Inspectors general are conducting fewer oversight reports after 18 months of upheaval

Agency offices of inspectors general have performed less oversight work since President Donald Trump fired many of the independent watchdogs and pushed out swaths of staffers, according to a report published Wednesday by a good government nonprofit.

“Inspectors general are the mechanism by which the executive branch examines itself, and the volume of that examination has declined sharply in a single year,” the Partnership for Public Service researchers wrote. “The result is not a leaner oversight operation. It is agencies with less scrutiny of their programs and their personnel.”

Compared with the average between fiscal 2020 and 2024, OIGs for Cabinet departments in the first half of fiscal 2026 produced an average of 6% fewer audits and 25% fewer investigative reports. Audits are a review of an agency’s program, while investigations look into alleged misconduct. 

“Every report that did not happen represents oversight that did not occur,” the researchers wrote. “An audit not conducted means a program went unexamined — no findings, no recommendations and no formal decision the agency must make and answer for. An investigation not opened means an allegation went unresolved and lost taxpayer dollars were never recovered.” 

Additionally, the Partnership reported that, as of May 31, the average Cabinet OIG workforce is 19% smaller than it was in December 2024. The researchers found that the three offices with the most significant staffing losses also experienced the largest reductions in investigative reports. 

“Investigations are mostly discretionary, left to the OIG’s judgment as to which are necessary or desirable,” they wrote. “When an office loses a quarter of its staff, the discretionary work is the first to go.”

Trump has fired nearly 20 IGs since the start of his second term, with the White House arguing that the oversight officials have become “corrupt, partisan and in some cases, have lied to the public.” Most of the IGs who the Senate has confirmed since January 2025 previously served in the president’s first or second administration. 

The Partnership also has reported that the administration proposed cutting funding for OIGs in its fiscal 2027 budget request and installed political appointees at certain IG offices, which the organization contended “introduces a structural conflict of interest.”