Glenn Fine, Principal Deputy Inspector General at the Department of Defense, discusses the latest Overseas Contingency Operations report, and why multiple IGs traveled abroad together to conduct the oversight.
A new report by the Lead Inspector General details a recent trip overseas to assess the state of United States military operations. Inspectors General from the Pentagon, the State Department and the US Agency for International Development traveled abroad to examine on-the-ground operations. “It is important for us as IGs that oversee our operations to see what is happening on the ground, to understand the dynamic context, to get a first-hand briefing from the leaders of the various operations there, as to what the strategy is, what the challenges are. You can’t conduct oversight from behind a desk.” said Glenn Fine, Principal Deputy Inspector General at the Department of Defense. “It is unusual that IGs travel together and do consolidated oversight… but this is a joint effort that needs a ‘whole of government’ approach.” Fine says that as of his last trip, the armed forces have been making progress in their missions overseas, but that other factors need to be considered than just military success. “There needs to be whole of government approach to make sure that ISIS does not reemerge. That’s what we are told by everyone there… It is not just a military operation, it has to be a diplomatic and governance operation, and a stabilization and humanitarian operation. There are significant displaced persons there. There needs to be economic reform. There needs to be good governance. So, we saw that there is progress, but there’s a lot to be done.”
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