[Dialogue] Reining In the Watchdog

[Harry Wainwright]

 <http://www.nytimes.com/>  <http://www.nytimes.com/> The New York Times
<http://www.nytimes.com/> 

 




  _____  

December 13, 2006

Editorial

Reining In the Watchdog 

One of the many areas of government neglect that needs urgent fixing is the
lack of supervision of dollar burners like the Iraq war and homeland
security: the Pentagon says it has 100,000 civilians now in Iraq on
government contracts. Yet the new head of the General Services
Administration - an executive agency that manages over $55 billion in
contracts for Iraq, homeland security and other areas - is intent on cutting
the budget of her agency's inspector general. 

The inspector general is one of the independent watchdogs created by
Congress to make sure taxpayers get their money's worth from mammoth
agencies like the G.S.A. But the G.S.A. chief, Lurita Alexis Doan, plans a
$5 million cut for the inspector's office, aiming to replace some government
auditors with hires from the private sector. Ms. Doan, who was appointed by
President Bush, arrived from the private sector herself as a dynamic company
executive vowing to wield a cost-effective broom.

Nice to hear. But privatizing oversight of private contractors is no way to
protect taxpayers. Indeed, the inspector general has become an increasingly
endangered species all over Washington. Congressional Republicans penciled
out the budget line for another independent watchdog they found
embarrassingly effective in tracking major corruption in Iraq
reconstruction. Once discovered, the departing Congress withdrew the knife.
The G.S.A.'s boss had better sense what's in the air.

 

Copyright <http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html>
2006 The New York Times Company <http://www.nytco.com/>  

 

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