From the Washington Post:
… The acting commissioner [of Social Security] “has very serious concerns about the issues raised by The Washington Post about the inspector general’s oversight of this program,” Scott Frey, chief of staff to Kilolo Kijakazi, said in an interview. Kijakazi has scheduled a meeting with her senior staff on Monday “to discuss how to proceed,” Frey said. …
A spokesman for the Senate Finance Committee, which also has jurisdiction over Social Security, said the committee is “evaluating a number of steps” in response to the article. …
An extreme reduction in productivity has been signaling for months that something is wrong at OIG.
314 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 314 of 314Imagine if an individual's checking account at their bank received extra thousands of dollars or so in it. Whether an error on the bank's part or the checking account holder's part, it can be guaranteed no "waiver" would be provided. It is not the checking account holder's money.
At a minimum, personal integrity and self-respect on behalf of the checking account holder would dictate alerting the bank and ensuring ethical corrective action occurred.
If Alpert did not earn the salary correctly (hence an overpayment occurred) it should be paid back in full to the American taxpayers. If Alpert's initial appointment was inappropriate then it was inappropriate. American taxpayers must be made whole again.
‼️This cannot be overlooked or downplayed.
The head of SSA OIG’s Whistleblower Department testified under oath that IG Ennis demands loyalty and “that dissent for disclosures about possible violations of law or ethical rules are not tolerated. And that if you dissent…the best case scenario is that you're marginalized, worst case scenario is that adverse action is taken against you. But you lose your right to speak at that point, and you definitely lose your place at the table.”
Members of the Office of Investigations (special agents) started publicly (through town halls, all hands calls, OHC meetings, FLEOA) voicing their disapproval and concern for Ennis and Alpert’s “violations of law and ethical rules” related to them redirecting specifically earmarked congressional funding for special agents and instead using that funding to hire dozens of their WilmerHale, SIGTARP and high school friends.
THEN while all paid training was ceased for special agents during the pandemic, Ennis and Alpert sent Alpert’s high school friend Jimmy Van Der Shalie, a laywer, to a $15,000 analytics training to learn how to collect data to spy on employees.
THEN Ennis and Alpert weaponize Van Der Shalie and his new $15,000 analytics training against ONLY the Office of Investigations (special agents). When asked why only special agents were targeted by this analytical computer spying, Ennis and Alpert said it was because they were easiest group to collect data from.
This is not a coincidence. Ennis and Alpert retaliated against its law enforcement branch for asking too many questions. THIS should be the Washington Post or GOVEXEC’s next story.‼️
Didn’t Michelle Murray also attend a very expensive Harvard leadership training program while training dollars were cut for front line staff?
Yes, thank you 3:08 PM June 5, 2022 poster. The clarification here puts this situation in perspective and further shows the ingrained rot at the SES level here in this OIG, even with legacy SESers like Walker participating in this nonsense. All 16 or so SESers need to be looked into here.
Waivers should only be provided as a last resort, or if it is proven an inability to pay or the amount is deemed inconsequential or inefficient to collect.
Alpert works in the SSA OIG and is paid an SES salary. Collection, either through periodic payments or in a lump sum, would be easy peasy. This waiver borders on criminality and even bribery or internal payoff if this situation truly occured. And IG Ennis hammers poor Americans with massive fines well above and beyond the amount owed back in the CMP environment in this OIG office? The arrogance and duplicity is grotesque.
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Two years ago, Senator Grassley, a strong supporter of IGs, outlined the standards for a good IG versus a bad one. Does IG Ennis meet the standards for a good IG? Not from what I have read on this blog.
Senator Grassley stated,
“ So, what makes a good Inspector General?
If I’ve learned anything about oversight in my time in Congress, it’s that this type of work is not for the faint-hearted, thin-skinned or thick-headed.
You need a strong code of professionalism to withstand pressures to go-along-to-get-along.
You need a real backbone to wring wrongdoing from the bowels of the bureaucracy.
You need a quick wit to look on smiling faces and discern truths from half-truths and bald faced lies.
And, the law says that IGs are supposed to be objective and independent.
They have to be fierce watchdogs, not lapdogs.
They can’t bow to personal agendas or political machinations, and they shouldn’t be subject to inappropriate political pressures from any quarter.
When IGs are working hard, staying independent, and shining a light on waste, fraud, and abuse, they should stay.
But, when they don’t put in the work, when they pull punches, when they become political hacks, or when they compromise their vital independence, they must go.
For many years, I’ve investigated and held IGs accountable from both Democrat and Republican administrations for these very failures.”
https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-important-role-inspectors-general
An earlier post tried to credit Gail Ennis with appointing the first female to head OI. It should be noted that that Jennifer Walker was DAIGI and had acted as AIGI since 2018 before Ennis arrived. Instead of making Jennifer Walker permanent AIGI, Ennis and Alpert directed HR to establish a new AIGI position in the 905 (attorney) series. SSA OIG had never had an AIGI who was not an 1811. They opened a vacancy from 4/18/19-6/3/19 in hopes of finding an attorney to give the job to. It was only after no qualified person was on the applicant list that they reluctantly gave the job to the career 1811 who had been doing the job for a year in an acting capacity - Jennifer Walker. If they had wanted Jennifer Walker as AIGI, why did they try to find an attorney first? So no, I don’t give them any credit for hiring the “first female AIGI”. Also, wasn’t IG Dave Williams’ AIGI a woman named Olive Franklin?
And where is Joscelyn Funnie’ now? She won her case of whistleblower retaliation and was given back an SES position and it is assumed she got back pay to when she was fired. Which means she was paid for over 2 years to not work while on admin leave for a year and then back pay for while she was illegally fired and fighting for her job back. A big waste of taxpayer funds for no value. Then when she was brought back, why wasn’t she returned to a position with duties similar to her prior position. The Deputy Assistant IG for Technology position was open and candidates were being interviewed when Joscelyn’s case was settled, but instead of placing her in it, the vacancy announcement was abruptly closed without being filled.
Joscelyn previously served as AIG of ORM when it included IT, so it would be hard to argue she wasn’t qualified for the position. Did the position get closed without a selection just to avoid placing Joscelyn in a position where she would gain knowledge of what is happening in the organization? In such a position, she would know if the monitoring of employee keystrokes on their laptops continues or starts up again. Instead of putting her into a position she effectively previously held, it appears they sidelined her in a made-up position in OCSO, and no one sees her in meetings or hears about what she is working on. Instead of giving her a job with real duties, are they just having her get paid to essentially do nothing? Are they keeping her sidelined so that she won’t know what other illegal acts they are taking since she blew the whistle on them once already and might do so again?
A lawyer running a cop shop? That is downright sickening and not MISSION focused. That is imploding the MISSION. The lawyer-related disruption and cancerous toxicity is everywhere here.
So, according to this post, there must have been only one SES at the Systems Office level (the AIG for Technology) who must have been aware of this keyboard snooping and time management OI travesty, right? But silence and a "let's just go along" (or abject ignorance) ruled it appears. Or maybe more insidious intentions.
It appears Funnie would have been highly qualified for the DAIG for Technology position. What has Funnie been sidelined doing since she returned to the SSA OIG after two years fighting her whistle-blower retaliation case?
Hopefully all of the staffers in Senator Grassley's downtown DC and local Iowa offices have all been alerted to this blog too.
Many posts have discussed the use of the attorney special hiring authority to bring in attorney friends then placing them in positions that do not require the employee to be an attorney, such as administrative positions or IT positions, but no one has mentioned when they used the economist hiring authority to bring in a Friend of Ben. They never had any intention of using him as an economist, so why use that authority? Was it just to avoid the competition that should have happened to bring him into the position if it was posted under competitive service as it should have been? This individual didn’t qualify for the attorney series, their usual way to bypass competition and veterans preference, so they switched to a series with special hiring authority that he did qualify for: economist. SSA OIG has never in its 28 years hired an economist and still does not have one on staff despite hiring one, so did they use that hiring authority just to bring on an employee without competition to work in an IT position?
