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.
And decreasing staff morale over the past several years has also indicated problems with SSA OIG under Gail Ennis’ leadership. https://www.opm.gov/fevs/reports/governmentwide-reports/
ReplyDeleteDon’t expect the 2022 FEVS report to show any improvement. Results are available internally and all expect them to show further substantial decline in SSA OIG staff morale when made public. If they were good, management would have shared them immediately to show improvement over last year which was bad. Since they are still being hidden from staff, that means they will be even worse than 2021 when finally available publicly.
Wow, another meeting about a meeting about another meeting. That solves nothing. And, then folks wonder why SSA is in such bad shape with no end in sight.
ReplyDeleteThe issue is oversight of this program but also the oversight of an IG who went after whistleblowers in her own office. IG Ennis is also responsible for protecting whistleblowers at SSA. Will anyone at the Agency report problems to the OIG when the IG appears to be targeting whistleblowers?
ReplyDeleteI hope the ACOSS investigation is thorough including interviewing non-SES employees about the environment in which they are working. It has already been made public that OIG employees have lost all confidence in the decision making of Inspector General Ennis and her Deputy, As a result of their leadership, including hiring SES lapdogs who are unfamiliar with SSA programs instead of knowledgeable internal employees, productivity and morale are at an all time low. Now we add the mismanagement of the CMP program & employee retaliation to the list. There is no recovering from these issues under current leadership. Prior to Ennis' leadership, SSA/OIG was one of the top performers in the OIG community with a spotless track record of achieving its mission for SSA beneficiaries and SSI recipients. Sadly, what you see now is an OIG filled with turmoil, leadership deficiency and low productivity. A watchdog agency can not function like this and successfully achieve its mission.
ReplyDeleteHears some advice: grow a set and fire Ennis. Then undo all the harm she has done. Then investigate whether or not she or anyone under her broke the law. Then prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.
ReplyDeleteRather than pointing all fingers at Ennis, at least some fingers should be pointing at poor leadership that currently appear to be doing nothing about reported ethical violations at the executive level... The ACOSS has been informed as have the Associate COSSs... waiting patiently for someone to do something... At SSA it appears anything someone wants to do is okay as long as they are in upper management...
ReplyDeleteAmen! The rot is extensive, but with the rotten still holding onto their positions in senior management and the ACOSS being clueless, nothing is going to change. Get out if you can!
DeleteThe ACOSS has zero authority over the Inspector General.
DeleteBut the Acting SSA ACOSS sure must be enjoying the drastically depleted and lessened oversight over her Agency since 2019, no? Nice try here, but the ACOSS is not that impotent.
DeleteYes, Kilolo does report to the executive branch, while the SSA IG reports to congress. But in the interest of good and ethical federal governance, this post simply not going to fly. Please, no cop outs here for a complete failure of monitoring Ennis and Alpert by anyone in any sort of capable or effective manner.
Instead of what the Acting SSA COSS cannot do, what can she do?
The SSA COSS has a direct line to the President's phone and ear. Kilolo and Ennis are the only two presidentially-appointed executives within all of SSA...and maybe the Deputy COSS also if SSA has one. And Kilolo and the President are both in the Executive Branch of the federal government.
DeleteThe lack of meaningful and competent oversight of the SSA's internal watchdog entity is apalling.
Gail Ennis and Ben Alpert are the two worst things to ever happen to SSA OIG. What was once the best OIG to work for is now the worst. That’s what happens when you select someone who both hates government employees and has ZERO law enforcement experience. Every decision Ennis & Alpert have made since they came onboard has negatively affected the entire SSA OIG workforce (except of course all their friends they hired from Wilmer and Hale [Ennis] and SIGTARP [Alpert]). If Trump’s intention, in appointing Ennis, was to dismantle SSA OIG along with its stellar reputation, then he picked the right woman for the job.
