work related to this OCO. This report covers the period from July 1, 2016, to September 30, 2016
OIR is dedicated to countering the terrorist threat posed by the ISIL in Iraq, Syria, the region, and the broader international community. The U.S. strategy to counter ISIL includes support to military operations associated with OIR as well as diplomacy, governance, security programs and activities, and, separately, humanitarian assistance.
Since July 1, 2016, U.S.-backed forces have prepared for the liberation of Mosul, ISIL’s last stronghold in Iraq, while seizing key territory from ISIL in Iraq and Syria and degrading its military and financial resources. Despite this progress, terror attacks were launched in Iraq, Syria, and abroad, with ISIL claiming credit or assigned responsibility. This report discusses these and other activities occurring during the quarter in more detail.
This quarter, the Lead IG agencies and oversight partners released 18 reports related to OIR. These reports include audits of contracts, grants, and assistance awards; inspections of military facilities and an embassy; and reviews of Transportation Security Administration activities. As of September 30, 2016, the Lead IG agencies had 57 ongoing or planned oversight projects.
The investigative components of the Lead IG agencies and oversight partners had 57 ongoing OIR-related investigations, as of September 30, 2016. In July, the Inspector General for the U.S. Agency for International Development testified before Congress on her office’s ongoing investigation into U.S. humanitarian assistance to Syria.
Section 8L of the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended, provides a mandate for the three Lead IG agencies—the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (OIG), Department of State OIG, and U.S. Agency for International Development OIG—to work together to develop and carry out joint, comprehensive, and strategic oversight. Each IG retains statutory independence, but together, they apply their extensive regional experience and in-depth institutional knowledge to conduct oversight of the whole-of-government mission to destroy ISIL and address the severe humanitarian crises in Iraq and Syria.