OTHER OIG ACTIVITIES

Briefings and Training Activities

OIG personnel regularly offer their expertise to Department components and to the governmental community and serve as instructors for various training activities. For example, during this reporting period:

• OIG investigators conducted 61 Integrity Awareness Briefings for Department employees throughout the country. These briefings are designed to educate employees about the misuse of a public official’s position for personal gain and to deter employees from committing such offenses. The briefings reached more than 1,750 employees with a message highlighting the devastating effect corruption has on both the employee and the agency.
• Audit continued to monitor the Department’s critical automation initiatives to enhance automated data processing operations. Auditors attended briefings by INS, DEA, FBI, and EOUSA senior management to monitor their use of automation resources. Audit staff also attended meetings of the Department Chief Information Officers Council, whose objectives are to improve the Department’s use of IT to perform the Department’s core missions and ensure IT resources are properly managed.
• The AIGI participated as an instructor at the Department’s Adverse Actions Seminar at the National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina; a seminar hosted by the USMS Witness Security Division in Annapolis, Maryland, on the handling of USMS funds in the Witness Security Program; and an FBI Public Corruption In-Service Training program at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, for approximately 35 agents from the FBI, INS, Customs Service, local police, and OIG Southwest Border offices.
• An OIG special agent, at the request of the Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training (OPDAT), traveled to Budapest, Hungary, to train investigators and police officials from the Budapest law enforcement community on developing public corruption cases and teambuilding. Also at the request of OPDAT, a second OIG special agent traveled to the Republic of Georgia to assist in an evaluation of its prison system.
• A special agent from the Chicago Field Office assisted the Inspector General Academy (IGA) at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in developing and presenting its Undercover Operations Training Program. The agent developed presentations covering such topics as Department undercover guidelines, the psychological impact of undercover work, and the challenges of undercover work. The special agent-in-charge of the OIG’s Fraud Detection Office assisted the IGA at FLETC in developing the curriculum of its Contract and Grant Fraud Training course for investigators in the IG community.
• Inspections participated in the Department’s Security Programs Managers Training series. Inspections staff provided technical assistance and discussed personnel security issues that surfaced during the OIG inspection of the Department’s Contractor Personnel Security Program. This training session was a direct result of the OIG inspection. (See page 29 for more information.)

Task Forces, Working Groups, and Committees

In addition to the important work it conducts within the Department, the OIG participates in cooperative endeavors with other entities. Noteworthy activities during this reporting period are described below.

• The San Diego Field Office participates, along with the FBI, DEA, U.S. Customs Office of Internal Affairs, and Internal Revenue Service, in the San Diego Border Corruption Task Force that investigates allegations of corruption against federal law enforcement officials. Currently there are 26 ongoing BCTF investigations, 13 of which were initially reported to the OIG’s San Diego Field Office.
• Investigations staff participated in a Department task force that developed the 2001 Department of Justice Guidelines Regarding the Use of Confidential Informants. Investigations staff also participated in the Weapons Carriage Task Force, which is organized by the Federal Aviation Administration and is attempting to establish standards and regulations by which armed law enforcement personnel with a need to board public aircraft can be identified on a national basis.
• Audit is a member and attended meetings of the Intelligence Community Inspector General Forum, Information Assurance Working Group (IAWG). The IAWG serves as the Intelligence Community IG Forum’s principal mechanism to provide information sharing and coordination on information assurance oversight projects and related initiatives. During this reporting period, the group hosted speakers who discussed topics that included computer crimes, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service Computer Intrusion Program, and legal issues in information operations.
• Audit participates in the Department’s Information Technology Security Officers Working Group, a forum for Department security personnel to learn about the latest in security vulnerabilities, technologies, and solutions.
• Audit also participates in the Department’s Financial Statement Working Group meetings. These meetings provide continuing guidance to Department components on the compilation of consolidated and component financial statements.
• As part of the Federal Audit Executive Committee’s Financial Statement Audit Network, Audit participates in the interagency group that is revising the GAO’s Financial Audit Manual for use by the IG community.
• Inspections participates in the Department’s Research Council, which informs the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General of current law enforcement research projects, and in the OIG community’s Misconduct in Research Working Group. During this reporting period, the working group completed its review of a government-wide executive policy addressing research misconduct.
• The Office of General Counsel served on the Attorney General’s Committee on the Department of Justice Deadly Force Policy. The Office of the Deputy Attorney General is reviewing the recommendations made by this working group to clarify the current policy and make it more useful to Department law enforcement personnel.
• The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) asked the OIG to participate in its review of records management. Inspections coordinated this activity and arranged for OIG staff to participate in a focus group to provide input on current recordkeeping and records uses, particularly electronic records, within the OIG and Department. NARA will use this information to evaluate the effectiveness of its records program and to assess needed changes.

Legislation and Regulations

The IG Act directs the OIG to review proposed legislation and regulations relating to the programs and operations of the Department. Although the Department’s Office of Legislative Affairs reviews all proposed or enacted legislation that could affect the Department’s activities, the OIG independently reviews proposed legislation that affects it or legislation that relates to waste, fraud, or abuse in the Department’s programs or operations. During this reporting period, the OIG reviewed a variety of legislation, including a bill that formally established an OIG Criminal Investigator Academy and a Forensic Laboratory to perform forensic services for OIG investigations.

President’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency Activities

The PCIE consists of the 28 Presidentially appointed IGs in the federal government. OIG staff participate in a variety of PCIE activities and serve on numerous PCIE committees and subgroups. During this reporting period, the Deputy IG served on the PCIE working group that drafted a proposed strategic plan for the PCIE. The General Counsel represented the PCIE on an inter-agency working group that addressed the implementation of the Administrative Disputes Resolution (ADR) Act, particularly relating to issues of confidentiality and access to records of ADR proceedings. The General Counsel also worked on new privacy rules of interest to the PCIE that relate to health care providers.

Audit staff attend regular meetings of the PCIE OIG GPRA Coordinators’ Interest Group; this group addresses issues of consistency when the OIG deals with Congress, OMB, and the GAO on GPRA issues. Audit staff also attend meetings of the PCIE Information Technology (IT) Roundtable. During this reporting period, the PCIE IT Roundtable surveyed OIG information technology resources and clarified the IG requirements for GISRA, which requires IGs to submit to Congress a report disclosing any activity relating to the collection of data about individuals who access a department’s or agency’s Internet site. Audit also is participating in the Infrastructure Protection audits sponsored by the PCIE.

The Investigations AIG (AIGI) is a member of the PCIE Investigations Advisory Subcommittee. The Subcommittee advises the Investigations Committee of the PCIE on matters of policy, training, and practices relating to OIG investigations. During this reporting period, the AIGI and Deputy AIGI attended the PCIE’s Annual Association of Directors of Investigations Conference. The conference focused on “addressing the challenges of the 21st century” in both the OIG and law enforcement communities.

Also during this reporting period, Inspections staff participated in the PCIE Inspection and Evaluation Council meetings. These meetings have addressed training initiatives for the Inspection and Evaluation community and future proposals for joint PCIE/ECIE (Executive Council on Integrity and Efficiency) projects.