Glenn A. Fine, Watchdogs: Inspectors General and the Battle for Honest and Accountable Government (University of Virginia Press 2024). 222 Pages. Available from the University of Virginia Press, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.

The 2024 election results have prompted discussion about the effectiveness of “guardrails” that might restrain Presidential activities that could harm the nation. The situation is probably not quite as dire as regular viewers of some news outlets may believe, but there are legitimate concerns about our national future. Congress, agencies like the Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, the federal civil service, and the military will be severely tested.

In this environment, Glenn Fine’s new book, Watchdogs: Inspectors General and the Battle of Honest and Accountable Government (hereinafter Watchdogs), is a timely and welcome contribution to the national debate. Fine has had considerable experience with Offices of Inspectors General (OIGs), one of the key institutions that serve as limits to corrupt or overreaching Executive Branch actions. Those unfamiliar with these obscure but vital organizations can learn more from the Inspector General website, IGNet.gov, and an excellent Congressional Research Service white paper on statutory IGs.

Glenn Fine’s intriguing resume includes a Rhodes scholarship and being drafted by the San Antonio Spurs NBA team, but his most relevant experiences were serving as Department of Justice IG from 2000 to 2011 and acting IG of the Department of Defense between 2016 until 2020, when President Trump removed him from the Department of Defense position due to dissatisfaction with Fine’s reports that questioned optimistic assessments of progress in the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria.

Watchdogs is a memoir of Glenn Fine’s time in government service, including personal and professional background, as well as sometimes colorful discussions of important reports he released during his time as an Inspector General (IG).

The Department of Justice reports discussed in Watchdogs include:

1. Faulty science at the FBI laboratory
2. FBI failures in the case of Soviet mole Robert Hanson
3. Department of Justice failures in connection with the September 11 terrorist attacks
4. Multiple allegations of FBI misconduct
5. Politized hiring and firing in the Department of Justice during the George W. Bush administration
6. Corruption in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, including contraband and sexual abuse of inmates

Key reports issued during Fine’s time at the Department of Defense include:

1. The “Fat Leonard” case, considered the worst corruption scandal in U.S. Navy history
2. Audits of waste and inefficiency in Defense programs
3. Oversight of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq

The book’s closing chapters entitled “Recommendations for Strengthening Inspector General Oversight” and “Ten Key Principles for Effective Inspectors General” contain useful insights that will be particularly meaningful to those with IG experience. This book should be required reading for anyone interested in working in any OIG.

While Fine is very far from being a political partisan, his review of his career, especially the impact of President Trump during his first administration, contains valuable lessons relevant to the current political situation.

Over two decades of government service dedicated to improving government efficiency and rooting out fraud, Glenn Fine compiled a record of competence and a rare willingness to speak truth to power. That’s why he had to go.

President Trump forced Fine out of his IG job in 2020 during what has been referred to as a “slow motion Friday night massacre of inspectors general” illustrates a major IG vulnerability. There are relatively few restrictions on the President’s ability to fire an IG, as explained in a Congressional Research Service white paper on statutory IGs (pages 13 & 14). Central Intelligence Agency and Office of the Director of National Intelligence IGs submitted anticipatory resignations shortly after Trump’s election.

The “slow motion massacre” prompted the introduction of multiple legislative corrective bills. Andrew Brunsden analyzes these and offers his own original suggestions in his excellent William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal article Inspectors General and the Law of Oversight Independence

None of these proposals has yet been enacted. This makes Watchdogs a particularly timely and valuable contribution. Increasing public awareness of these issues and highlighting them for policymakers makes reform more likely.

Conclusion

Are Inspectors General “The last line of defense for our institutions, and our democracy,” as a melodramatic description of Watchdogs breathlessly claims? My experience over nearly three decades of experience as an IG counsel makes me believe they are not the last line of defense, and probably not the most important line of defense, but they have a role to play.

Not every IG has been as capable, honest and brave as Glenn Fine (as the Project on Government Oversight has documented many times, including this article as well as its Bad Watchdog podcast). However, my experience working in the IG community for nearly three decades causes me to believe that, on balance, the IGs collectively have been a significant national asset. Through its actions, Congress has shown that it agrees. The Inspector General Act of 1978 created 12 statutory IGs. As of November 2024 there are 74 statutory IGs operating across the federal government.

Watchdogs demonstrates the truth of former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis comments in a 2023 speech:

We don’t have any trust to spare right now in this age that we are living in. And I think that IGs are on the front line of protecting what remains and rebuilding trust, which remains forever the coin of the realm . . . It is more important than ever that the guardians of public integrity are on duty.

Let’s hope that IGs are allowed to do their jobs going forward and that all of them demonstrate Glenn Fine’s level of competence and integrity.

Bottom Line: Glenn Fine’s Watchdogs is timely and essential reading about little-known but important that may provide some limits on corrupt or overreaching Presidential actions in these difficult times.

Author Jerry Lawson has 27 years of experience as a legal counsel for Inspectors Generals. He worked in the National Archives (NARA), Small Business Administration (SBA), and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Offices of Inspectors General between 1992 and 2019. His peers in the interagency working group, the Council of Counsels for the Inspectors General awarded him their Career Achievement Award in 2016.