The Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended, requires the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (DoD OIG) to prepare semiannual reports summarizing its activities for the preceding 6-month period. These semiannual reports are intended to keep the Secretary of Defense and Congress fully informed of significant findings, progress the DoD has made relating to those findings, and recommendations for improvement.
For the reporting period of April 1, 2018, through September 30, 2018, components of the DoD OIG issued a total of 61 audit, inspection, and evaluation reports.
The report describes statistical accomplishments of the DoD OIG during the reporting period. For example, during this period, the DoD OIG issued 61 audit and evaluation reports, with 342 recommendations to the DoD for improvement.
The DoD OIG also completed 231 criminal investigations, some conducted jointly with other law enforcement organizations, resulting in 78 arrests, 196 criminal charges, 95 criminal convictions, $265.9 million in civil judgments and settlements, and $95 million in criminal fines, penalties, and restitution ordered.
In addition, the DoD OIG completed 43 senior official, reprisal, and restriction investigations, and oversaw 296 senior official, reprisal, and restriction investigations completed by the Military Service and Defense Agency OIGs. The DoD OIG also issued six quarterly reports on overseas contingency operations. These accomplishments are discussed in more detail in the report.
This reporting period, the DoD OIG conducted and oversaw the first full financial statement audit of the DoD. This full financial statement audit, required by the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2014, consisted of 21 separate financial statement audits of DoD Components, as well as the DoD agencywide audit. The DoD OIG contracted with Independent Public Accounting firms, who collectively assigned over 1,000 auditors to perform the audits of the DoD Components. The DoD OIG also had over 150 auditors focused on overseeing the accounting firms to ensure quality and consistency among the audits, and on auditing multiple DoD components. The opinion on the DoD agency wide financial statement audit was released November 15, 2018.
The DoD OIG’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service continued its joint investigation with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service into allegations that Leonard Glenn Francis (also known as “Fat Leonard”), the owner of Glenn Defense Marine Asia, operated a bribery scheme to secure Navy contracts for his company. As of this quarter, the investigation has resulted in 34 indictments, 23 convictions, over $36 million in Government monetary recoveries, and numerous administrative actions. Eight individuals, including a retired flag officer, formerly assigned to the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet, are pending trial.
During this reporting period, the DoD Inspector General was appointed as the Lead Inspector General for three new overseas contingency operations related to counterterrorism activities in Africa and the Middle East. This is in addition to the DoD OIG’s continuing responsibilities as the Lead Inspector General for three ongoing overseas contingency operations—Operation Inherent Resolve (related to Iraq and Syria), Operation Freedom’s Sentinel (related to Afghanistan), and Operation Pacific Eagle–Philippines.
These are just a few of the highlights of DoD OIG activities from this semiannual reporting period.