There are additional attorneys who are working or have worked in IT positions also, besides Van Der Shalie. All of those hires should be reviewed to see how the IG/DIG got the person into the position without competition and consideration of veterans preference and ICTAP lists. If/when we get to see the OPM workforce analysis report the IG is hiding from everyone, maybe we will see that OPM already found these irregularities and that is why the report is being hidden?
This appears to be yet another illegal activity. This blog and the SSA OIG itself appears littered with many, many illegal activities and criminal activities since 2019. All perpetuated by Ennis, Alpert and their many lawyer friends, acquaintenances and former associates. This blog has exploded with valuable insights, observations and FACTS it seems.
The Office of Audit did lose a damn good statistician last December. He had been with the SSA OIG for more than 20 years. He was a true statistician and huge asset with audit sampling and analysis but we lost him to another federal agency. He must have been sick of this environment. I hope he is well. I bet he is much happier. There is NO need for an economist in the SSA OIG. But the Office of Audit sure could use another really good statistician.
Get this… If you read the MSPB document in Shaw’s case, it discusses how IG Ennis granted an age waiver for an SSA OIG attorney (non veteran) who wanted to be a special agent but was older than the maximum special agent entry age of 37. When has ANYONE EVER heard of a civilian being granted an age waiver to be a special agent when they were NOT a veteran?! Every action Ennis and Alpert take reeks of corruption.
SSA OIG FEVS scores of 13% of employees respond that senior leaders generate high levels of motivation and commitment to the workforce; 22% of employees respond that SSA OIG senior leadership maintain high standards of honesty and integrity; and 21% respond that they have a high level of respect for senior leaders, etc, with the low scores continuing.
So, these are obviously failing scores ("F" on a report card). My question is for the many congressional staffers reading this blog. Are agency heads, like the SSA IG, being held accountable for these failing scores? Are they required to put a plan in place to obtain "passing" scores within a certain time frame or face consequences? Or, is this survey just another waste of government resources with no consequences to agency heads who fail in their organizational leadership? Taxpayers deserve answers to these questions.
FEVS sounds just like a dog and pony show. You can put lipstick on a pig but it is still a pig. OPM take note. There is no excuse why the toxicity has festered SO long in this OIG.
Attorney was probably enticed by the 25% LEAP pay provided to federal agents - although the most dangerous weapons he/she probably has ever held are a pen and notepad. Just the kind of person I want fighting alongside me in a foxhole or when trying to arrest a dangerous SSA fraudster. Just another lawyer here taking away valuable resources that should be appropriately used to enforce SSA integrity. Yes, this appears to be corruption.
This announcement?
https://www.usajobs.gov/job/530954000
https://www.usajobs.gov/job/530954000
This is a link to the AIGI posting in the 905 series in case anyone wondered whether that post was factual.
The date of this announcement shows the intent that IG ENNIS appeared to have the modus operandi of stacking this OIG with lawyers from the very beginning of her tenure. The application window for this announcement just celebrated its 3rd birthday. She appears to not have had any intentions of viewing what was or wasn't working, conducting any type of workforce analysis, or respect for law enforcement officers to lead law enforcement officers. Seeking someone to head of the Office of Investigations WITHOUT arrest authority or carrying a weapon? Might as well have a lawyer leading an entire division of troops in a US Army division.
In this case actions speak SO much louder than any words could have. This disdain was ingrained from the very beginning. It appears she is an acolyte of Steve Bannon, whose intent is to deconstruct and destroy the administrative state.
“77+ special agents have either retired or quit to work for other agencies that value them.“
I apologize, this was old data. Since Ennis was appointed, 94+ special agents have either retired or quit to work for other agencies that value them. This is in a workforce of approximately 200 special agents.
Think about that, almost 50% of an entire workforce detests Ennis and Alpert SO MUCH, they made a career jump to a complete unknown. I know of at least 8 special agents who are in the hiring process with other law enforcement agencies or are retiring early.
This makes me so angry! No matter what OI leadership does to better the lives of it’s special agents, it’s futile. Until Ennis and Alpert are gone, we can never be the top agency that we once were. That being said, I personally choose not to leave, even with a guaranteed job at a great agency. Why should WE leave? We helped build this place into something great! They destroyed that, they are the problem… THEY should leave.
The American public and taxpayers appreciate you. Just remember, if the removal of Ennis, Alpert and many others does not proceed in a quick and timely fashion, other opportunities would undoubtedly be better. No need to stay on a sinking ship - although admirable. You may stay because you built it, but you will also go down with it as it continues to implode. This OIG has a gaping hole below the waterline that may be impossible to turn around for another three to five years. There is a lot of deadwood and toxicity that must be removed.
All good federal employees would acknowledge their customers, first and foremost, are their fellow Americans. If you can serve the American public better elsewhere, you may want to consider jumping. Escape the stench and start smelling flowers again.
I hear you brother (or sister), I also am not leaving. The last three and a half years have been a nightmare. But here’s the thing, I was hired to go after fraud, waste, and abuse and to protect taxpayers. If I give up/leave —which is what they really want— and don’t fight against corruption in my own agency, then what kind of example is that? I don’t blame any 1811 who has already left or is planning to leave, I really don’t, but that’s just not how I roll. I will stay and do whatever I can in my power to expose these disgraceful people.
Someone had a comment on this that no one cares, and it is sad but true that despite the FLEOA vote of no confidence, despite people going to the press and Congress, despite people leaving by the dozens, NO ONE CARES. CIGIE is corrupt too. Why did CIGIE leadership think Gail Ennis belonged on the CIGIE Integrity Committee? Those of you waiting for the CIGIE investigation results eagerly - why do you expect they'll do better now than they did when they thought Gail represented the community for the Integrity Committee?
CIGIE and the IG community is filled with lawyers hired through excepted service with no job advertisements because selectees are hand-picked without competition. Presidential administration after administration then makes those lawyers IGs, not realizing that these people have exploited the federal hiring system to avoid competitive service and veterans preference requirements because lawyers are so special. Every lawyer will tell you they can run HR, audits, and investigations better than professionals in any of these fields. The current heads of CIGIE are both lawyers and I heard one of them once say 1811s weren't a specialized profession like lawyers were - and he ran an investigations office! There has been lawyer creep across the IG community for years, and the IG community isn't better for it.
This CIGIE post is so damn depressing and probably accurate.
Can someone unpack this story for me?
https://www.govexec.com/oversight/2021/01/former-homeland-security-watchdog-officials-fostered-divisiveness-disorder-and-dissension-report-finds/171694/
Why in the heck would WilmerHale be conducting a CIGIE type of investigation at an OIG? I feel like I’m in the twilight zone or House of Cards with all of these shady people/law firms continuously popping up in powerful positions/situations where they don’t belong, all because of their influence, alliances or checkbook.
I must be the most naive person in the world to expect heads to roll for this dumpster fire 🔥.
These observations are exactly why multiple sources of investigation and oversight must be involved with this morass in the SSA OIG. And it really starts and ends with President Biden, who can remove ENNIS immediately just like he did SSA COSS SAUL last year.
Everyone keep their chins up. Karma often does win for those who fight the good fight. Our fellow Americans are counting on us here.
Smart congressional staffers, outside federal government watchdogs and the press should be smart enough to see through the CIGIE and WILMERHALE connections here and in past federal OIG crises. CIGIE investigating here is incestuous. Hopefully the smart folks in power will smell this, or at least have quite a bit of healthy skepticism here.
