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, 2020 through September 30, 2020, the DoD OIG issued 56 audit and evaluation reports, with 303 recommendations to the DoD for improvement.
The DoD OIG also completed multiple criminal investigations, some conducted jointly with other law enforcement organizations, resulting in 109 arrests, 119 criminal charges, 93 criminal convictions, $808 million in civil judgments and settlements, and $292 million in criminal fines, penalties, and restitution ordered. In addition, the DoD OIG completed 17 senior official, reprisal, and restriction investigations, and oversaw 239 senior official, reprisal, and restriction investigations completed by the Military Service and Defense agency OIGs. The DoD OIG also issued quarterly reports on five overseas contingency operations. These accomplishments are discussed in more detail throughout the report.
The DoD OIG continues to conduct important and impactful oversight work. During this reporting period, we issued our fourth Compendium of Open Office of Inspector General Recommendations to the Department of Defense. The DoD has provided supporting documentation that led to the closure of over 2,200 recommendations since the Compendium’s original issuance in 2017. However, 936 recommendations reported in previous Compendiums remain open. The 2020 Compendium identified 1,602 recommendations, from DoD OIG reports, that remained open as of March 31, 2020. Among them are 51 open recommendations with potential monetary benefits of $6.5 billion. The Compendium also highlighted 35 open recommendations that the DoD OIG believes warrant priority attention based on the potential for the recommendations to improve the effectiveness of DoD operations and provide cost savings to the taxpayer.
In addition, we issued the DoD OIG COVID-19 Oversight Plan, which describes the independent audits, evaluations, and investigations that we intend to conduct of DoD programs, operations and activities in response to COVID-19. As of September 30, 2020, the DoD OIG completed one best practices memorandum and six reports and has 19 ongoing audits or evaluations related to COVID-19.
These are just a few examples of DoD OIG accomplishments during this semiannual reporting period. The accomplishments reflected throughout this report are the result of the outstanding work by many DoD OIG employees.