Legislation to Modify DOD's Audit, Investigation, and Inspection Functions

GAO discussed two House bills for improving Department of Defense (DOD) audit, investigation, inspection, and internal review functions. GAO believed that the first bill's provisions for: (1) requiring the DOD Inspector General (IG) to have at least 10 years of professional experience and for establishing a 10-year IG term were not necessary, since existing requirements adequately ensured appropriate experience and allowed IG removal; and (2) transferring responsibility for supervising the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) from the DOD Comptroller to DOD IG did not specify the level of IG supervision over DCAA. GAO also believed that the second bill: (1) helped to ensure the independence of the military services' auditors general and emphasized a close working relationship between auditors general and DOD IG; (2) should require that auditors general be appointed without regard to political affiliation and solely on the basis of integrity and demonstrated ability; (3) should include provisions which would improve coordination and prevent duplication of activities between military IG and auditors general; and (4) should not provide for the transfer of internal review functions currently performed by the military services' audit organizations to the proposed statutory auditors general.