This would make a great Dateline episode (cue Keith Morrison). We can call it "The Thing About Gail." Maybe Renee Zellweger will play the lead role!
I can’t help but wonder if CIGIE gave her the “Integrity” Committee membership as a “thank you” to WilmerHale for their investigation into DHS OIG…Much like the “thank you” Trump gave WilmerHale (nominating Gail to be the SSA OIG IG) for representing his daughter, son in law and campaign manager.
I don’t intend for this to be a tin foil hat spin off but please explain to me why…Why would Ennis, making two million dollars a year at her cushy partner job ever want to be an inspector general government employee? Why would she want to plant so many of her WilmerHale friends throughout the SSA OIG for years— if not decades—to come? Is it to later climb into higher, more influential government positions? Is it to dismantle a federal law enforcement group — don’t forget about Trump’s distain for the FBI—? Is it to cripple the OI & OA oversight of SSA fraud, waste and abuse so much so that more people support privatizing SSA? Are we so infuriated with her actions that we can’t see the forest for the trees?
Do not let defeatism creep in here. It has within some folks who are mentioned throughout this blog.
This environment requires actions to solve. And if not solved, good federal servants can serve Americans elsewhere. Do not cultivate a mindset of retreating (especially if moving on) - just see yourself attacking America's problems from another direction. In military terms, is this hill really worth the professional and personal hells you are experiencing?
If those in power look askance as this OIG implodes then those in power will be responsible for picking up the pieces.
I’m not defeated.
I’m just getting started.
6:-7pm here. Definitely not defeated, but wanted to point out that some of the heroes people are hoping will save them are unlikely to and we'd better take different tactics. CIGIE protects IGs, not employees.
Let’s not leave out the friends of Michelle Murray. How many ICE attorneys did she bring over to do her dirty work as she did the IG’s dirty work? She created a whole new employment law division inside OCIG, and its sole purpose appears to be to wage war on 1811s.
Yes. Thanks for guidance. Smart post way up front here. Good observations and comments continuously hitting this blog. Started up May 22nd and remaining very informative.
Other press outlets running with story.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a40176217/trump-social-security-inspector-general-huge-fines/
Comments in comments section to this article mention "cruelty" repeatedly.
I agree that the supervisors sided with the reprimanded staff. In OA, supervisors defended the staff auditors to no avail. When “surveys” are conducted, one would think that a survey is optional. I don’t believe anyone chose to not respond to the survey in order to defy management. In certain situations, it was my understanding that several staff submitted the survey but the results were not received. However, those staff were still reprimanded.
Whoever said that Franco cares about the field and “gets it” was spot on. This dude has been fighting an uphill battle since day one. He onboarded on the heels of the Ennis-Alpert “spy-gate” and has so far only made decisions that have the 1811 interest’s and morale in mind. This is what brave, competent, empathetic leadership looks like. Hopefully his superiors and peers are taking notes.
I put this into a readable format since there is zero chance Ennis/Alpert post the results publicly for the American taxpayer. Notice how every silly topic makes it into the IG newsletter but they send out the FEVS results in an email link that directs you to three spreadsheets worth of random data? If the FEVS results had been positive or had improved, you can bet they would have been color coded with clip art pictures on the front page of the newsletter and released immediately (in April).
Regardless, here we go…
**I recommend SSA OIG as a good place to work**
Before ENNIS/ALPERT:
2018: 76%
After ENNIS/ALPERT:
2021: 28%
**In SSA OIG, senior leaders generate high levels of motivation and commitment in the workforce**
Before ENNIS/ALPERT:
2018: 47%
After ENNIS/ALPERT:
2021: 13%
**SSA OIG’s senior leaders maintain high standards of honesty and integrity**
Before ENNIS/ALPERT:
2018: 62%
After ENNIS/ALPERT:
2021: 22%
**I have a high level of respect for SSA OIG’s senior leaders**
Before ENNIS/ALPERT:
2018: 60%
After ENNIS/ALPERT:
2021: 30%
**How satisfied are you with your involvement in decisions that affect your work**
Before ENNIS/ALPERT:
2018: 64%
After ENNIS/ALPERT:
2021: 30%
**I am given a real opportunity to improve my skills in my organization.**
Before ENNIS/ALPERT:
2018: 78%
After ENNIS/ALPERT:
2021: 43%
**My work gives me a feeling of personal accomplishment.**
Before ENNIS/ALPERT:
2018: 77%
After ENNIS/ALPERT:
2021: 63%
**I know what is expected of me on the job.**
Before ENNIS/ALPERT:
2018: 89%
After ENNIS/ALPERT:
2021: 57%
**My talents are used well in the workplace.**
Before ENNIS/ALPERT:
2018: 70%
After ENNIS/ALPERT:
2021: 51%
**My workload is reasonable**
Before ENNIS/ALPERT:
2018: 66%
After ENNIS/ALPERT:
2021: 55%
**I know how my workload relates to SSA OIG’s goals**
Before ENNIS/ALPERT:
2018: 90%
After ENNIS/ALPERT:
2021: 62%
**Leaders communicate the goals of SSA OIG**
Before ENNIS/ALPERT:
2018: 75%
After ENNIS/ALPERT:
2021: 33%
**I can disclose a suspected violation of any law, rule or regulation without fear of reprisal.**
Before ENNIS/ALPERT:
2018: 70%
After ENNIS/ALPERT:
2021: 50%
**SSA OIG is successful at accomplishing its mission**
Before ENNIS/ALPERT:
2018: 88%
After ENNIS/ALPERT:
2021: 48%
**Considering everything, how satisfied are you with your job?**
Before ENNIS/ALPERT:
2018: 78%
After ENNIS/ALPERT:
2021: 47%
**Considering everything, how satisfied are you with SSA OIG**
Before ENNIS/ALPERT:
2018: 72%
After ENNIS/ALPERT:
2021: 28%
It’s funny how now, after all of this uproar, we have to have a more “intimate” meeting with the IG to discuss our concerns. Does she actually think we are going to be open and candid when the meetings are held? After what what happened to Shaw and Funnie’, I think not!
Most (in excess of 80% probably) will not believe or respect a word ENNIS and ALPERT mutter after multiple town halls, survey after survey after survey with no actions taken, and the FEVS results. And the problem is much more than just these two - the rot has metasticized and spread to all corners of the SSA OIG. As both are lawyers this solution is to be expected. Just talk, talk, talk.
Expecting these two to about-face and change now is about as probable as successfully growing a cornfield in the Artic Circle. Or serving snocones on the surface of the sun. The SSA OIG is in a listless, unproductive and demoralized funk - nothing will change until these two individuals, and some others, are pushed out or leave on their own.
If they haven't listened in years ENNIS and ALPERT are not worthy of trust in a bunch of "intimate" meetings. All of their prior actions have already spoken volumes for these two. Folks like these simply want to talk because they like to hear themselves talking and have kidded themselves in a narcisstic manner that they can improve. Does not matter if only about 5% or so of the audience actually believes in them or is truly listening. The lapdogs and syncophats will look interested at least. These two began burning their bridges back in 2019 and the inferno is still blazing away.
Both need to resign to save face and show the world and themselves any sense of self-respect and personal dignity. Both are living in a dreamland fantasy if they think any further talking or meetings are in any way going to help here. Run for the hills if ENNIS brings along any of her pets and offers them up as emotional support animals - or sends out another pre-read assignment about more penguins or other assorted struggling birds. And beware of these meetings becoming a forum to research or dig up dirt on folks for retaliatory or disciplinary purposes. History provides valuable lessons.