ReplyDeleteWhat’s ironic is even her strategically placed Wilmer and Hale attorneys are fleeing the ship. The Wilmer and Hale attorney (MOORE) who was charged with defending SSA OIG in EEO or MSPB hearings, just left after only two years. IG Ennis strategically placed another Wilmer and Hale lapdog (VAGNUCCI) as an advisor in the Office of Special Reviews & Professional Responsibility, where whistleblower complaints are lodged. Ennis is also on the CIGIE Integrity Committee. She has totally insulated and protected herself from anyone making claims against her. She is definitely cunning. Is anyone smart enough to expose her? Time will tell.
DeleteWhere has CIGIE been? Where has the Social Security Advisory Board (SSAB) been? Where has the Commissioner of Social Security been? Where have the SSA congressional oversight committes been? Where has GAO been? ALL with their heads in the sand since 2019? The massive morale and productivity problems have been clearly evident for at least 24 months now within the SSA OIG.
ReplyDeleteThe investigators federal union has been all over this since last fall. Now auditor issues have surfaced and legal office concerns have been raised. There is no corner that has been left untouched by Gail Ennis and Ben Alpert malfeasance, micromanagement and ignorance. The mass hiring of Wilmer Hale and SIGTARP former employees, brought over with zero SSA programmatic or policy experience, has doomed productivity and morale. Oversight bodies should be investigating not only the mass exodus of good employees but also the mass hiring of friends and acquaintenances of Ennis and Alpert. Especially at all the very high level salaried positions.
GAO investigated the State OIG recently and heads rolled. It would appear the problems within the SSA OIG meet, if not vastly surpass, what GAO found going on within the State OIG. Gail Ennis and Ben Alpert must be seriously and thoroughly investigated and disciplined and held accountable for the vast mismanagement of what was once one of the most highly respected and performing federal IGs overall. If not, oversight credibility and accountability over the federal oversight community itself will lose all trust down the road.
If Ennis and Alpert ate not immediately removed, the SSA OIG will remain in a listless, unproductive funk. All leadership has been given a huge vote of no confidence for many months now. How much longer will this abuse of taxpayer dollars and executive malfeasance be allowed to fester and spread like a cancer in this toxic environment?
It is not surprising the Acting SSA Commissioner has slow-rolled any investigation or questioning of her own IG Ennis and DIG Alpert. If audit productivity over her organization has dropped off a cliff she is in heaven. In years past prior to Ennis and Alpert, SSA was held unquestionably accountable through many internal investigations and audits on a yearly basis. With oversight productivity now at deplorable lows, the wolf has probably been enjoying a fruitful stay in the henhouse since 2019. And, all at taxpayer and SSA beneficiaries expense.
ReplyDeleteIf the federal OIG oversight community has any sense of a backbone, it will force IG Ennis and DIG Alpert to reap what they have sown. That this toxic environment had been allowed to fester for so long like an uncurable disease is simply a black eye to the entire federal OIG community.
ReplyDeleteThe hiring of friends from Wilmer Hale and SIGTARP defines cronyism, but is made even worse by the lack of qualifications for the key government positions they fill. Whether it is incompetence or abuse of authority is difficult to tell—either is a basis for removal. Meanwhile, those that spoke up were retaliated against by an Inspector General. The Wilmer Hale and SIGTARP alumni have destroyed the OIG employees’ trust in the integrity of the organization, and now with each passing day and new revelation, they erode public trust in government oversight.
ReplyDeleteSince Ennis was appointed, 77+ 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. When the abysmal SSA OIG FEVS results came out last year, instead of looking within and examining why her entire workforce (special agents, auditors, lawyers, etc.) loathes her, she required all agency employees to read two books in change leadership. We’ve been through three inspector generals in the last five years, we know what change is and that is not the issue. The issue is IG Ennis was insanely unqualified to be the IG. She then appointed a low level doofus attorney to be her deputy IG and then shuffled in her friends from Wilmer & Hale (W&H). “There’s no money for training, travel or hiring!” Yeah, no sh!t, you used it all to hire dozens of W&H GS-15 cronies who have no idea what they’re doing. There’s nothing Ennis can do to fix the fact that her workforce has no respect for her. She received a 98% no confidence vote from her investigative branch alone. The truth is, public opinion and a democrat president don’t care too much about a disgruntled law enforcement agency. But hammering the public with enormous fines to get your lackluster stats up in a short amount of time and then retaliating against the person who reported it, is something everyone can be outraged about. Hopefully this will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and Biden will fire Ennis and remove Alpert. The former SSA Commissioner Andrew Saul was removed for much less.
