Central Intelligence Agency Office of Inspector General

The Office of Inspector General (often abbreviated to OIG) of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is the independent overseer of the organisation. Since 2024, the office has been held by Robert Host. The first inspector general was appointed in 1952.^[1] The Central Intelligence Agency Office of Inspector General has worked on cases in collaboration with the United States Department of Justice and the National Security Agency Office of Inspector General.^[2]

United States
Inspector General of the Central Intelligence Agency

Seal of the Central Intelligence Agency
Agency overview
Formed	1952; 73 years ago (1952)
Jurisdiction	United States
Headquarters	George Bush Center for Intelligence, Langley, Fairfax County, Virginia
Agency executive	Robert Host, Acting Inspector General of the Central Intelligence Agency
Parent agency	Central Intelligence Agency
Website	Official website

The 1970s

The Rockefeller Commission, Church Committee, and Pike Committee all recommended strengthening the office of OIG. Their criticisms included claims that the IG had few staff, was ignored, and was denied access to information. Their suggestions were not made into law.^[1]

1980s

The CIA OIG investigation of the Iran Contra scandal was criticized in the final report of the Congressional investigation of the Iran-Contra affair.^[3] Members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (especially Boren, Cohen, Specter, and Glenn) wrestled with how to improve the IG while not interfering with the work of the CIA. They tried to make a bill that would satisfy various members of Congress and also not be vetoed by president George Bush.^[1] Senator Boren (chairman of the SSCI) worked with Robert Gates who was deputy to Brent Scowcroft at the time. In 1989 a new IG law was passed creating a more independent IG. The IG also would no longer be chosen by the Director of Central Intelligence but would instead be appointed by the President with the "advice and consent" of the Senate.^[1]

Global War on Terror

There were several controversies surrounding the IG during the years of the Global War on Terror.

The IG released a controversial report on failures of the intelligence community before 9/11.^[4]

IG staff Mary O. McCarthy was fired in 2006.^[4]

In 2007 General Michael Hayden, head of the CIA, had attorney Robert Deitz review the work of the IG.^[4]

2004 Inspector General Report

In 2004 the CIA OIG published a report on prisoner treatment in the Global War on Terror. It was entitled "CIA Inspector General Special Review: Counterterrorism Detention and Interrogation Activities".^[5] After a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union, a less redacted version was declassified in 2009 and released to the public.

List of Inspectors General

Name	Term start	Term end	Refs
Donald F. Chamberlain	July 1973	July 1976
John H. Waller	July 1976	January 1980	[6]
Charles A. Briggs	January 1980	September 1982	[6]
James H. Taylor	September 1982	July 1984	[6]
John H. Stein	July 1984	December 23, 1985	[6]
Carroll L. Hauver	December 23, 1985	January 18, 1988	[6]
William F. Donnelly	January 18, 1988	December 1, 1989	[6][7]
William F. Donnelly (Acting)	December 1, 1989	November 13, 1990	[6]
Frederick P. Hitz	November 13, 1990	May 1, 1998	[1][4][6]
Dawn Ellison (Acting)	May 1, 1998	August 3, 1998	[6]
L. Britt Snider	August 3, 1998	January 20, 2001	[6][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]
Rebecca Donegan (Acting)	January 21, 2001	November 14, 2001	[6]
Rebecca Donegan (Deputy Inspector General)	November 14, 2001	January 14, 2002	[6]
George Clark (Acting Deputy Inspector General)	January 14, 2002	April 26, 2002	[6]
John L. Helgerson	April 26, 2002	March 21, 2009	[4][6][21]
Patricia Lewis (Acting)	March 21, 2009	October 6, 2010	[22]
David Buckley	October 6, 2010	January 31, 2015	[23]
Christopher Sharpley (Acting)	February 1, 2015	September 9, 2017
Cristine Ruppert (Acting Deputy Inspector General)	September 9, 2017	June 28, 2021	[24]
Robin Ashton	June 28, 2021	December 31, 2024	[25]
Robert Host (Acting)	December 31, 2024	Incumbent

