Defense IG says senior executives welcome office reorganization
Senior Defense Department executives have been very receptive to an ongoing effort to streamline the management structure of the inspector general's office, Defense IG Joseph Schmitz said Monday.
The first phase of a major reorganization project reduced five tiers of management to four, boosting efficiency and freeing up time for the office to help the Pentagon earn clean financial audits and achieve other important management goals, Schmitz said in an interview with GovExec.com. Schmitz said he hopes eventually to eliminate another layer of management in his office and has asked senior executives for input. So far, he said, executives are in high spirits and are cooperating with restructuring efforts. This is partly because, to date, none has lost a job as a result of the shuffling and many have actually gained more responsibility, Schmitz explained. He said he does not expect future phases of the reorganization to result in any job losses.
Carol Bonosaro, president of the Senior Executives Association, said that as long as agency reorganizations are based on comprehensive research and planning and conducted in a fair, forthright manner, she sees no reason senior managers should object. She said some of her organization's members had expressed concern about the Defense IG office restructuring when the plan first surfaced, but said she has not heard any specific complaints recently.
"Obviously political management has a perfect right to reassign senior executives," she said. "However, it should be done for sound management reasons."
The first phase of the Defense IG reorganization has produced "nothing but good news in terms of measured improvements [to efficiency]," Schmitz said. For instance, Defense inspectors have reduced by 50 percent the amount of time necessary to process paperwork for approving and issuing subpoenas.
Under the new management structure, deputy inspectors general in four key areas-auditing, inspections and policy, investigations and intelligence-report directly to Schmitz. Previously, two assistant inspectors general, each responsible for two lower tiers of management, reported to a single deputy inspector general who, in turn, reported to Schmitz.
The old structure left Schmitz a step removed from the assistant inspector general for auditing and other critical senior executives. So when Robert Lieberman, who held the deputy position, retired in August 2002, Schmitz did not replace him. He then created the four deputy spots, elevating these deputies to the second level of leadership.
Schmitz now has direct lines of communication with senior executives in critical policy areas, including accounting. Increased contact with auditors is especially important, he said, because the Pentagon has a history of problems with financial management. The Defense Department failed its fiscal 2002 audit, keeping the entire government from earning an overall passing mark.
Defense inspectors general involved in audits must maintain their independence and stay removed from financial affairs at the Pentagon, but they can provide advice and guidance Schmitz said. "There's no reason we have to sit back and wait until the end of the train wreck and [then] say they flunked," he said.
Schmitz, along with Gene Reardon, deputy IG for auditing, will encourage accounting experts in his office to play a proactive role in helping Defense achieve a "qualified" audit opinion, by the end of fiscal 2004. There is a slim chance that the department will be able to meet this goal, Schmitz said, but there is almost no chance unless the IG office provides adequate support. A qualified opinion, meaning segments of financial statements remain unreliable, is the first step toward a clean bill of financial health.
Schmitz also hopes to increase cooperation and communications between the IG's office and other investigative bodies overseeing the Pentagon. Significant progress has already taken place on this front, he said. For instance, last year he created the Defense Council on Integrity and Efficiency, a group of 19 audit and investigative oversight offices that are separate from the IG. At regular meetings with the council, Schmitz is able to share information from other agency inspectors general and the White House. This level of communications is unprecedented, he said.