Ennis and Alpert just do not get it. Hanging around is a non-starter if this federal OIG is going to turn a corner and improve for SSA beneficiaries and US taxpayers.
Let's play a game for the sake of perspective - kind of like the FEVS survey. Please choose the correct answer to the following question...
Many, many folks on this blog, and elsewhere, would probably believe Ennis and Alpert like to hang around like:
(A) Those darned teenage pimples;
(B) Intestinal gas passed in a sealed holding chamber;
(C) The in-laws' seven day old leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner;
(D) The Orioles in last place again in MLB's AL East;
(E) Itchy flareups;
(F) Ketchup and mustard stains on your new sofa;
(G) Gum stuck to the sole of your shoe;
(H) Neighbor's present from their dog in your yard stuck to the sole of your shoe;
(I) All of the above.
Will we get better than a 95% "in agreement" answer rate to rival the FLEOA survey results from last year?
Holy $hit!
Seeing these FEVS results in print compared to where we were in 2018 is nothing short of devastating.
“Ennis has defended her leadership and said some employees bristle at changes when a new leader comes in.” -Washington Post article 6/1/22
How can she lack this much self-awareness? I am genuinely embarrassed for her.
"Intimate?" Too late. The train with passengers expecting a cozy, warm, snug, clubby, comfy and chummy rally around the campfire left the station in 2019. It started up a busy route of one way trips for passengers escaping to anywhere else. And many remain lined up on the departure platform as we speak. Only the foolhardy and clueless are passengers on inbound trains and God help them.
If Ennis and Alpert are defending their leadership in WAPO articles after drops of 100% to 200+% in positivity rankings over a three year span on numerous 2021 FEVS questions, it must be questioned if abject cluelessness, ignorance, disassociation and Monty Python Quixotic pilgrimages are at play here. How can the quotes in the WAPO articles in any way measure up with the pulse of the patients in the hospital beds?
The stink they are trying to dissipate through their smokescreens elicits howling laughter better than a SNL skit. Nice try, but most of the population does not live in a van down by the river.
This upcoming Town Hall with the IG was scheduled well before the Washington Post article dropped so she doesn’t get any credit for trying to address the latest scandal dumpster fire. I guarantee she would rather not have it.
She hadn’t addressed the entire SSA/OIG workforce since early 2020 so she decided to pencil us in. She hadn’t even met with the OHC —even one single time— until she decided to meet with mostly new OHC members recently to address workforce concerns—from a YEAR ago.
This last ditch attempt to finally engage with SSA/OIG will surely fall flat since she lacks charisma, likability or self awareness. Not to mention the damage is already done, the workforce despises her and wants her gone. Before anyone accuses me of attacking her this way because she’s female, I’ll just say this, Ben is even worse than she is in all three of these categories. At least she’s not fresh out of high school.
She will deflect and say:
“Let the CIGIE/DOJ investigators do their jobs.”
“This (CIGIE investigation) doesn’t affect day to day operations.”
—a talking point she used with OIG leadership and one OI leadership adopted with their call with the field—
“We support our law enforcement branch, after all we created the MCU and ‘Slam the Scam.“
More of the same BS.
Anyone of marginal oversight and investigative skills will quickly come to the conclusion here that these massive drops in positivity in the 2020 and 2021 FEVS is traceable to the massive hiring of dozens of attorneys and SESes and GS-15s with no SSA programmatic or policy knowledge or experience with WILMERHALE and SIGTARP connections - and FOBs (friends of Ben like his high school buddy).
Just ask any of these attorneys for any productivity stats or how their performance is measured. What true value have they been providing to Americans? How have they contributed to any output measures or results reported in the semiannual reports to Congress? Remember, the CMP program is on hiatus, so what have (and are) are all these lawyers doing? And how many have been reassigned or dumped into positions that have NOTHING to do with being a lawyer?
The linkage and relationship between FEVS results and these activities of Ennis and Alpert is damningly clear and apparent. Oversight and investigative personnel will come to rational conclusions rather quickly here if some simple personnel hiring records, bonus records, reassignment records and alumni pipeline research is conducted.
"A bad leader can take a good staff and destroy it, causing the best employees to flee and the remainder to lose all motivation" - Joseph Lalonde
Based on the town hall today, IG Ennis still does not seem to understand that with the Washington Post articles on her retaliating against whistleblower employees and all the disclosures posted on this blog about unethical and potentially criminal actions, there is no recovering from this. She seems to think that having staff meetings, holding a town hall, setting up work groups, etc. is going to fix this. It won’t. She has lost the trust and confidence of more than 75% of the staff based on the latest FEVS survey. That level of lost trust is not something you can recover from. She just has to wake up to the fact that she’s done here. She can try to stick around and hang on while CIGIE and others conduct their investigations, but that just prolongs the chaos instead of ending it. This OIG cannot start to rebuild until she and her sycophants in leadership move on. When the investigations confirm the information reported by the Washington Post and disclosed on this blog, she will be fired. Better to leave on her own terms now instead of waiting for the axe to fall. Her fellow IG from WilmerHale, former IG Wertheimer dragged out the chaos for years at FHFA OIG before finally resigning when she was reportedly about to be fired. IG Ennis needs to go ahead and leave. Don’t drag this out for months or years trying to hang on. It is a lost cause. You had over 3 years here and many missed opportunities to do the right thing by your staff, but chose to not do so time and time again. It’s too little, too late now.
You just can’t be an IG AND be found by a judge to have retaliated against a whistleblower. Those 2 facts are incompatible! The SSA IG is supposed to protect SSA employees who blow the whistle. How can any SSA whistleblower feel safe coming forward to an IG who was found to have retaliated against her own employees who raised legitimate concerns? IG Ennis is incapable of doing the job if she cannot be relied upon to protect whistleblowers. It’s just that simple.
Anyone catch that she didn’t even read the mandated book or take the leadership training she forced on the field?
Do as I say, not as I do…
Rules for thee but not for me!
The lack of self-awareness, self-respect and systemic arrogance throughout the upper ranks here is appaling, yet comical.
Reminds many of Charlie Brown in Peanuts who could never kick the football with Lucy holding. Charlie earned his Blockhead nickname. And no matter how many baths Pig Pen would take, he always remained Pig Pen with a dust cloud. Pity on poor Linus who tried to will the Great Pumpkin into existence, but it never showed up.
Same repeated approach expecting different results in this OIG reinforces the definition of insanity. Most of us learned this playing with toys and friends in the sandbox as five year olds. No matter how many times you threw sand up in the air, it was going to get in everyone's hair, even if you thought it was just going to disappear or blow away.
Hello Everyone. As a retiree I was wondering how did the Town Hall meeting go? Did the IG and DIG answer all of your burning questions? Did they provide a road map on how they are going to fix the many problems at the SSA OIG? Did they discuss how they are going to build trust and confidence with Senior management? Probably not!!! Just the same old song and dance, which doesn’t benefit anyway.
Alpert' high school buddy Van der Schalie is on the move again! This highly salaried lawyer started out in 2019 flying all around the country interviewing dozens of OIG personnel as part of a disbanded "strategy and performance" office research effort. No final report or dissemination of any findings or recommendations was ever released OIG-wide by this office.
Then he was dumped into the OIG Systems Office where he took a very expensive training class and then participated in the OI keystroke and computer monitoring debacle.
Now he has been recently dumped into the OIG Resource Management Office to perform some type of "oversight." This expensive lawyer over a three year period has been bouncing around like a marble in an arcade pinball machine or bumper cars at the local amusement park. Is he not good at being a lawyer and able to work in the OIG Counsel Office? Why bouncing around to all these other offices requiring different expertise, skillsets, and professional knowledge? Is this a futile effort to just determine what will stick eventually?
