DOE IG Announces Retirement

The Department of Energy’s Inspector General Gregory Friedman announced his plans to retire yesterday after serving for 17 years in his position as DOE’s investigative official. Friedman will step down effective Oct. 3, 2015, which would end his current run as longest serving Federal Inspector General at a cabinet-level agency. “While the mission is important, the Department would not be making such advancements if it was not for the extraordinary people, both federal and contractor personnel, who make the organization work,” Friedman wrote in his resignation letter to Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz. “I will miss both the excitement of working on addressing the challenges the Department faces and the chance to interact with these talented people.” Friedman issued over 1,800 reports during his tenure, which helped identify $3.6 billion in funds that could have been put to better use and $2.2 billion in questioned or unsupported costs, along with over 1,500 criminal investigations that resulted in 2,190 convictions, suspensions/debarments, and civil administrative actions and $697 million in fines, settlements, and recoveries.