Lawmakers Push Inspector General Access Following Complaint Over ITA Audit

The Justice Department’s deputy attorney general and inspector general are actively working with Congress on legislation to guarantee inspectors general more access to agency information across the government, and the two officials should send that language to the Congress by Aug. 28, said a dozen high-ranking House and Senate lawmakers in recent days. The Aug. 13 letter to Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates and Inspector General Michael Horowitz follows a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing earlier in the month, in which the Commerce Department’s Acting Inspector General David Smith complained of obstacles to obtaining International Trade Administration data. During the hearing, Smith said his office had to abandon an ITA audit after Commerce refused to hand over business property information (see 1508070012). Federal agencies have used a recent Justice Department opinion (here), released on July 20, to prevent access to inspectors general, said Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, ranking member Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and nine other lawmakers. "This opinion undermines the long-standing presumption that inspectors general have access to any and all information that they deem necessary for effective oversight,” said the letter. “It is apparent that Congress needs to act to ensure that inspectors general have complete and immediate access to all records in the possession of their respective agencies, unless a statute restricting access to documents expressly states that the provision applies to inspectors general.”