Despite critical report, Biden hasn’t taken disciplinary action against DHS watchdog

With a little more than a month left in the Biden administration, there is still no indication whether the White House will take action against the Homeland Security Department’s scandal-plagued inspector general.

A panel of agency inspectors general and other federal investigative officials on Oct. 2 sent a report to President Joe Biden that substantiated allegations of misconduct against Homeland Security Department IG Joseph Cuffari and recommended that the president take “appropriate action, up to and including removal.” But about two months later, Biden still has yet to take any action. 

The Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency’s integrity committee found that Cuffari provided wrongfully inaccurate and misleading answers during his nomination process to become DHS IG, spent $1.4 million to hire a law firm likely to retaliate against three OIG senior executives who questioned his qualifications and attempted to influence the firm’s independent investigation into those employees. 

Cuffari, who was appointed by Donald Trump, was also accused of diminishing and delaying reports about sexual harassment at DHS, not informing Congress in a timely and adequate manner that the Secret Service deleted text messages related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and deleting his own work-related text messages. 

Danielle Brian, the executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, in a Nov. 14 letter urged Biden to remove Cuffari before he leaves office. 

“The ball is squarely in your court. The failures of this inspector general threaten not only the work of DHS, but the work of every IG across the government,” she wrote. “POGO supports strengthening the independence and accountability of these critical watchdogs — and that includes calling for their removal when they are unable or unwilling to perform their duties.” 

POGO also was one of 19 groups, along with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and Public Citizen, to sign a Nov. 18 letter urging Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to expeditiously hold votes on pending IG nominations.

There are 10 IG vacancies across the federal government, five of which have presidential nominees awaiting Senate confirmation, including for the Treasury Department that has had an open IG position for more than five years.  

“We urge the Senate to prioritize these five confirmations during the lame-duck session. Confirming these diverse and highly qualified individuals is of paramount importance at a time when the incoming administration has made clear through its words and deeds a desire to skirt the ethical guardrails designed to prevent unlawful behavior,” the letter signatories wrote. 

Over a span of six weeks in 2020, Trump fired five inspectors general. 

Neither the White House or Schumer’s office responded to a request for comment. 

Additionally, the IG of the Intelligence Community and for the CIA recently announced that they would leave their positions around the start of the new year.