ReplyDeleteYou’re right on Saul, who was removed for terrorizing the federal employee
Deleteunions
It's one nonsensical decision after another by these executives. One of the latest is rejecting highly qualified internal employees with vast SSA experience for the SES position in OA. Instead they are gambling on another outsider with zero SSA knowledge. They tried this last time and the person only stayed one year. Hiring one of the qualified internal employees would have been one positive step in repairing morale and productivity within OA. Instead, another decision with negative impact.
ReplyDeleteI am willing to wager all the best and brightest and good folks have either left, retired or fled. Promoting from within would just perpetuate the toxicity. Or breed the lap dog and dismissive culture of the so called "leadership" in this OIG office.
DeleteNew blood at all executive and upper management levels is the only proven cure in situations like this. Bring in leadership directly from SSA to right this ship. At least they would have SSA experience and knowledge and no ties to the current personnel perpetuating this catastrophe.
The problem is that SSA's leadership is toxic, too.
DeleteWell then we US taxpayers getting a raw deal here. The solution to the three word disease "promote from within" in this situation is a two word cure..."new blood."
DeleteImagine if Putin tonight announced "promotions from within" to cure his ills. Who would be convinced he is turning the corner and getting on the right track? Did not work for Hitler, Mussolini, Hirohito, Quadaffi or Saddam Hussein. Did not work for Enron, the 2000 dot.com darlings or the 2008 mortgage banking industry. Will not work in this federal OIG office either.
If SSA employees are also so bad, why not bring in outside leadership from other federal OIGs? One way Biden does not fall into the trap of allowing SSA to police itself is to look beyond the trees into the forest maybe? Clean house and bring in other federal OIG professionals into "acting" positions to cure the cancer here.
SESers are required to sign mobility agreements upon their appointments. If this OIG office is dragging down the entire federal OIG community and a huge black eye, maybe the rest of the federal OIG community should step in and step up here?
ALL SES and GS-15 hirings since mid-2019 in the SSA OIG should be investigated. Where did these folks come from and what SSA programmatic and policy experience did they have on their resumes? Check to see if their professional experience actually supports the duties, needs and responsibilities of the positions they currently encumber or have been "reassigned" into. Research of the massive staff buildups in Systems, Resource Management and the proliferation of attorneys should also be undertaken - support environments that do not directly contribute to the bread and butter (audits and investigations) of any federal OIG office.
ReplyDeleteThe US taxpayer and SSA beneficiaries are being massively underserved and given the finger. Sure seems to be a proliferation of "attorney and special advisors" at extremely high grade levels...none of which directly assist in actual audit or investigative activities where the rubber meets the road.
Anyone who truly believes improving morale has been on any executive's radar in the SSA OIG for the past few years is either punch drunk or cluelessly unawares. The current SESers are lap dogs or incompetent/ineffective folks in over their heads who will not advocate or champion their staffs. Rather, the cancer just spreads.
How can the Biden Administration champion government oversight while Ennis and Alpert make a mockery of the OIG community? Ennis serves at the pleasure of the president and he need only give Congress 30 days notice to remove her. Accountability must apply to IGs otherwise the entire community of oversight professionals will suffer reputational harm from these poor pretenders of government servants.
ReplyDeleteMassive turnover. An unprecedented number of personnel actions. A significant increase in the number “excepted service” positions created so that leadership can hire and promote personal friends, despite OPM guidance and the Standards of Ethical Conduct. Shadow retaliation against those who express concern with these practices. Constant “reorganizations.”
ReplyDeleteJust another day at SSA OIG…
I didn’t realize there was OPM guidance and Standards of Ethical Conduct related to the massive hiring of their attorney friends (through the excepted service process). Though completely shady, I totally thought this was within their right to do so. Can you link the OPM guidance and Standards of Ethical Conduct?
