WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-MI), Ranking Member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, announced an investigation into alleged efforts by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to obstruct independent oversight and communications with Congress by its Office of Inspector General. Peters’ announcement follows a letter from DHS Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari that alleges that Department leadership has blocked access to information the Office of Inspector General sought and communications from DHS’ General Counsel warning the Inspector General against communicating with Congress. Among the concerns the Inspector General raised are denial or revocation of access to DHS databases and systems relevant to Office of Inspector General investigations into the effectiveness of DHS operations, potential waste and fraud, and even criminal investigations.
“I am directing Minority staff for the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs to investigate potential obstruction of communications by the Inspector General to Congress,” wrote Senator Peters in a letter to DHS General Counsel James J. Percival II.
“As part of his notification to Congress, IG Cuffari also provided the Committee with a copy of a letter from you, notifying the IG that DHS would not provide access to requested records and information, in apparent violation of the IG Act (attached). In that letter to IG Cuffari, you stated, in part, that IG Cuffari’s potential notification to Congress about DHS’s obstruction of OIG would constitute “bad faith and bordering on a material misrepresentation to Congress,” Peters continued. “This threat to the Inspector General not to communicate with Congress is unacceptable.”
The Inspector General Act of 1978 requires that the Inspector General have timely access to all agency records needed to perform independent oversight of Department programs and operations.
Text of both Peters’ letter to DHS and Cuffari’s letter to Congress can be found here.
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