Glenn Fine, who had been the acting Pentagon inspector general, was informed Monday that he was being replaced by Sean O'Donnell, currently the inspector general at the Environmental Protection Agency.

Fine is a career official who had served as acting Pentagon inspector general for four years and three months. Before that he was inspector general at the Justice Department for 11 years.

The move, which was first reported by Politico, was criticized by some as another instance of the president chafing at independent oversight. On Friday, he notified Congress that he was removing Michael Atkinson as the inspector general of the intelligence community - a decision that Trump acknowledged was in response to Atkinson's having alerted lawmakers to the existence of a whistleblower complaint about the president's dealings with Ukraine. The matter ultimately led to Trump's impeachment.

"Mr. Fine is no longer on the pandemic response accountability committee," Defense Department spokeswoman Dwrena Allen said in a statement. He will, however, continue to serve in his current position of principal deputy inspector general at the Pentagon. He had until now held both the acting and deputy positions.

Because Fine is no longer acting inspector general, he is ineligible to hold the spending watchdog role.