DeleteI suppose someone in Congress could propose Articles of Impeachment if the Biden Administration doesn’t want to act.
ReplyDeleteWhat is also incredulous here is the fact completely underqualified SSA IG Ennis actually served as the IG over TWO seperate federal agencies concurrently a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteCIGIE should be ashamed. It looks impotent, clueless and out-of-the-loop. And so much for the SSAB being on top of things - is it feigning ignorance also?
Promoting someone from another agency into the SES and passing over several highly qualified internal candidates sends a clear message to all personnel at all grades: your institutional knowledge, subject matter expertise, and years of dedicated service and outstanding work for the SSA OIG are not valued, and there is no career growth potential for you here. Our workforce will continue to disengage, and more and more talented professionals will leave to find elsewhere the rewarding careers they used to enjoy at SSA OIG.
ReplyDeleteYou are owed nothing by working dutifully and diligently for most organizations nowadays. That is a pipe dream espoused by dreamers in both the public and private sectors. There are highly qualified individuals from within and outside organizations for any executive leadership position nowadays. SESers in the federal government sign mobility agreements and are supposedly able to seamlessly move among federal agencies as needed. And "highly qualified" means different things to different people and is very subjective. As are the terms "dedicated," "outstanding" and "valued."
DeleteIf you do not like your upward mobility prospects you should move on. Just like in the stock market, past results do not portend future activity. In the federal government many interesting and unique opportunities exist. Let's not kid ourselves believing that most executive level positions in the federal government are not obtained through friendships, special arrangements, political favors or a desire to surround oneself with groupthink.
Is that you Gail?
DeleteEnnis and Alpert have manipulated, ignored or outright violated personnel rules. They have exploited excepted service, hiring an unprecedented number of attorneys and then improperly putting them into positions that were reserved for the competitive service and require no legal expertise. And they’ve done so without public notice or consideration of veterans’ preference. Why does an audit and investigative organization need nearly three dozen excepted service attorneys, all of whom collect over $100k/year?
ReplyDeleteSince its inception in the 1990s when it broke away from the HHS OIG, the SSA OIG has functioned well with about a dozen or so attorneys in its office. Its legal staff was productive.
DeleteIf now dozens and dozens of excepted service attorneys have flooded the SSA OIG over the past three years, in addition to what was already present, this would appear to be gross malfeasance and misuse of funding resources on an unconscionable scale.
What are all these newly hired attorneys doing? Have they been placed in positions or reassigned into positions their resumes do not support, or in positions that would be better served by competitively hired subject matter experts, such as budget staff, program management staff, auditors and research staff? Attorneys are only good at being attorneys - if they are any good to begin with. It is clear the CMP program has completely derailed...so what else are all these attorneys doing? It is also clear excepted service selections must past veteran's preference tests.
Oversight entities should determine how many disabled attorneys have been hired throughout the SSA OIG over the past three years. And how many have been pipelined in from Wilmer Hale and SIGTARP. Then, questions must be asked and answered...were all of these hires in the best interest of the SSA OIG'S mission and what have these hirings each accomplished during their tenure? And at what cost to the audit and investigative operational effectiveness and productivity in this OIG? Right now it appears investigative and audit productivity has tanked to historic lows.
Many of these attorneys are probably make closer to $200K yearly salaries than $100K. No wonder the true mission of the SSA OIG, audits and investigations, appears severely financially strained and valuable training and travel budgets have been slashed.
Yeah, well attorneys make up nearly 50 percent of all SES positions agency-wide. Chief among them us Grace Kim. Few promotions from among long time operations managers. Most have no career future and have given up on advancing.
DeleteThese are strong words! Should we be concerned? We all know that the Investigators get a 25% percent bump which means at a low grade they make over 100 and they didn’t pay for a graduate degree like attorneys must do. Also did the internet says that Gail Ennis is an incredibly well accomplished lawyer who accomplished things in a “male” world that others did not. Is anyone worried this is about her as a female? When googled she had promoted the first woman head of investigation that place had? And then that person retired after a male organization targeted her. Really? Could this be a female thing?? Women in law enforcement agencies are so underrepresented. Also this other person alpert it is said a minority - Asian? Seems like this is a targeted campaign against minorities. Hope not.