What deliverables or accomplishments have been produced in support of the American taxpayers and SSA beneficiaries with this journey? Why is this bouncing around allowed by Ennis, Alpert and SES executives regarding this lawyer? Time to peer through the haze and smoke here and determine the reasoning behind all of this. And Van der Schalie not the only bumper car in this carnival.
So the IG made all 450 or so OIG employees read 2 books on change management and attend a related training class, but she didn’t bother to do the same training? That is not leadership. And what problem was she trying to fix by requiring the books and training? The problems are not with the staff. The problems are a lack of executive leadership and vision. When the IG herself decides to get involved in making every decision on the scope and methodology of every audit and major investigation, it is clear she doesn’t trust anyone’s judgement besides her own. The result is a demoralized, micro-managed work force and minuscule productivity.
Any person reading these WAPO articles, analyzing the FEVS results and interpreting these blog comments would intelligently conclude that the blame is on SSA/OIG Senior Executives and not staff. Blaming this on staff, keep this in mind:
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel" - Maya Angelou
If you enjoy Angelou you will also appreciate Alder...
"Narcissists are consumed with maintaining a shallow false self to others. They're emotionally crippled souls that are addicted to attention. Because of this they use a multitude of games, in order to receive adoration. Sadly, they are the most ungodly of God's creations because they don't show remorse for their actions, take steps to make amends or have empathy for others. They are morally bankrupt.
Narcissists will never tell you the truth. They live with the fear of abandonment and can't deal with facing their own shame. Therefore, they will twist the truth, downplay their behavior, blame others and say what ever it takes to remain the victim. They are master manipulators and conartists that don't believe you are smart enough to figure out the depth of their disloyalty. Their needs will always be more important than telling you any truth that isn't in their favor.
- Shannon L. Alder
Ennis, Alpert and some others...it is past time to go. Many remember Ennis wearing high heels daily upon her arrival in 2019, and before you knew it, most of the OIG front office sheep were also in high heels.
When the vast majority of your staff has lost complete confidence in you not only as executives but also as people, your ability to do good things is FUBAR. If you do not know what FUBAR means, asked a veteran.
As prior posts have noted, it is time for IG Ennis to wake up to the fact that she needs to leave. There is no way for her to now fix the situation that she and her cronies from WilmerHale and SIGTARP created here at SSA OIG. You can’t be the person who breaks trust with over 90% of your employees, then expect to be able to also be the one who rebuilds. It just doesn’t work that way. Someone else with no history with the staff of broken promises will need to come in to save this sinking ship.
Even though IG Ennis still seems to have her head in the sand that she needs to go, her closest advisors are seeing the writing on the wall for her future. They likely haven’t told her, but I heard that after the no confidence vote from FLEOA, they met without her to discuss what would happen next if/when she had to step down. Did they meet again after the WAPO article? Do they realize they have to go too, or are they as clueless as IG Ennis about their own need to move on? How many of her inner circle are situationally aware enough to have resumes out already?
If they are lucky enough to find a new job before her failure taints permanently their future prospects, how will they spin that with her to explain their departures? Claim they are taking time off to spend with their children like one prior executive who left did, or will they have the courage to be honest about why they are jumping off this sinking ship? It is only a matter of time until this group starts turning on each other and running as fast as they can to new jobs. Does the IG realize that or is she completely clueless?
Regarding her heels, I couldn’t care less if they wore stilettos, clown shoes or cowboy boots so long as she exuded competence, empathy and emotional intelligence for them to also emulate. 👠
As she said in the town hall, “I don’t know what else we can do [to fix the morale issue she created with her biggest component].”
She’s right! There is likely nothing they can do to fix this…which to any other person with self awareness would signal…it’s time to go!
I know of at least two people that submitted questions asking if she considered resigning. But of course so many people are afraid of her and those hard questions were never relayed to her in the town hall.
I can’t tell if her feigned ignorance from the Denver ASAC’s question is legit. Is it the first time anyone has given it to her straight or is it because she’s just so good at dodging?
Feign Ignorance Description: “If the other person wants to talk about something and you do not, then you can sometimes shorten the conversation (or even kill it stone dead) by pretending that you know little or nothing about the subject. This is particularly useful when they are seeking information from you.”
If your doctor says to you, "I don't know what else we can do," then hospice is the next destination for you. If your vet says to you, "I don't know what else we can do," the Rainbow Bridge is the next destination for your furball.
Ennis' displays of ignorance are comical to all of those who see right through them.
The healing will only begin with the removal of Ennis, Alpert, Bungard and multiple other cronies. The cancer continues to metasticize and spread each day they remain.
This IG does not care. The quicker people catch on to this, the better off they will be. It does not matter why you leave or what you tell her when you leave. It does not matter if she has a clue or not.
Co-dependency is not going to help here. Smart folks will move on. Dumb folks will sit around wondering what ENNIS thinks and if they are hurting her feelings or helping her reach a level of better understanding or comprehension.
Saying I don’t know what to do to address staff morale just shows her lack of ability to lead. This is leadership 101 stuff. You empower employees to do their job and you don’t have to worry about morale or staff turnover. Professional staff have education and experience that put them in a position to know how to do their jobs. As a leader, you need to get them the tools they need (especially investigative and audit staff) then get out of their way and let them do their jobs. You are there when they need an executive level decision, but you stay out of the day to day work. You empower your SACs and Audit Directors to run their divisions and hold them accountable to do their job. Holding staff accountable does help with morale because if staff see other employees getting away with slacking, they are then unhappy. It may sound counter intuitive, but holding staff accountable to reasonable goals helps morale. Rewarding excellence also helps, but you have to be sure you are clear on why awards are given. Giving awards without explaining why the behavior was worthy of an award doesn’t help.
You set a clearly articulated mission and vision and you set reasonable goals. You don’t take away supervisors’ ability to decide what training their staff needs and you don’t make them get HQs approval to buy a pen! To build morale and trust, you do not lie to your staff. When you have to make an unpopular decision, you do not try to hide information from staff (since it always gets out anyway), you explain why you made the decision you made. Staff will accept bad news if they understand the reason the decision was made. They will not understand lies and deceptions.
IG Ennis treats some of the lawyers as empowered employees, but no other professionals in this organization. She micromanages and second guesses every decision or brings in an attorney to do that for her. How many attorneys does she have reading and editing each audit report? How many investigative staff are in the field divisions now compared to 2019 when she arrived? How many audits has she approved to begin and how many times did she change her mind about the methodology of those audits, wasting staff time again and again? How many hoops do you have to jump thru to send staff to a free, online training course or buy supplies? How many times has she actually explained her reasons behind a decision that negatively impacted the staff? These actions are why morale is in the toilet. To be a leader, you have to walk the talk. All the pretty words are useless if your actions show that you do not trust your staff to do their jobs.
This 100%. Do you remember she mentioned in the call that they previously assumed control of all nationwide purchases because they didn’t know how those funds were being spent? How many reasonable ways could she have found to accomplish figuring out how the funds were being spent nationwide rather than micromanaging every single purchase approval through HQ? Speaking of pens…an OI office tried to order less than $20 worth of pens and HQ made that office conduct a physical count of all pens in the office and report that number back before they would even CONSIDER approving the purchase.
It would be one thing if this was all about saving the government money. But, all this nickel-and-diming was done at the same time they approved a $14,300 analytics ONLINE one week training to teach VanDerSchalie how to spy on employees. Remember their motto: Rules for thee but not for me.
She completely gutted all of the SACs’ authority because she didn’t like how one or two had been operating. Their whole approach is to ruin everything for everyone because they dislike the actions of a few. Now after two years of that nonsense they think because they restored the power SACs previously had to approve their own office supplies, that everyone is just going to be like, “cool thanks, no harm no foul!” Not going to happen.
