This Lead Inspector General (Lead IG) report to United States Congress on Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) is the sixth 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 April 1, 2016, to June 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.
As the report discusses in more detail, since April 1, 2016, U.S.-backed forces have liberated territory in Iraq and Syria from ISIL and degraded their military and financial resources. Despite this progress, terror attacks were launched in Iraq, Syria, and abroad, with ISIL claiming credit or considered to be responsible.
This quarter, the Lead IG agencies and oversight partners released nine reports related to OIR and opened 12 new investigations of fraud, waste, and abuse related to the OIR mission. As of June 30, 2016, the Lead IG agencies had 46 ongoing or planned oversight projects, and 47 ongoing investigations.
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.