ReplyDeleteA thorough and detailed investigation and research by outside oversight entities is warranted here. Then the rot and toxicity will be transparent and laid bare for all to see.
DeletePlaying the gender or race card here is a non-starter. Simply barking up the wrong tree. Focus on the productivity drop-offs, CMP mismanagement, massive morale issues and resignation/quit/retire rates and stop throwing out red herrings. If you believe everything Google and the internet tell you, trust me, you playing a fool's game.
Speaking of red herrings, watch as Ennis and Alpert try to blame Stone and Gangloff for all their woes.
DeleteLawyers are famous for casting out wide nets, engaging in smokescreens and diversions, and throwing food at refridgerator doors to see what sticks.
This entire disaster had its birth the day Ennis was sworn in as the SSA OIG in 2019. Once you assume the captain's position of an aircraft carrier, you assume and must accept all that has come before you. That is the true definition of being a leader. You simply cannot just blame your own OIG Office of Counsel for the CMP debacle that has occurred under your watch and you are ultimately responsible for.
Were Ennis and Alpert really that disengaged, uninformed or simply clueless? At a minimum, they surely need a better press office that does not make them sound like bumbling nincompoops.
Tell me you’re an Ennis/Alpert attorney ally without telling me you’re Ennis/Alpert attorney ally… “We all know that the Investigators get a 25% percent bump which means at a low grade they make over 100”
DeleteFor someone pretending to just be an observer, this one is a dead give away. “We all know.” Actually no, the average person does not know that a federal criminal investigator gets a 25% “bump” in pay.
“and they didn’t pay for a graduate degree like attorneys must do.” An attorney totally wrote that. No…sorry, investigators don’t need to “pay for a graduate degree like attorneys must do,” we JUST have to put our life on the line for that 25% bump in pay.
{Side note, plenty of investigators have graduate degrees}.
“Also did the internet says that Gail Ennis is an incredibly well accomplished lawyer who accomplished things in a “male” world that others did not.” She is an incredibly well accomplished lawyer indeed. Google says she’s also a very strategic political donor:
https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=gail+ennis&two_year_transaction_period=2018&min_date=01%2F01%2F2017&max_date=12%2F31%2F2018
“Is anyone worried this is about her as a female?” Nope! Not even a little bit. I can vouch that many SSA/OIG employees (male & female) were rooting for her to succeed. But, alternatively, I believe the possible negative optics of firing a female agency head, is the only reason she still has her job.
“When googled she had promoted the first woman head of investigation that place had? And then that person retired after a male organization targeted her. Really?” This part is laughable. There is no internet article detailing how Ennis promoted Walker let alone the fact that she was the first female AIGI. There’s also no internet article describing her being targeted and bullied into to retirement. In reality, Walker had always planned to retire at the end of 2021 and told many people her plans when she became the permanent AIGI.
“Also this other person alpert it is said a minority - Asian? Seems like this is a targeted campaign against minorities.” Again, completely way off. Our last IG was a black female and was more respected on her worst day than Ennis on her best. Ironically, SSA/OIG executives, like our last IG, were known for promoting diversity but that came to a standstill in 2019.
A few more fun facts about diversity…Ennis & Alpert eliminated the Foreign Language Award Program (FLAP) which monetarily compensated investigators who interpreted foreign languages during the course of their job duties. Guess who made up 99% of those that benefited from the FLAP? Spanish speaking Hispanic employees (and their families). Ennis & Alpert also mandated that if any SSA/OIG employee wanted to participate in ANY type diversity training, they must first request written approval from the Office of Counsel to the IG.
Not that it needs to be said, but there are plenty of female, Asian and other minority SSA/OIG employees that have no confidence in Ennis and Alpert. Save your race/gender card, they don’t apply here.
Nice try Ennis/Alpert attorney or lapdog friend.