A complete AUDIT of all expensive "leadership" and "technical" training courses taken by the lawyer series (GS-0905) staff and other hires by ENNIS and ALPERT since 2019 in this OIG needs to be conducted by oversight and investigative entities. Who went, how much did each training class cost, and who approved the training?
And most importantly, at what morale and readiness expense to ongoing training needs and the mission for the rank-and-file staff?
All this highly priced training was going on while field investigator and field audit staffs were in dire need of use-of-force training, audit techniques training, and even simple pens.
The October 2021 - March 2022 SSA OIG Semiannual Report to Congress has just been released. Glad it got out before July.
Remember, dozens of lawyers and WilmerHale and SIGTARP friends of Ennis and Alpert have flooded this OIG since 2019. And they were added to the numerous federal lawyers already at their posts in 2019.
Well, there are only TWO pages in this most recent Semiannual Report to Congress discussing legal activities. T-W-O! The productivity and extent of legal accomplishments by this OIG is completely embarrassing and paltry in a draconian sense.
Section 1140 and Section 1129 enforcement activities are reported out on and in this past six month period 10 Section 1129 cases were closed out with $43,000 in fines assessed. This is an absolute mockery of the program and about 50% of one GS-12 federal employee's salary. And now, the SSA ACOSS has completely shut down the CMP program that was being administered by the SSA OIG.
WHAT ARE THESE DOZENS OF LAWYERS THAT HAVE BEEN HIRED WITHIN THE SSA OIG SINCE 2019 DOING ALL DAY LONG? Their return on investment based on their salaries alone seemingly could be less than a dime on the dollar. Some of these SSA OIG GS-0905 lawyer series staff are making close to $160,000+ per year in salaries, notwithstanding any bonuses they receive.
Congress, oversight and investigative entities, ACT NOW. WAPO reported out on the SSA OIG CMP debacle over a month ago and FLEOA documented massive morale and operational concerns last fall. ACT NOW to end this ridiculousness! Every day this malfeasance is allowed to continue, US taxpayers and SSA beneficiaries suffer.
Wow, lots of email damage control coming out of HQ this week…just in time for the 2022 FEVS survey responses! Nobody fell for the propaganda last year around this time, they sure as heck aren’t falling for it again.
The Office of Audit accomplishments in this most recent SSA OIG Semiannual Report to Congress are dismal and distressing as well. Just 15 audits released over a six month period? With about 100 audit staff and a bunch of SESers and GS-15s spead throughout the audit office?
Some of these audits are less than five pages long or repetitive minimal efforts like state single audits. Just six or so years ago this Office of Audit was pumping out 50+ audits every six months...and for many years prior.
And, the most recent audit "product" on the SSA OIG public website is just a "memorandum" to SSA about 60 cases or so related to some type of data match. A nice three page letter.
The depths of dysfunction in this OIG just keep hitting new lows. How can folks with a vested interest in good government and respect of fellow US citizens sleep at night?
Too late. Too little. Volume of discord sown throughout this OIG and simply unprofessional and questionable activities engaged in since 2019 has left this IG and her OIG executive leadership team holding a bag of $***.
You can call it email damage control. Many others will call it hopeless pandering and just farting into the wind. Emails reporting a thorough house cleaning would be much better received.
With 270 comments, no SSA/OIG employee has posted a positive comment about their work environment or their SSA/OIG Executives. No employee has come to the defense of these Executives. What does that tell you?
And when asked how the Immediate Office plans to improve the productivity in the Office of Audit, the IG immediately says, the low number of reports being issued is not my fault and immediately blames the AIGA and DAIGA. A good leader at a minimum would say “we are into ways to improve our processes” and not just point fingers at someone else. Plus she didn’t want to take ownership of not allowing training for auditors to maintain their certifications. She pointed her finger at the AIGA about making that decision. If this is all the AIGA’s fault, maybe they need to focus some on the AIGA’s leadership abilities as well.
My experience working with the current AIGA is that she passes every decision up to the IG and DIG. I didn't see very many decisions at all that she made on her own. The IG and DIG micromanage the AIGs from what I saw. That was a big adjustment for the prior AIGs who had much more autonomy under the prior IGs and one of the many reasons why they all left.
That is pathetic, seeing as her salary is probably north of $180K and she is an SES. No wonder her entire office is lucky to get out three audits a month, on average. With her skillset she sounds like she would be better positioned as a GS-9 fraud hotline caller representative or a GS-12 journeyman auditor - just relaying information up or down the line. Is she leading, or just treading water hoping to retire soon?
How many SESers in the SSA OIG Office of Audit now - is it three? Or more?
When asked by Washington Post about CMP program, IG says not my fault, OCIG runs that program. When asked about the decline in the number of audits, IG says, not my fault, AIGA runs OA.
First problem with these responses is the buck stops with you, IG Ennis. You are in charge of OCIG and OA.
Second problem with this response is OA isn’t allowed to start any audits until the IG says ok on the audit as well as approving the methodology. Sometimes OA staff have to brief her multiple times on each audit methodology before she will green light the audit. They have to educate her on the program and then answer numerous really stupid questions from both the IG and DIG without their realizing the questions are stupid as well as questions from any other of their inner circle who also attend the meeting. And usually, they won’t accept the answer from the audit staff. They require that the audit staff confirm the answers to their stupid questions with SSA and then schedule another meeting. Sometimes this happens 2 or 3 times or more on each audit. SSA staff laugh themselves silly when audit staff ask them these stupid questions to confirm the answers for IG and DIG. Now, with all that, tell me how it is the AIGA’s fault very few audits are started each month?
And that doesn’t even include the months and months it takes to get a report out after the audit is done. With so many attorneys reading each report and commenting on each report, the report review process can easily take a year before the report gets issued. Each set of comments from each attorney have to be addressed by response to stupid questions or by making edits to the report to dumb it down because they don’t understand the programmatic language. By the time SSA staff get the report, they don’t have a clue what we are trying to say because the language is so generic by the time they see it after all the reviewers in the IG’s office and in OCIG. So, again, having numerous people outside OA reviewing each report and causing reports to either say nothing or take a year to get out, or both, is not the AIGA’s fault. That is on the IG for putting such crazy processes in place to start an audit and issue an audit report.
The problem with the current AIGA is she was an outsider lapdog hire by Ennis and Alpert. And the other SESers in OA leave their staffs desperate for leadership, as shown by the productivity collapse, FEVS results and personnel losses.
This entire OIG has a SES problem. All the good leadership has left. Some remaining or recently hired SESers clearly have ethical and professional concerns beyond the pale. Others (as stated by a previous poster) are simply holding out for brighter days, retired-in-place, holding out for retirement, or cowards unable to be a profile in courage. Some were appointed through friendships, not leadership capability or SSA technical or operational knowledge. If anything, the incestuous SES environment in both the SSA itself and the SSA OIG is alive and well.
These 16 or so SESers in this 500+ person OIG shop should be completely disbanded. Those with serious issues should be relieved of federal employment and simply fired. All others should be spread throughout the federal workforce in other agencies, as all were required to sign mobility agreements. Or, let them retire. Simply restock this OIG with SESers from other federal OIGs on a loan or trial basis - and bring in ones hungry to do good things in an environment on life support needing heroes.
If a private sector Board of Directors were to allow this type of circus to continue for so long with its executive corps it would drive its business into the ground. In the military, operational readiness would be completely compromised. Civil service rules are different, but with most of this OIG demoralized and in total disarray, personnel actions of a wide scale are required here. It is simply impossible to maintain a responsive or effective federal crime and fraud fighting environment with such ethical concerns, leadership voids and trust decay present.
