Clark Kent Ervin

lark Kent Ervin doesn't tire of the Superman jokes that inevitably follow introductions. "If anything, I really kind of implicitly encourage it," said Ervin, inspector general of the Homeland Security Department. His name was chosen by an older brother, who at age 10 insisted on a say in what the newest family member would be called. Ervin's parents, then living in Houston, went along, naming their newborn after the alter ego of his older brother's favorite comic book hero. "I think it's actually very funny," Ervin says.

A Rhodes scholar and Harvard law graduate, Ervin, 44, settled for a time back in Houston, where he became friends with people close to the Bush family. Late in 1988, Ervin was having lunch with Houston lawyer Robert Rowland, who said he might be able to get Ervin a job in the next administration if George H.W. Bush won the White House.

"Ultimately, I recall getting a call from this President Bush-the present President Bush himself-inviting me to come to Washington and interview for a position in his father's administration," said Ervin, who went on to serve as associate director of policy for the White House Office of National Service from 1989 to 1991. Ervin has maintained strong professional ties to the Bush family since then, and he began work in the second Bush administration as inspector general at the State Department.

Now the IG at Homeland Security, Ervin said he faces the bureaucratic difficulties one might expect. "Sometimes we have cooperation, and sometimes we have resistance," he explained, describing the inspections, audits, and investigations his office undertakes. "We really see ourselves not so much as a bulldog or a police force, but instead . . . as an internal management consultant."