DeleteOnce you obtain training dollars to learn how to speak in proper and simple English, you should rejoin this blog. Where in the world did you get your law degree?
Be careful trying to employ smokescreens when you peeing into the wind. It will just come back and hit you in the face.
Our mission is clearly stated in statute: conduct audits and investigations. Yet, as investigators and auditors quit in droves, they were not replaced. Ennis and Alpert continue to hire highly graded lawyers and other admin staff over front-line auditors and investigators who actually accomplish the mission. The obvious outcome: fewer audits and investigations. We used to be one of the most productive and highly regarded OIGs but, over the last 3 years, it’s all fallen apart. We are left with literally dozens of attorneys and admin/support staff who draw exorbitant salaries at taxpayer expense but have no clear role, and a disengaged workforce that is mistrustful of leadership, with many more looking for the exit. This organization is in crisis.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that attorneys are excepted service and most of the rules governing hiring under the competitive service do not apply. But you still cannot hire based on friendship, sympathy or loyalty (5 USC 2302). You must also afford priority consideration to certain candidates, including veterans to the extent administratively feasible (5 CFR 302.101) and people who were separated/furloughed (5 USC 8151). And you must not engage in nepotism (5 USC 3110).
ReplyDeleteSince Ennis arrived, very few attorneys were hired through vacancy announcements. Nearly all of them were targeted hires. When you have a presumptive candidate for an excepted service position, you need not broadcast an announcement at all. But, if there is no notice of a vacant position, veterans are unaware of a position for which they could apply. And when nearly all hires are people you know and like and you never allow anyone else to express interest and demonstrate to you their qualifications, how can you be assured you’re hiring the best talent?
What is most concerning is Ennis and Alpert have apparently abused excepted service authority by bringing in lots of attorneys and placing them in administrative jobs that require no legal expertise. Why are attorneys doing administrative work in Ennis’ Immediate Office? Why are attorneys leading a quality assurance function? Why was an attorney leading a team of IT specialists?
If the duties aren’t related to the 905 attorney series, the position doesn’t belong in the excepted service, and it must be filled competitively. Ennis and Alpert are both attorneys. They either were unaware of these rules or they outright ignored them.
One can only serious wonder what the three previous SSA IGs since the late 1990s (Huse, O'Carroll and Stone) now feel about their legacies? These three nurtured and developed the SSA OIG into a very effective and productive federal watchdog on the audits and investigations fronts - and their legal teams were strong also. Now with all the disarray, debacles and disenchantment, along with the CMP troubles, do these three previous IGs have any views over what has been going on over the past three years?
ReplyDeleteAside from hiring, Ennis and Alpert have also been playing games with OIGs budget. IG Ennis and Deputy IG Alpert demanded from SSA, and got, additional funds as reimbursement for the personnel costs the OIG incurred for managing the CDI program and overseeing a CPA firm’s audits. The rationale—as stated in Congressional budget justifications—was to replace the investigators and auditors who were doing that work so the mission-critical audit and investigative work did not suffer while these added functions were absorbed into OIG. But that was a lie: the funding did not go to hiring investigators or auditors; it went to hire more of their friends from Wilmer Hale and SIGTARP to fill made-up attorney and overhead positions. Both auditor and investigator staff numbers have gone down despite these added funds transferred from SSA.
ReplyDeleteIf even some of the observations are remotely true (and no reason not to believe most, if not all, are indeed so) as discussed in these responses, then gross fraud, waste, abuse, mismanagement, dereliction of duty, malfeasance, retaliation, incompetence, ignorance, favortism, and toxicity appear present and widespread. FROM WITHIN THE SSA OIG ITSELF!
ReplyDeleteIt is impossible for the SSA OIG to perform its mission and duties to the American taxpaying public and SSA beneficiaries with this circus-like atmosphere. SIMPLY IMPOSSIBLE. Accountability must be demanded from the top.
