Current & Former Federal OIG Employees - Political Interference

Do you work in or have recently left the office of an inspector general? We’re ProPublica journalists who, like you, want to hold the government accountable. Help us report — we take your confidentiality seriously. (Thank you to the mod team for letting us post our callout!) Dear current and former OIG employees, We’re ProPublica reporters Sharon Lerner and Raquel Rutledge. Over the past weeks, we’ve been talking to dozens of you about concerns that the federal government’s new watchdogs —political loyalists —may be unable to independently carry out their critical oversight duties. We recognize the longstanding reluctance of inspectors general and their staffs to speak with the media. But this is an extraordinary moment. And we believe we share a common purpose with you: to hold our government accountable by identifying any waste, fraud or abuse — and to be thorough, fair and accurate. If you work in or have recently left the office of a federal inspector general, we want to hear about your experience: Have important projects been halted? Have staff been asked to do work that wouldn’t have typically been done by an inspector general’s office in the past? What is working well, or better than it has previously? Are you facing obstacles that impact your ability to do your work? What getting in touch means: We take your confidentiality seriously. If you decide to reach out, we will take care to use encrypted, secure channels. If you’d like to remain anonymous, one thing you can do is request to speak on background, which means to have a conversation to help inform reporting, rather than to quote from. Both of us have extensive experience covering sensitive topics and government agencies. We are happy to answer questions you may have about ourselves and our project. Please reach out to us on Signal or email, and share this letter with anyone who should see it.Thanks for reading. Signed, Sharon Lerner Signal: sharLerner.76 Email: [email redacted] Raquel Rutledge Signal: 202-886-9630 Email: [email redacted]