**GAO-09-660R**                      Published: May 08, 2009. Publicly Released: May 08, 2009.                  

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## Highlights

This letter provides information Congress requested at the March 25, 2009, hearing entitled The Roles and Responsibilities of Inspectors General within Financial Regulatory Agencies. During the hearing, the former Inspector General (IG) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) testified that provisions of the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended (IG Act), allow the Secretary of the Department of the Treasury to prevent the IG from pursuing an investigation or audit, including the issuance of subpoenas, under certain conditions. Due to concerns about the possible inappropriate use of such authorities, Congress asked GAO to identify federal agencies that possess the authority under the IG Act to prohibit audits and investigations by their offices of inspectors general (IG offices) and to determine the extent to which such provisions have been used to limit the IGs' activities.

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## Topics

Homeland Security

AccountabilityAudit authorityConfidential communicationsCongressional powersFederal intelligence agenciesInformation accessInformation disclosureInformation managementInformation securityInspectors generalInvestigations by federal agenciesInvestigations into federal agenciesPrivileged informationSubpoenas