Anybody care that, despite all the issues mentioned in the Washington Post, Ennis is STILL planning to travel all GS-15s and 14s (i.e., management) to Baltimore for a conference? In addition to the airfare, lodging and meals (which have to cost $100k or more), there’s even plans to call it an awards ceremony to justify providing refreshments. After slashing funds for developmental training for front line staff, this junket for dozens of managers (each of whom draw 6-figure salaries) is especially offensive—something we would, once upon a time, criticize the Agency for if it did this. Congress, the press and the public should be outraged and demand such wasteful spending be cancelled. Staff are told there is no money for training they need to do their jobs, but we will spend money on food for management despite the regulations on conference spending in place.
ReplyDeleteMy goodness this is sickening. Well, the genie is out of the bottle now with the SSA OIG. What else has been swept under the rug or hidden from the light of day in the past three years since 2019 around this federal OIG shop? Every time I think I have heard it all, additional revelations and instances of complete malfeasance seem to rise to yet another level of idiocracy. What shoe is going to drop next here?
DeleteThe managers’ meeting is NOT a junket, but a necessary and productive meeting and time for managers to discuss issues, audits, investigations together. It is also a huge morale booster for management and their staff after these type of meetings. Management has not met in person in over 2 years, as such, this meeting is extremely necessary. So I recommend not talking about things you do not understand. In addition, this meeting is one of the only things that Ennis and Alpert have planned that is considered positive by most of SSA OIG.
DeleteNope. I agree with the previous poster. Not only is it a junket, it is taking management away offsite for a week when focus should be on improving its abysmal audit and investigative productivity statistics.
DeleteThis post is completely tone deaf and an example of the entrenched ridiculousness and complete obliviousness to being good stewards of taxpayer dollars in the SSA OIG. When the final tally is made I am willing to bet this entire fiasco will cost upwards of $250K+. Plane flights, hotel stays, per diem daily costs, auto rental costs, etc. all exploding. This post shows exactly why the SSA OIG needs a complete overhaul, new mindset and a 180 degree turn in perspective.
Why not everyone stay in the office and have a huge teleconference like the rest of the world does? Inexpensive and you still get to see everyone's faces - as long as they do not hide behind their screens.
I have a solution. How about spreading the $250K+ out among the approximately 100 or so fellow Americans who are struggling with owing up to more than three times in CMP penalties than they originally were overpaid by SSA? Imagine the slap in the face to these approximate 100 folks if they find out about this boondoggle. Or spread the $250K+ among all the front line SSA OIG folks who are in dire need of valuable training that has been severely limited for years? Imagine the slap in the face to fellow SSA OIG employees as this "management" eats refreshments, again on the taxpayers dime. "Let them eat cake," eh?
Pathetic.
If SSA OIG management is incompetent in "discussing together" in a virtual environment like the rest of the world, a cleaning of the entire house is in order. My goodness, if morale here will get a big boost by flying everyone around from within the USA to Baltimore and sitting in a conference room, that is simply pathetic. And this poster clearly has a big disconnect with the true reasons he or she should be employed by any federal OIG office in the first place.
If this truly is "one of the only things" Ennis and Alpert have planned to improve morale in thee SSA OIG, no wonder it is a toxic circus.
You will not speak against my opinion on what is good or bad for SSA OIG!
DeleteInteresting that while you support the management conference, you admit that this is one of the few things Ennis and Alpert have done that you do support.
DeleteAnd I’m not saying management conferences are all wasteful spending. However making sure staff get the training they need to meet government auditing standards and conduct their investigations should be a higher priority than a management conference. Also, spending government funds on refreshments is just wrong. Managers can buy their own, especially those on travel getting their food covered already.
"So I recommend not talking about things you do not understand."
Delete"You will not speak against my opinion on what is good or bad for the SSA OIG."
Well, seems like we have uncovered yet another wrinkle here for why the SSA OIG is marching down a road of utter ridiculousness, no? If this poster is a member of management, time for a hard look in the mirror. And attempting to control a public facing and posting blog is insanity... but I guess the joy is in the attempt.
Apologies for the comment “ So I recommend not talking about things you do not understand. In addition.” That was supposed to be deleted before posting, but forgot. Anyway, the intent was to say managers’ meetings aren’t bad, or necessarily a junket. While understanding others comments and perspectives, this meeting would be a morale booster for management and staff whose morale has tanked over the last 2 years, as well as, other things commenters have mentioned.