See also

• Inspector General
• Inspector General Act of 1978
• CIA's relationship with the United States Congress

References

1. Snider, L. Britt. "Creating a Statutory Inspector General at the CIA". CIA. Archived from the original on June 13, 2007. Retrieved August 25, 2009.
2. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/six-charged-scheme-defraud-federal-government
3. House Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran and the Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition (1987). Report on the Iran-Contra Affair. Washington DC: GPO. p. 425.
4. Miller, 2007
5. "CIA Inspector General Special Review: Counterterrorism Detention and Interrogation Activities" at the ACLU web site
6. Council of the Inspectors General, Inspector General Historical Data Archived August 13, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, 2007 May
7. Wines, 1990
8. "Press | Intelligence Committee". www.intelligence.senate.gov. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
9. Verton, 2001
10. Hudec, James G. (January 1, 2001). "Unlucky SHAMROCK--The View from the Other Side". Homeland Security Digital Library. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
11. Snider, L. Britt. "Recollections from the Church Committee's Investigation of NSA" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 19, 2021. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
12. Snider, L. Britt (January 1999). "Unlucky SHAMROCK: Recollections from the Church Committee's Investigation of NSA". Retrieved June 10, 2020.
13. Church Committee
14. Verton, Dan (June 22, 2001). "CIA grappling with its role amid IT revolution". Computerworld. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
15. "A Message from the CIA Inspector General". fas.org. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
16. "The Agency and the Hill: CIA's Relationship with Congress, 1946-2004 by L. Britt Snider, Center for the Study of Intelligence, 2008" (PDF). Retrieved June 10, 2020.
17. L. Britt Snider - The Literature of Intelligence: A Bibliography of Materials, with Essays, Reviews, and Comments J. Ransom Clark Emeritus Muskingum University New Concord, Ohio
18. Anderson, Nate (June 30, 2013). "How a 30-year-old lawyer exposed NSA mass surveillance of Americans—in 1975". Ars Technica. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
19. "Public Interest Declassification Board Meeting Minutes..." (Dec 15, 2006 - also included a panel discussion of historians from NRO, NSA, DIA, and the Office of the ... L. Britt Snider, Chairman of the PIDB, chaired the...)
20. Snider, L. Britt. "Creating a Statutory Inspector General at the CIA". CIA. Archived from the original on June 13, 2007. Retrieved August 25, 2009.
21. Panetta, Inspector General's Retirement
22. HEARING BEFORE THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE, ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION, congress.gov, September 21, 2010, retrieved January 4, 2010
23. CIA Inspector General David Buckley to Resign, time.com, January 6, 2015, retrieved January 4, 2017
24. "IG Net Page on CIA OIG". Retrieved April 1, 2021.
25. @CIA on Twitter. ""#CIA welcomes Robin Ashton, our new Senate-confirmed Inspector General"". Twitter. Retrieved July 1, 2021. {{cite web}}: |last1= has generic name (help)

External links

• Official website
• Verton, Dan (June 22, 2001). "CIA grappling with its role amid IT revolution". Computer World. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013. Retrieved August 25, 2009.
• "CIA Inspector General Special Review: Counterterrorism Detention and Interrogation Activities". American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). 2009. Retrieved August 25, 2009.
• Panetta, Leon (February 18, 2009). "Message from the Director: Inspector General's Retirement". Archived from the original on March 11, 2009. Retrieved August 25, 2009.
• Greg Miller (October 12, 2007). "The Nation - CIA inquiry targets its own watchdog". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 25, 2009.
• Wines, Michael (November 30, 1990). "Independent Watchdog Takes Post at C.I.A." The New York Times. Retrieved August 25, 2009.
• "Inspector General Historical Data Federal Departments" (PDF). ignet.gov. May 17, 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 13, 2009. Retrieved August 25, 2009.