WASHINGTON – Empower Oversight is pressing the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General (IG) to release the names of senior government officials that the IG found to be involved in substantial misconduct. If the Inspector General’s office won’t release the names of the senior executives, the whistleblower organization has asked that the IG’s office provide an explanation of why they are concealing from the public the names of the officials.
In a letter to Inspector General Michael Horowitz, Empower Oversight Tristan Leavitt writes that the IG’s office publishes reports of substantiated misconduct by senior government officials, but for some reason does not include the names of the officials.
Leavitt cites a case out of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit where it was found that the names of senior officials who have been found to have engaged in misconduct can be released to the public under the Freedom of Information Act.
In the letter to Horowitz, Leavitt writes, “The public has a substantial interest in learning the names of these officials who have abused the public trust by engaging in misconduct. Senior officials often leave the government and find jobs in the private sector where they cash in on their government executive experience and can continue their abuse of employees.”
There are currently at least seven reports released by the Inspector General’s office since Jan. 1, 2024, that redact senior officials’ names, one as recently as May 22, 2024.
For a copy of Empower Oversight’s letter to the Inspector General, click here.
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