It’s disappointing the newest FEVS results didn’t include the morale results by OIG component like it did in the years prior. For the last 3 years OI and OA have had a side bet to see who despises the ENNIS/ALPERT regime more. Initially I was certain OA would not ever come close to having the same contempt that OI has for the WilmerHale/SIGTARP clown show, but sure as s***, they edged out OI one year in all of the FEVS categories that ranked senior leadership lowest. Someone said OI has lost 94 special agents since Ennis was sworn in. Out of curiosity, how many auditors have left since she was sworn in?
By my count, OA has lost about 20 staff who left, but a large number of OA staff were also moved to other components, so OA has shrunk from about 154 total staff when it was producing 110 audits per year to about 94 total staff now.
About 95 in Audit now, down from about 140.
Straight line the 15 audit products released during the first six months of FY 22 in the SSA OIG Semiannual Report to Congress and you get 30 total audits possibly released in FY 2022.
Five years ago, and for many years, this figure was between 100 and 110 audits released per FY. So, staff drops by about a third since 2019 but audit productivity drops by about 70%.
But three SESers in place with a fourth recently advertised for.
Yikes.
OA had about 128 when IG Ennis came on board.
It’s not just the number of audits that has dropped, it is also the nature of the audits that has changed. Most “audit” products being issued in 2022 are very light flimsy on real results and impact.
Very good point.
Anyone who goes back and reads through the 15 audits in the latest Semiannual Report to Congress will probably be scratching their head searching for any signs of robust, substantive and extensive audit research and activity. It is so sad to see what is now being produced by a once stellar and impactful audit component in this SSA OIG.
The SSA ACOSS must have a smile a mile wide seeing such degradation in audit activity over her agency.
The virtual/video damage control tour with the IG starts this week. Buckle up! 🍿
Nothing like a little self-flagellation as the July 4th holiday weekend becons. Always comical to see a fire engine full of clowns showing up and running around in circles after the barn has burned down.🤡
500+ staff probably attending at least one hour each of this "dog and pony scratch-and-sniff virtual" tour. That equates to 500+ work hours, or at least 62 full eight-hour workdays taken away from fighting SSA fraud, conducting audits and investigations, and ensuring the integrity of SSA operations. 😳
All to listen to the SSA IG and DIG continue to blame everyone else but themselves for the tragedy that has unfolded.
And this after the penguin book training fiasco. Imagine the good to federal oversight that could have occurred absent these ridiculous personnel time commitments and requirements. These SSA OIG executives just recently held a town hall for everybody when the WAPO articles broke!
Who is performing any reasonable oversight over the SSA IG and DIG?
I wonder what the staff (GS-13 and below) to supervisor ratio is now. With so many "worker bees" leaving and not being replaced, along with management level (GS-14 and above, including SES) being hired in OCIG, it must be ridiculous. Where is the oversight of this organization? No wonder RESULTS have gone down!!! As a taxpayer, I deeply resent this. This is not what OIG is supposed to be! We are suppose to be the watchdog and our behavior should be ABOVE reproach. How can we criticize the agency for waste and abuse when the OIG is doing it themselves!!!
The Town Hall was a joke. "This is not the forum" was the IG's response to several attempts for staff to ask a question. Then what is the forum???? Answer: the IG clearly doesn't want to hear honest questions from staff. She only wants to pass the blame and responsibility to others....
“There are two ways to be happy—improve your reality or lower your expectations.” – Jodi Picoult
Yes, maybe for many a joke. For many others a nothingburger or a charade or a clownshow or a CYA attempt or a laughable PR stunt. The real question for all is - how do folks react, take action and make themselves happy?
Anyone waiting for this train wreck to magically save itself is in fantasyland. Each day someone is unhappy is one less day living with content and joy.
Unfortunately, the stench for most in this federal OIG shop will not dissipate until they stop swimming in the cesspool. No additional town halls or internal employee surveys or annual FEVS efforts or virtual meetings or restructured employee morale councils can cure a sewage main line backed up with repeated fatburgers and cracks so large a structural failure is present.
The FEVS results are supposed to be publicly published tomorrow so we can officially see if we bottomed out among other OIGs.
https://bestplacestowork.org/rankings/?view=overall&size=sub&category=leadership&
It’s official…we are the lowest by far…432 out of 432. Is anyone on this blog surprised? I doubt it…
SSA OIG ranked 432 out of 432. Dead last in the entire Federal government.
We didn’t just bottom out among OIGs, we bottomed out across all government agency components! 432 out of 432…
And next year will be same since the new FEVS is starting now while Ennis and her team of sycophants are still in place.
Good morning SSA OIG!
FEVS results are out and guess what??? We are DEAD FREAKING LAST on the list of agency subcomponents.
A few things to note, if you click on the link from a desktop it will CORRECTLY show you we are 432 out of 432 sub component agencies.
If you click on the link from a cell phone, it will erroneously show you we are 382 with last year’s (2020) numbers as 2021 numbers.
Don’t be fooled. They did it! They made us the WORST FEDERAL AGENCY to work for! 🏆
Here’s the link, use a computer to access…
https://bestplacestowork.org/rankings/?view=overall&size=sub&category=leadership&
We made the news again…
https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-space-government-best-places-to-work-federal-agencies-2022-7?amp
“Among agency subcomponents, the National Science Foundation's Directorate for Education & Human Resources ranked first, while the Social Security Administration's Office of the Inspector General finished dead last, at No. 432.”
432 out of 432! The SSA OIG is FIRST in being the WORST in the entire federal government sub-agency category!
It is a travesty and unconscionable that Gail Ennis, Ben Alpert and Chad Bungard are still employed with the SSA OIG as of this morning. SSA benficiaries and American taxpayers are being royally abused. Another WAPO article showing SSA OIG malfeasance released yesterday as well.
Time to seriously clean house of them and many WilmerHale and SIGTARP alumni present. Federal employees and the American public will undoubtedly begin to seriously question the trustability and efficiency of the entire federal OIG community with every passing day that these cancers are being allowed to fester within the SSA OIG. 432 out of 432! 🤮
This link has the correct numbers from a cell and a desktop
https://bestplacestowork.org/rankings/?view=overall&size=sub&category=leadership&y=21&
The title of "most ineffective leadership" in the Federal government. Wake up call SSA OIG executives??
Does this DEAD LAST ranking make anyone else feel sad and disgusted? Don’t get me wrong, I feel a little schadenfreude for Gail and Ben but mostly I feel sad. How can two people do so much damage to a once highly respected sought after agency? It’s heartbreaking.
Here is their response when asked for comment from WaPo:
“Social Security’s inspector general plays an important investigative role. That office needs to investigate its steep engagement score fall from 56.2 in 2020 to 33.3 in 2021. Rebecca Rose, an agency spokeswoman, said those results “do not reflect all efforts we have undertaken to address employee morale” since the workforce was surveyed in late 2021, including the establishment of a full-time organizational health director and “the implementation of maximum workplace flexibilities during covid and for the steps we are taking to make the pilot permanent.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/13/best-in-government-survey-poor-satisfaction-employees/
Are they serious? They think maximum telework flexibility has any affect on the horrible morale they created? They are completely tone deaf and clueless! We were at a maximum telework flexibility when we responded to the FEVS last fall to get these results!
👉🏼I don’t want people to get lost in this whole agency subcomponent technicality. Yes SSA OIG is dead last in agency subcomponents but it is also dead last among ALL federal agencies.
Here are the lowest rankings overall among all federal agencies:
Federal Election Commission 56.8%
Department of Homeland Security 56.5%
Federal Bureau of Prisons 40.8%
SSA OIG 33.3%
No other federal agency scored in the 30th percentile.
