Inspector General

He was appointed with fanfare in December as public watchdog over the government's multibillion-dollar bailout of the nation's financial system. But now Neil Barofsky, inspector general of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, is embroiled in a dispute with the Obama administration that delayed one recent inquiry and sparked questions about his ability to investigate without interference. The Treasury Department contends that Barofsky does not have a completely independent role.

Pharmacists say a government report released Thursday validates their concerns that payments under the Medicare drug benefit are driving some of them out of business. The report from the Health and Human Services inspector general showed that pharmacies are able to charge insurers about 18% more than what they pay for medicine. Also, the pharmacists get a dispensing fee of about $2.27 per prescription. But the Assn.

The CIA's internal investigative branch will be subjected to a series of new checks and controls designed to give targets of in-house probes greater ability to defend themselves, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden said in a statement to the agency's employees. Among the changes is the creation of two positions to oversee the work of the CIA's inspector general, including a "quality control officer" charged with monitoring the inspector's handling of evidence and testimony.

The U.S. government paid Parsons Corp., a Pasadena-based contractor, $142 million to build prisons, fire stations and police facilities in Iraq that it never built or finished, according to audits by a watchdog office. The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction said Parsons completed about one-third of its projects, which also included courthouses and border control stations. The inspector general's office is expected to release two detailed audits today evaluating Parsons' work.

The Environmental Protection Agency is telling its pollution enforcement officials not to talk with congressional investigators, reporters and even the agency's own inspector general, according to an internal e-mail provided to the Associated Press. The June 16 message instructs 11 managers in the EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, the branch of the agency charged with making sure environmental laws are followed, to remind their staff members to keep quiet.

A severe lack of maintenance appears to be threatening the future usefulness of some of the facilities renovated in Iraq, says a new report from the U.S. inspector general monitoring reconstruction. Inspectors reviewed eight facilities across the country -- including police stations, a military base, a hospital and a recruiting center -- to determine whether the buildings were operating at full capacity.

STUART W. BOWEN JR.'S job is to investigate alleged waste, fraud and mismanagement of the U.S. tax dollars being used to rebuild Iraq. He's done that job so well that he is himself under investigation. This is no surprise to me. Since assuming the post of special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction in 2004, Bowen has issued one damning report after another documenting the misuse of billions of dollars that should have been used to restore Iraq's economy and civil society.

The Army secretary is expected to take the rare step of recommending a retired three-star general be demoted for misleading investigators probing the military's handling of the 2004 death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman, Defense officials said Thursday. The move by Army Secretary Pete Geren would go beyond the punishment recommended by the military general assigned to review findings of a critical report earlier this year by the Pentagon inspector general.

CIA Director Michael V. Hayden has mounted a highly unusual challenge to the agency's chief watchdog, ordering an internal investigation of an inspector general who has issued a series of scathing reports sharply critical of top CIA officials, according to government officials familiar with the matter. The move has prompted concerns that Hayden is seeking to rein in an inspector general who has used the office to bring harsh scrutiny of CIA figures including former Director George J.

Congressional officials voiced new concern Tuesday over CIA Director Michael V. Hayden's decision to make the agency's inspector general the target of an internal probe. Seeking to defuse the issue, Robert L. Deitz, a senior CIA attorney in charge of the probe, briefed both the House and Senate intelligence committees Tuesday.