September 2011 - Navy
By VADM James P. Wisecup, USN
Naval Inspector General
The title sounds a little flip; but after only a short
period on the job here as the new Inspector General,
I can assure you that there are really a lot of
misconceptions out there in the fleet, as well as
elsewhere, about just what the Inspector General’s office
does for the Navy. Most line officers, myself included,
have very little notion of the duties and responsibilities
of the Inspector General, which is one of the reasons for
thinking an article like this might actually be helpful.
For starters, our notion of an inspector general dates to
the revolutionary war. Most military services worldwide
have such an office. General Von Steuben was the first one
in the United States, brought in by George Washington to
help bring his European know-how to bear on the ragtag
continental army – efficiency and effectiveness. There is a
statue to the good general across the street from the White
House in Lafayette Park.
The Marine Corps can trace its IG roots back to the early
1800s. On 3 March 1817, Lieutenant Colonel Commandant
Franklin Wharton appointed Captain Samuel Miller as the
first Adjutant and Inspector in the history of the Marine
Corps.1 For the Navy, however, the Inspector General dates
to 1942, when the capsizing of the Normandie resulted in
Admiral Ernest J. King (then the Chief of Naval Operations)
creating the office. The first Inspector General was Rear
Admiral Charles P. Snyder, fresh from a tour as President of
the Naval War College in Newport. King gave Snyder some
very specific guidance in a series of memos.2 First, keep
the organization small, and then draw on expertise from
around the fleet as you need it. Today’s staff is about 70
people, about 1/3 military and 2/3 civilians — plus an
extended IG community or network of inspectors, about
500 throughout the fleet who work for their commanders.
Second, the idea was that the IG would be part of the CNO
staff – pretty normal considering the size of the Navy in
1942. With the advent of Goldwater-Nichols legislation in
1986, however, the IG now reports to the Secretary of the
Navy, while continuing to act as the inspection agent for
the CNO. This is true in the other services as well, and
was actually one of the consequences of that
legislation besides simply the “jointness” we
are all familiar with.
The Department of the Army and
Department of the Air Force have similar
Inspectors General, but the Department
of the Navy has two services — which
enhances our naval character. Title 10
provides for one Inspector General for
each military department, so the
Inspector General of the Marine Corps
is officially designated as the Deputy
Naval Inspector General. Together, we
enjoy a unique and enduring legacy
within the Department of the Navy.
The Naval Inspector General’s staff
works at building 172 in the Washington
Navy Yard (photo) which dates to 1918
and was used by the Bureau of Ordnance as a place to
design and build naval mines.
There are actually quite a number of statutes and
instructions which apply to the functions of the Office of
the Naval Inspector General. Too numerous to mention
here (most are posted on our Web site www.ig.navy.mil),
but the main statutes and instructions are:
10 USC 5014, 5020, 5032, 5042, 1034
SECNAVINST 5430.57G, Mission & Functions of Naval IG
SECNAVINST 5430.7Q, Assignment of Responsibilities
& Authorities in the Office of the SECNAV
DoDI 7050.01, Defense Hotline Program
DODD 5505.06, Investigations of Allegations Against Senior Officials
of the DoD; SECNAVINST 5800.12B, Investigations of Allegations
Against Senior Officials of the DON
DoDD 7050.06, Military Whistleblower Protection
US NAVY REGULATIONS Chapter 3
We ensure compliance throughout the Navy with laws
and regulations, using these references as guidance. Our
goal is to be an advisor to the Secretary and Navy leadership
to preserve public trust and confidence in our Navy as an
institution. In staff terms, the Inspector General Staff has
a small number of directorates, to include a detachment
located in Portsmouth, VA, aligned along these functional
tasks – hotlines and investigations, inspections (which does
quality of life area visits and command inspections), senior
official investigations, and audit follow-up and liaison. We
also have lawyers who look at a wide variety of issues, from
Freedom of Information Act requests to review of whistleblower
reprisal cases, and provide advice to the Inspector
General on an ongoing basis. Additionally, there is an intelligence
oversight function, as well as a medical oversight
function – both highly specialized tasks, and very important.
And finally, we have a small Reserve Component that often
augments our teams that go out to inspect.
