DoD OIG Provides Assistance to Iraqi IGs
As part of its effort in the Global War on Terror (GWOT), the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (DoD OIG) is helping the Iraqi people develop their own inspector general system.
In November 2005, a team from the DoD OIG Office of Policy and Oversight’s Inspections and Evaluations (I&E) Directorate went on a six-week assignment in Baghdad to advise, assist and train IG staff members of the two largest Iraqi ministries--the Ministry of Defense (MoD) and Ministry of Interior (MoI).
The Multi-National Security Transition Command--Iraq (MNSTC--I) requested I&E’s assistance to mentor and train Iraqi federal and military inspectors general in the concepts and functions of the IG system and the roles of the Iraqi IGs in promoting rules of law, anticorruption and human rights.
Based on the U.S. IG model, Iraqi OIGs were established in February 2004 by Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) Order #57, which remains the law in Iraq at the present time. There are currently 29 Iraqi Ministries with IGs appointed by the Prime Minister. The IGs coordinate informally with each other through an Iraqi IG Council. As an element in the institutional capacity-building effort, the IG system constitutes one of the three pillars in the Iraqi anti-corruption program.
The other two pillars are the Commission on Public Integrity (CPI, similar to our FBI) and the Board of Supreme Audit (BSA, similar to our GAO). Since the IG system is a foreign concept to the Iraqis, they need basic training in IG principles, policies, processes, and procedures. Hence, MNSTC—I’s request for I&E’s help.
During the months before their deployment, I&E team members coordinated the visit with Dr. Charles Johnson, who has been permanently assigned to Iraq since March 2004 as the DoD OIG’s representative on the Department of State’s Iraqi Reconstruction Management Office (IRMO) in Baghdad. I&E’s also coordinated the visit with points of contact at the Army’s IG University, and others and developed a curriculum for the “Inspections” and “Assistance” functions.
In addition to building lesson plans and PowerPoint presentations, all course materials had to be translated to insure the Arabic words conveyed the proper connotations and concepts. The team quickly learned that the course of
instruction had to be broken down to the most fundamental levels and had to be free of American colloquialisms and jargon.
Thirty-five MoD and MoI mid-level staff members attended the course, which was taught by I&E team members. As one of the I&E team members noted: “It is the middle managers who will make the difference here. The senior leaders will come and go, but helping the middle level folks is where we must focus.”
The course also included two days of Human Rights Awareness training. Dr. Ellen Klein, a member of the IRMO staff, delivered this part of the curriculum, a subject that is getting a lot of visibility and attention as part of the new democratic Iraqi society.
Two Iraqi translators interpreted for the instructors.
Aside from their training tasks, the I&E team members provided mentoring and assistance to the IG staffs, meeting often in their respective ministries or in collective venues. Working with members of the Embassy, the MoD Advisory Support Team, MNSTC—I, and other elements of the Coalition Forces, the team participated in meetings related to detention facility inspections, joint US-Iraqi anti-corruption programs, and acquisition fraud cases.
As a measure of the success of this mission, MNSTC—I is requested additional training assistance in the months to come. For example, the Investigation and Policy Oversight (IPO) staff is preparing an Investigations Course that will be presented in Baghdad in late February 2006. There are requests for an Auditing course, too. In addition to OIG training, MNSTC—I wants awareness training for military commanders and executive level leaders so that they can effectively use their inspectors general.
In an effort to bring more wide-spread resources to bear on building IG capacity in Iraq, Mr. Thomas F. Gimble, Acting DoD Inspector General, and Mr. Jerry Hansen, Deputy Inspector General for Inspections and Policy, have been working with the other federal inspectors general on the President’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency (PCIE) to initiate mentoring and assistance support for their Iraqi counterparts. These efforts will facilitate transparency and accountability in the emerging Iraq government.
Below are summaries of the two P&O-I&E projects to mentor and train Iraqi federal and military inspectors general in the concepts and functions of the IG system and the roles of the Iraqi IGs in promoting rules of law, anticorruption and human rights.
DoD OIG Support to the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, Office of the Inspector General (Project No. D2006-DIP0E3-0038)
The DoD OIG has detailed a full-time evaluator to the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq (MNSTC-I) in Baghdad to support the Iraqi Inspectors General for the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF, consisting of the Ministries of Defense (MOD) and Interior (MOI)).
Working with other MNSTC-I advisors, the DoD IG representative provides advice, mentoring, assistance, and training to the MOD and MOI IGs. The MNSTC-I IG advisory community has helped the Iraqis establish policies and procedures for such areas as:
- Inspections of detainee facilities to curb detainee abuses.
- Document control to ensure classified documents are properly protected.
- Transparent acquisition and procurement practices.
- Establishment of a military (uniformed) inspector general system for the Joint Headquarters and all three services. These advisors also participate in inspections, investigations, and audits to oversee and advise the IG staff, and to provide opportunities for on-the-job training for Iraqi staff members.
Finally, these advisors have begun detailed planning to deliver interim training to the MOD IG staff. This training will fill an immediate need until an Iraqi-operated educational institution for professional development is established.
The DoD Assistant Inspector General for Inspections and Evaluations operates a “reachback office” at Headquarters, Washington, D.C., to provide operational guidance, inter-agency coordination, and administrative assistance to the ISF IG advisory team.
Iraqi Anti-Corruption & Principled Governance Initiative (Project No. D2006-DIP0E3-0256)
This new project supports the Department of State (DoS) IG initiative to provide advisory support to the entire Iraqi Anti-Corruption system, which includes the 29 ministerial Inspectors General, the Commission on Public Integrity, the Board of Supreme Audit and the Central Criminal Court of Iraq. The DoD IG will participate in the DoS IG’s plan for interested PCIE members to send advisors to Iraq on a rotational basis.
