Inspector General of the Department of State

The Inspector General of the Department of State heads the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of State and is responsible for detecting and investigating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in the United States Department of State. In the department, the Inspector General has a rank equivalent to an Assistant Secretary of State.^[2][3]

Inspector General of the United States Department of State
Seal of the Office of Inspector General
Incumbent Cardell K. Richardson since May 20, 2024[1]
Reports to	United States Secretary of State
Inaugural holder	Raymond C. Miller
Formation	1957
Website	Official website

List of Inspectors General of the Department of State

#	Name	Assumed office	Left office	President served under
1	Raymond C. Miller	November 19, 1957	October 31, 1960	Dwight D. Eisenhower
2	Gerald A. Drew	November 13, 1960	May 31, 1962	Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy
3	Norris S. Haselton	June 10, 1962	July 31, 1964	John F. Kennedy
4	Fraser Wilkins	July 23, 1964	August 8, 1971	John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon
5	Thomas W. McElhiney	July 1, 1971	July 18, 1973	Richard Nixon
6	James S. Sutterlin	October 15, 1973	August 31, 1974	Richard Nixon
-	Robert L. Yost (acting)	August 31, 1974	April 16, 1975	Gerald Ford
7	William E. Schaufele, Jr.	April 16, 1975	November 29, 1975	Gerald Ford
8	Robert M. Sayre	November 25, 1975	May 1, 1978	Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter
-	Brandon Grove (acting)	May 1, 1978	July 5, 1978	Jimmy Carter
9	Theodore L. Eliot, Jr.	July 5, 1978	October 16, 1978	Jimmy Carter
10	Robert C. Brewster	January 15, 1979	January 18, 1981	Jimmy Carter
11	Robert Lyle Brown	July 7, 1981	June 30, 1983	Ronald Reagan
12	William Caldwell Harrop	December 12, 1983	August 27, 1986	Ronald Reagan
-	Byron Hollingsworth (acting)	August 27, 1986	August 14, 1987	Ronald Reagan
13	Sherman M. Funk	August 14, 1987	February 15, 1994	Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton
-	Roscoe S. Suddarth (acting)	February 15, 1994	June 12, 1994	Bill Clinton
-	Harold W. Geisel (acting)	June 12, 1994	April 7, 1995	Bill Clinton
14	Jacquelyn L. Williams-Bridgers	April 7, 1995	January 31, 2001	Bill Clinton
-	Anne Marie Sigmund (acting)	February 4, 2001	August 3, 2001	George W. Bush
-	Clark Ervin (acting)	August 3, 2001	January 23, 2003	George W. Bush
-	Anne Marie Sigmund (acting)	January 24, 2003	September 28, 2003	George W. Bush
-	Anne W. Patterson (acting)	September 28, 2003	August 3, 2004	George W. Bush
-	John E. Lange (acting)	August 3, 2004	August 23, 2004	George W.Bush
-	Cameron R. Hume (acting)	August 23, 2004	May 2, 2005	George W. Bush
15	Howard Krongard	May 2, 2005	January 15, 2008	George W. Bush
-	William E. Todd (acting)	January 15, 2008	June 2, 2008	George W. Bush
-	Harold W. Geisel (acting)	June 2, 2008[4]	September 30, 2013	George W. Bush and Barack Obama
16	Steve A. Linick	September 30, 2013[5]	May 15, 2020[6]	Barack Obama and Donald Trump
-	Stephen Akard (acting)	May 15, 2020	August 7, 2020[7]	Donald Trump
-	Diana Shaw (acting)	August 7, 2020	August 31, 2020	Donald Trump
-	Matthew Klimow (acting)	August 31, 2020	December 11, 2020[8]	Donald Trump
-	Diana Shaw (acting)	December 11, 2020	April 5, 2024	Donald Trump and Joe Biden
-	Sandra J. Lewis (acting)	April 5, 2024	May 20, 2024	Joe Biden
17	Cardell K. Richardson	May 20, 2024	Incumbent	Joe Biden

Obama and Trump administrations

Harold W. Geisel served as acting Inspector General during Hillary Clinton's service as Secretary of State., which lasted until February 1, 2013.^[9] There was no permanent Inspector General at the State Department while Clinton was Secretary, nor did President Barack Obama nominate anyone for that position.^[10] Later in 2013, Obama nominated Steve A. Linick, and the Senate confirmed Linick to the role.

Linick served as Inspector General for the balance of Obama's term, continuing into the presidency of Donald Trump. On Friday, May 15, 2020 at 10 p.m., the White House announced that Linick had been removed.^[11] The White House said Trump had dismissed Linick at the request of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Linick had been conducting several investigations into actions by Pompeo.^[12][13][14] Trump appointed Stephen Akard, who was concurrently serving as the director of the State Department's Office of Foreign Missions, as acting Inspector General.^[15] Akard served as acting Inspector General less than three months before resigning.^[16] Deputy Inspector General Diana Shaw then became acting Inspector General.^[17]

References

1. https://www.stateoig.gov/about/meet-the-ig ^{[bare URL]}
2. "Assistant Secretaries and Equivalent Rank". January 20, 2009. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
3. "Department Organization Chart". March 2014. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
4. "Harold W. Geisel". U.S. Department of State Archive. June 19, 2008. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
5. "Steve A. Linick, Inspector General". U.S. Department of State. September 30, 2013. Archived from the original on June 1, 2018. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
6. McGraw, Meridith; Toosi, Nahal (May 15, 2020). "Trump ousts State Department watchdog". POLITICO. Retrieved May 16, 2020.
7. Hudson, John (August 5, 2020). "State Department watchdog resigns in another shake-up at IG's office". Washington Post. Retrieved August 5, 2020.
8. "State Department watchdog steps down after Pompeo rails at report on investigation into wife's travel". www.msn.com. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
9. Cohen, Tom (February 1, 2013). "Clinton's farewell marred by embassy bombing". CNN. Retrieved May 16, 2020.
10. Tau, Byron and Nicholas, Peter. "State Department Lacked Top Watchdog During Hillary Clinton Tenure", Wall Street Journal (March 24, 2015).
11. Blake, Aaron (May 18, 2020). "Trump's slow-motion Friday night massacre of inspectors general". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
12. Kimball, Spencer (May 16, 2020). "Mike Pompeo recommended Trump firing of State Department inspector general, White House says". CNBC. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
13. Wong, Edward; Sanger, David E. (May 19, 2020). "State Dept. Investigator Fired by Trump Had Examined Weapons Sales to Saudis and Emiratis". The New York Times. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
14. "Pompeo's elite taxpayer-funded dinners raise new concerns". NBC News. May 19, 2020. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
15. Toosi, Nahal (June 23, 2020). "Acting watchdog recuses himself from 2 Pompeo probes". Politico. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
16. Atwood, Kylie; Hansler, Jennifer (August 5, 2020). "Acting State Department watchdog resigns months after previous inspector general was fired". CNN. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
17. Hudson, John (August 2, 2020). "State Department watchdog resigns in another shake-up at IG's office". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 6, 2020.

External links

• State Department Historian on the Inspector General of the Department of State
• Official website