“When you have this kind of attack on oversight, who’s going to tell the truth? Who’s going to be brave enough to speak up about what’s happening?” former Inspector General Hannibal “Mike” Ware asked in a recent interview with the Source, summing up the consequences he sees in President Donald Trump’s recent removals of federal independent oversight officials.
Ware, one of eight former federal inspectors general who have joined in a lawsuit against Trump, warned that stripping away the statutory protections designed to preserve the independence of these offices endangers the public’s right to know how their tax dollars are spent.
“The thing is that inspectors general have separate protections that guard against the wanton removal of the oversight mechanism,” Ware noted. “These positions are nonpartisan, apolitical, and independent. You don’t want those removed and replaced by loyalists who are beholden to the administration. Without these safeguards, the public can never really know what’s happening with their tax dollars.”
At the heart of the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is a legal requirement – rooted in the Inspector General Act – that mandates the President provide Congress with a 30-day notice and a justifiable reason before removing an inspector general. Recent legal filings assert that the abrupt dismissals, en masse by email, bypass this crucial safeguard, thereby undermining the system of checks and balances designed to keep executive power in check.
“Inspectors Generals are unique in terms of their place in government — we’re the only ones who are called by law to keep both the administration and Congress fully and currently informed,” Ware explained. “This was created so that you’re informing the lawmakers about what’s happening in the executive branch, and vice versa, and it’d done in a very non-partial, nonpartisan, independent manner. That position should be able to tell the truth about what’s happening so that people know.”
Reflecting on the broader implications of these actions, Ware was clear: “This is about the institution. This is about the office of the Inspector General. Without independence, what you have are lapdogs, not watchdogs. And the cloak will always be pulled over the eyes of the people.”
Ware recounted the sobering example of Paul Martin – formerly the Inspector General of USAID, whom Ware described as a friend – who was removed almost immediately after issuing a report on Trump’s proposed restructuring of the agency that underscored severe risks to humanitarian operations. The report, according to a detailed Reuters investigation, warned that reduced oversight could, among other things, lead to mismanagement of food aid, potentially allowing valuable resources to be diverted or wasted – a finding that sparked bipartisan outrage over his swift removal.
Ware clarified that his participation in the lawsuit is not driven by personal grievances. “First of all the lawsuit is not personal to me — this isn’t some kind of personal tragedy. I do realize that the president has the right to remove and I’m completely fine with that — the checks and balances part is the reason why we’re standing up for what is right and necessary,” he said.
Drawing on his extensive experience – including his time as former chair of the Council of Inspectors General for Integrity and Efficiency – Ware noted that support for independent oversight has cut across party lines.
As the most recent inspector general of the Small Business Administration (SBA) and acting inspector general for the Social Security Administration (SSA), Ware oversaw billions in federal funds. His work at the SBA led to 1,536 indictments, 1,164 arrests, and 925 convictions related to SBA programs. The COVID-19 pandemic brought new challenges, with an estimated $200 billion, or 17 percent of SBA pandemic relief funds, potentially lost to fraud. In the Virgin Islands, Ware’s office was instrumental in significant cases, such as a $4 million hurricane recovery fraud scheme and a PPP conspiracy resulting in over $380,000 in misappropriated funds.
“The feedback we’ve been getting is pretty much overwhelmingly in support — even from those in the Republican Party who are not brave enough to stand against what is happening, but are there behind the scenes saying this is very much necessary. The most disheartening part of this is the silence of the Republic senators who were huge advocates of ours, who just two weeks before it happened set up a bipartisan IG caucus to fight for strengthening independence and when this happened, they went silent.”
Senators have called, he added, and asked what they can do.
“I said I need your voice,” Ware shared. “I need you to speak up because we are your oversight arm as well.”
