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 October 1, 2018, through March 31, 2019, DoD OIG components issued 66 audit and evaluation reports.
This report contains various statistical accomplishments of the DoD OIG during the reporting period. For example, during this period, the DoD OIG issued 66 audit and evaluation reports, with 313 recommendations to the DoD for improvement. The DoD OIG also completed 241 criminal investigations, some conducted jointly with other law enforcement organizations, resulting in 153 arrests, 198 criminal charges, 135 criminal convictions, $885.3 million in civil judgments and settlements, and $72.7 million in criminal fines, penalties, and restitution ordered.
In addition, the DoD OIG oversaw 224 senior official, reprisal, and restriction investigations completed by the Military Service and Defense agency OIGs. The DoD OIG issued six quarterly reports on overseas contingency operations. These accomplishments are discussed in more detail throughout the report.
On January 8, 2019, the DoD OIG released a report entitled, “Understanding the Results of the Audit of the DoD FY 2018 Financial Statements.” The purpose of our report was to describe in terms understandable to non-auditors the findings and potential benefits of the DoD’s financial statement audit; the importance of the DoD financial statement audit to DoD operations and financial management; and the DoD OIG’s view of further actions the DoD needs to take in the future to improve financial management. The DoD OIG’s Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) program seeks to settle whistleblower reprisal complaints voluntarily, through the agreement of the whistleblower and the employer. ADR can help resolve cases to the satisfaction of the parties, freeing up limited investigative resources for other investigations, which can also help improve the timeliness of our investigations. During the reporting period, the DoD OIG’s ADR team facilitated the voluntary resolution of 36 complaints. The Project on Government Oversight has recommended that the DoD OIG’s ADR program be considered as a potential model for other OIGs to implement.
On April 1, 2019, the DoD OIG combined its three separate evaluations components into a single, consolidated Evaluations component. We believe that the DoD OIG has an obligation, like the DoD itself is doing, to review our own organization to ensure that we are optimally organized to perform our critical mission as efficiently and effectively as possible. Establishing a single Evaluations component promotes consistency, provides the DoD and others a single point of contact for evaluations, and establishes a single leader to supervise evaluations. It also allows us to reduce overhead, streamline operations, and allocate more staff to conducting the critical evaluations mission.
These are just a few examples of DoD OIG initiatives and work during this semiannual reporting period.The accomplishments reflected throughout this report are the result of the outstanding work by many DoD OIG employees.