In short, our staff directly inspects the Navy’s 29 echelon
II commands (which report directly to CNO). Here is a list:
Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command
Commander, Operational Test & Evaluation Force
Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command
Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet
Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe
Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command
Director, Strategic Systems Programs
Commander, Space & Naval Warfare Systems Command
Commander, Naval Special Warfare Command
Commander, Naval Education and Training Command
Commander, Navy Reserve Force
Commander, Naval Supply Systems Command
Commander, Naval Air Systems Command
Commander, Naval Facilities Engineering Command
Commander, Naval Sea Systems Command
Chief of Naval Personnel
Commanding Officer, U.S. Navy Band
Chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery
Commander, Office of Naval Intelligence
Commander, Naval Legal Service Command
Commander, Navy Installations Command
Commander, U.S. Fleet Cyber Command
Superintendent, United States Naval Academy
Director, Field Support Activity
Director, Naval History and Heritage Command
Commander, Naval Safety Center
President, Naval War College
President, Naval Postgraduate School
USS CONSTITUTION
Besides command inspections, we also perform what are
called “area visits” which are used to provide Navy leadership
with a sense of quality of life of our people in the different
regions where we live and work, worldwide. For example,
our staff recently visited the South-East region, and is
preparing to visit the Mid-South region. We conduct about
four of these visits per year and send a team of about 40 for
a period of two to three weeks as we examine a variety of
programs from soup to nuts, talk with Sailors as well as
commanders, conduct confidential focus groups, and try to
assess the quality of life of our people. There is a shorter
version of these visits, called “health and comfort” inspections,
which are abbreviated looks on a shorter cycle than the
larger team visits. Currently, we conduct visits on about a
five-to-ten-year cycle.
The other directorates, such as hotline/investigations
and the senior official investigations branch are exactly
what the names imply. Included in the hotline directorate
is the whistleblower/reprisal and improper mental health
referral investigators – also self explanatory and very
important to ensuring our people can highlight wrongdoing
or waste, fraud and mismanagement without fear of
retribution. Our people take their work very seriously and,
of course, it is serious. Our team of competent professionals
is typically at work on a variety of cases in each area. The
goal, of course, is that cases be investigated and adjudicated
at the lowest possible level, not all coming into the headquarters
of the Naval IG. We don’t have enough investigators
to do that anyway.
From where I sit, I think it’s safe to say that many, many
cases ARE investigated and adjudicated at lower levels.
Once the facts are determined by the IG’s, the “reports of
investigation” or ROI are turned over to commanders,
who act on them and report back to the IG office which
investigated and then closes out the case file for the record.
These records are then kept for a specific time period in
accordance with current instructions.
That said, however, sometimes we are simply asked by
higher authority, or in some instances commanders in the
field, to take over a case and investigate. This could happen
for a variety of reasons, but it’s not necessarily routine.
There are many other types of cases, which simply do not
involve the IG, such as JAG Manual investigations, Article
138 grievances, as well as lower level informal inquiries.
Commanders often take action on those types of reports
without reference to the IG Headquarters, and that’s normal;
but certain types of cases we must review at the Navy Yard.
One type of complaint that is routinely investigated by
our office is an allegation against a senior official – these
come to us either through the DoDIG, result from a hotline
complaint, or any number of ways people can communicate
with us – and directly concern flag and general officers, as
well as members of the Senior Executive Service up to the
three-star equivalent level. Four star generals/admirals
and their SES equivalents are normally investigated by the
DoD Inspector General. The Deputy Naval Inspector
General for Marine Corps Matters/Inspector General of the
Marine Corps has a similar setup.
There is an interesting article written by one of my
predecessors, VADM Ron Route, along with the Naval Auditor
General, Mr. Richard Leach, entitled “Auditors Don’t
Inspect and Inspectors Don’t Audit”3 which compares the
functions of the Naval Audit Service and the Naval Inspector
General. The Inspector General staff does have a small audit
follow-up and liaison function, which essentially facilitates
the work of outside entities (such as DODIG or the Government
Accountability Office— GAO) who need access inside
the Navy to conduct studies and investigations. As a current
example, the GAO is visiting various Navy commands to
look at whistleblower/reprisal/improper mental health
referral, and to see how all the services (including the
Navy) are doing with investigations of these cases.
