Trump also scorned the federal law requiring giving Congress 30-days notice before terminating such officials. 

Some of the inspector generals that Trump axed had done good work exposing government abuses while others had defaulted to the lap dog mode. A White House official justified the firings: "These rogue, partisan bureaucrats who have weaponized the justice system against their political enemies are no longer fit or deserve to serve in their appointed positions." The official said the firings will "make room for qualified individuals who will uphold the rule of law and protect Democracy." 

Maybe the White House wanted inspector generals who could bring bigger brooms to sweep evidence under rugs? The controversy that erupted over Trump's firings largely ignored the long history of inspector generals either being wrongfully terminated or being worse than useless. 

Politicians create facades to make citizens believe that government automatically guards against waste, fraud, and abuse. The purpose of inspector generals is to create the illusion of honest government — to make people think that oversight is going on. While inspector generals are routinely portrayed as paragons of integrity, many are appointed by the chief of the federal agency they oversee. Their jobs and budgets depend directly on the political appointees they are supposed to investigate, and they grovel accordingly.

Bush and the IGs

The George W. Bush administration throttled inspector generals who exposed too much dirt. After CIA Inspector General John Helgerson investigated whether CIA officials were guilty of torture, CIA director Michael Hayden responded by launching an investigation of the IG. Former CIA inspector general Frederick Hitz commented that Hayden's investigation would be seen as an effort to sway the IG "to call off the dogs…. The rank and file will become aware of it, and it will undercut the inspector general's ability to get the truth from them."

Homeland Security Department Inspector General Clark Kent Irvin was pressured to downplay his findings of the failures of the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) and federal terrorist watch lists. But elbowing the IG failed to prevent the TSA from becoming a laughingstock and a public menace.