So embarrassing 😳
Lessons learned from this blog for any new IG: Do not: hire an inexperienced deputy; divert mission critical resources to hire non-mission critical employees (attorneys); alienate your bread & butter employees (investigators & auditors); fill your SES ranks with folks that have no agency program knowledge; & perform activities that make you the subject of news articles and blogs.
A well led organization doesn't need a "full time organizational health director", That's crazy even for a Federal agency. Since it's establishment in 1995, SSA/OIG never needed such a position until the current leadership.
You have not been able to trust anything said from any SSA OIG spokesperson for a couple of years now. Anything you hear is BS, CYA or simply passing the blame - or touting solutions that have had no impact or led to zero improvements.
Going forward just expect more of the same. The SSA OIG spokespeople are just crackerjack parrots of OIG executive doublespeak and obfuscation.
My understanding regarding the full-time organizational health director position is that it was simply a reassignment and replanting of a SSA OIG front office executive officer with no organizational morale analysis experience to begin with. Just another attempt to CYA by executives once issues arose. These SSA OIG spokespeople simply tell story after story to the press and public not in concert with what is truly occurring within the SSA OIG for going on years now.
And force staff to read penguin books and discuss feelings in group training forums.
Especially for a staff of around 500. Comical. But if I understand correctly, yet another GS-15 encumbers this position currently in the SSA OIG. Laughable.
I heard the OPM report is circulating in OI. Anyone who has it, please share a copy here for those of us who want to read it but haven’t yet. Thanks!
Ugh… the calls from SSA and federal agencies from around the nation have begun…
“How in the world can your agency go from one of the top OIGs to the last agency in the entire federal government?”
“What the hell is going on over there?”
“This is what happens when you have incompetent people at the helm.”
“How does your IG still have a job?”
“When is she [IG] getting removed?”
“I hope SSA OIG unf#cks itself for your sake.”
I also recently heard from a VA OIG special agent. The VA OIG IG was apparently ENNIS’ mentor and they allegedly knew each other from the private sector as both are attorneys.
Here are some policies/practices that ENNIS adopted from the VA OIG IG:
❌ Ceasing paid moves
❌ Massive attorney hirings
❌ Placing attorneys in investigative divisions to direct investigations (MCU)
❌ Tanking the agency’s morale
The VA OIG IG just recently appointed their agency’s very first AIGI who is NOT an 1811. You guessed it, of course they are an attorney! If ENNIS blindly adopts this same idiotic move, rest assured this current special agent coup will look like child’s play.
According to the VA OIG public website this morning, Michael J. Missal, the VA IG, serves as the chair of the Investigations Committee of the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency.
Do we have a conflict of interest here with the supposedly ongoing CIGIE investigation into SSA IG ENNIS? Is the blind being allowed to investigate the blind here? Sounds kinda incestuous, if not simply insular - the appearance here smells rotten. What exactly is the relationship between Ennis and Missal (besides both being lawyers), and should this be a concern or reason for Missal's recusal from this CIGIE investigation?
With the federal agents union bringing concerns to a head late last year and numerous WAPO articles being released since late May, and NO visible signs yet of remedial action taken, is the CIGIE investigation and other investigations being slow rolled or strung out?
The longer this SSA OIG rot is allowed to continue, the more questionableness will arise. Clean house now. I hope WAPO and other outside oversight entities besides CIGIE are uncovering all of these golden nuggets of head scratching ridiculousness.
CIGIE has repeatedly rejected complaints about SSA OIG with the reason that the complaints do not fall under their jurisdiction. CIGIE has been referring complainants elsewhere, such as the Office of Special Counsel only for them to be passed back to CIGIE.
CIGIE has DoJ OIG doing the investigation of SSA OIG, but has limited the scope narrowly to CMP program issues. CIGIE only took those issues somewhat seriously after the WAPO articles publicized something they should have already been looking into. Why isn’t the Integrity Committee looking into the lack of integrity of IG Ennis and the other covered persons who have committed wrongdoing at SSA OIG? Could it be because IG Ennis is a member of the Integrity Committee? This is just the beginning of never ending conflicts of interest!
The acting Commissioner of SSA has started an investigation that is even worse by an ineffective group called the Office of Program Integrity, otherwise known as the fake OIG. The Office of Program Integrity is getting all of its information from two of SSA OIG’s cronyism SESers. One of them, Chief Counsel Michelle Murray was found to have retaliated against a whistleblower for making protected disclosures….ironically, she is the whistleblower coordinator for the agency and represents the agency in the case against the whistleblower she retaliated against!
Where is Congress? Too worried about purposely not passing a budget and upcoming elections to care?
Where is the oversight and accountability?
IG Ennis and DIG Alpert have brought SSA OIG to complete rock bottom, but still think the employees are the problem! FEVS Scores speak volumes! DEAD LAST in Partnership for Public Service rankings = Worst agency to work for in the federal government!
A REAL investigation needs to take place with desk audits, financial audits and anything necessary to rid SSA OIG of every single piece of rot, including the rot brought in by the original rot, so that SSA OIG can get some actual leadership in place and recover from the damage done under IG Ennis’ rule. Who is going to step up and do that?
CIGIE appears completely impotent here. And if the CIGIE Integrity Committee cannot do anything but run itself in circles, it has been compromised and is totally worthless going forward with investigating the SSA OIG's troubles. It is completely pathetic no one within the federal oversight sphere seems to be able to police themselves.
Ranked 432 out of 432 federal sub-agencies regarding best places to work. Therefore the SSA OIG is considered the WORST place to work in the federal government! YET JUST MORE SILENCE.
This is when you need WAPO, Congressional staffers and members of independent review entities like POGO to pick up the slack. As far as CIGIE appears concerned, wolves can enter the henhouse untouched and reek havoc. The failures so far into this investigation lie largely at the feet of CIGIE's Intergrity Committee, which appears severely compromised and ineffective according to previous posts here.
All President Biden has to do is pick up a pen and fire Ennis. She is a Trump holdover - just like the Trump appointed SSA COSS he fired last year. WHY IS THIS SO HARD? Does anyone in the White House of Biden's inner circle understand the damage being done in this federal IG?
What genius told the IG that touring the country to visit offices would help morale? This undoubtedly has the exact opposite effect.
Too late. Just digging the hole deeper now. Should have assessed the lay of the land years ago. You can put 💋 on a 🐖, but at the end of the day, it is still a 🐖.
However, it is an opportunity to rack up frequent flier miles on the taxpayer dime.
Morale and productivity nationwide in this IG office is so low no boondoggle dog-and-pony show is going to move the needle. Ranked 432 out of 432. After all these visits, maybe Ennis and Alpert think they can climb out of the cellar to 431? Not holding my breath.
Yes, years late. No IG nationwide tour gonna change the fact the SSA OIG Office of Audit is on track for laying an egg for its worst fiscal year audit production in about two decades.
Just look at the abysmal amount of audits released to date for a staff of nearly 100 and three SESers. And most audits are nothingburgers, just overviews or analysis of previously released numbers or simple five page or less discussions. Some do not even have recommendations and are simply information letters.
The Office of Investigations numbers are also plumbing the depths of the swamp. And CMPs are dead although there are a plethora of lawyers mingling around.
Well, about 50 days left in FY 2022. Might as well spend and use up some end-of-year money needing to be obligated by September 30th or else it is lost. $s not going to training anyways lately, so yes, time to roadtrip!
Imagine if you were #432 in line to board planes at an airport. You would probably have to watch at least three large planes taxi up to the gate, board and take off before you finally got on the fourth plane to depart!
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