In a different vein, the Naval IG is also the head of the
Naval awards board, which adjudicates some, not all, awards
to be signed by the Secretary of the Navy. These awards
can be unclassified or classified. The board is a very good
mix of senior Navy captains, and Marine colonels as well as
a USMC general, all with significant operational experience
as well as time in the Pentagon. We’re helped by two
dedicated civilians who have extensive knowledge of the
awards, the history of previous awards of a similar nature,
and the facts of each dossier.
Of note, the level of experience gained by members of
our IG team is not insignificant. In fact, there is much to
commend this duty to service members (active and reserve)
and Navy civilians alike, who get the opportunity to see
many aspects of the Navy worldwide, and see how many
different commands and commanders exercise their functions.
We see it all — the best and the worst. As a result, our
staff members are already experienced, but they accumulate
significant additional deck-plate experience over a broad
range of programs. We would tell any Navy people that
they should feel very comfortable calling the IG (locally or
here in Washington) for information on programs, policy,
or organization issues. If our folks don’t know the answer
concerning a program, they know who does, and can
probably save you time looking. Our listing of area visit
reports is available on-line but is currently password
protected. Service members or civilians who have a .mil
e-mail address can request the link to the previous reports
from the Inspector General’s staff.
Our area visits and command inspections are often
complemented by the staff of the Auditor General (NAVAUDGEN)
also located at the Navy Yard in Washington. On the
other hand, we often work separately or divide labor on
investigations with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service
(NCIS), now headquartered at Quantico, VA, which pursues
criminal behavior in the Department of the Navy. So all
three of these organizations work together often, and sometimes
each assists the other in specific areas of study or work
independent elements of the same case according to how
the case breaks out. In that event, the lead might pass from
one agency to the other as each element is investigated and
the facts determined. There must be good cooperation among
these organizations; and I’m happy to say that, currently,
there is a solid working relationship among all three.
Of note, the Secretary of the Navy is required to certify
annually to OSD a statement of assurance in which the
material risks to the department are identified, analyzed,
and studied. This normally occurs in the fall of each year,
and a certain number of problem issues are identified and
assigned to study. Many of the issues assigned by SECNAV,
the Undersecretary of the Navy, CNO, and VCNO to the IG
for further study are, in fact, examined here by our staff in
Washington and Portsmouth, VA. The Portsmouth group
undertakes several studies per year. Service members or
civilians who have a .mil e-mail address can currently
request a link to these previous reports.
The bottom line is this: the Inspector General office is a
function of command. If you’re a commander, this person,
civilian or military, should have access to you and should
be among your direct advisors. Our goal is to ensure the
American public has trust and confidence in our Navy as an
institution, and it’s the responsibility of the Naval Inspector
General to conduct the business necessary to instill and
preserve that confidence – that means compliance with policy
and the law. It also means providing the expertise necessary
to help commanders as they work hard to comply with the
increasing number of laws, rules and regulations in an
increasingly challenging and complex environment in which
the Navy and its people must function in the twenty-first
century. That’s work worth doing.
References:
1 Marine Corps Inspector General Program, Concepts and Systems Guide, August 2009.
2 Draft command history of the Naval Inspector General, (unpublished) 1942.
3 “Auditors Don’t Inspect and Inspectors Don’t Audit,”Mr. Richard Leach
and VADM Ronald Route, Defense AT&L, May-June 2005.
Vice Admiral James P. “Phil” Wisecup
assumed his duties as the 38th Naval
Inspector General on 18 April 2011. As the
Naval Inspector General, VADM Wisecup is the
senior investigative official in the Department
of the Navy (DON) and the principal advisor
to the Secretary of the Navy and the Chief of
Naval Operations on all matters concerning
inspections, investigations, and audit follow
up. He serves as the DON’s primary liaison with the Department of
Defense Inspector General and leads the worldwide Navy IG community.
(For his complete biography, please go to Web site http://www.ig.navy.mil/About_NAVINSGEN/NAVINSGEN_biography.htm)