DeleteSSA’s IG need to read its own audits on SSA’s earlier conferences. It appears current OIG management is unable to set an example and believes it can do as it pleases. Who will audit the auditors (or attorneys, as is the case these days given that the auditors are disappearing at SSA OIG)?
DeleteApology understood, but if you were writing it, you were thinking it.
DeleteTakes intestinal fortitude to so forcefully respond to a poster with "The managers' meeting is NOT a junket..." and then demand "You will not speak..." when comments appear divergent from your position.
Anyways, the undertone of arrogance is palpable. But hey, you apologized. True colors always come out in the wash.
If you have some spare time, read up on one of the SSA OIG's audits over SSA's conference activities that was prompted by a congressional inquiry a while back. Probably before your tenure. Then respond to this post with whether you think the pot is calling the kettle black.
It is true that IG Ennis rolled back funding for Special Agent training, supplies and resources. She established a new training process that was so ridiculously cumbersome (which initially included requiring Headquarters approval), field employees chose to simply forgo training opportunities. She also ensured no SSA OIG employee could take free training without the written prior approval of a GS-15 or higher.
DeleteDue to COVID-19, SSA OIG did not spent a fraction of what it normally spends on office supplies, travel and conferences. However, when employees chose to navigate through the ridiculously cumbersome training process hurdles, they were rewarded with, “We have no funding for discretionary training at this time.”
Despite this, Van Der Shalle (Alpert’s high school buddy and another attorney mysteriously hired with no usable skillset) was approved for an analytics training course that cost the agency nearly $15,000. This “analytics training” was eventually weaponized by Van Der Shalle, Ennis and Alpert to target SSA OIG special agents for not sitting in front of their computers for an acceptable period of time (https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2021/09/agency-threatens-discipline-after-monitoring-employee-computer-logs-and-alleging-telework-non-productivity/185236/). The nature of a special agent’s job is not sitting in front of a computer. Unfortunately, the previous AIGI had no spine and never truly stood up for her law enforcement branch to make this obvious argument.
It is true that special agents have had minimal training since Ennis was sworn in. Ennis would much rather use that funding completely unethically (at a minimum) to reward she and Alpert’s allies.
However, there is no reason for us to start ‘eating our own’ in this blog over the scheduled management conference. We have all suffered under this shit show. Remember who the real enemy is.
For anyone interested in true accountability here, David Williams is right on point in this 2009 article. An Issa congressional inquiry of SSA conferences then followed in 2012 after the big GSA conference scandal and further SSA OIG audits followed in later years. Appears the SSA IG either has not done her due diligence or has staff attorneys that refuse to look back into history or precedent?
Deletehttps://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=8084663&page=1
The question begging to be asked is why an attorney is taking a data analytics course and heading up a SSA OIG Systems office division to begin with? Especially if he is under the excepted service. Seems really sketchy at a minimum. What are his qualifications? Was the division director position competitively advertised or was he just internally "reassigned?" How did this attorney meet the announcement KSAs and position requirements, if it was properly competed?
DeleteAnd under the relatively new OIG Systems office SES the entire office has staffed up much, much higher than it ever has been since the SSA OIG was established 25+ years ago. As auditors and investigators have left in droves and not been replaced. For a support entity, oversight entities should be looking under the hood here as to what is being accomplished and who is in what positions. One has to wonder how many attorneys are now in positions in this Systems office? And, as importantly, how have all these attorneys everyone is mentioning been spread throughout the entire organization? In the OIG front office? In various Resource Management offices? God forbid, in the Audit and Investigations offices? Has the OIG's office of Counsel tripled in size since 2019 as the CMP program was halted a while back?
It appears oversight entities like GAO, CIGIE, the SSAB and various congressional committee staffs would have a field day here if they all just decided to poke around a bit. I really am saddened for the rank-and-file dedicated civil servants I am sure do exist and champion their mission in this mess. With the massive proliferation of SESers and highly-graded personnel throughout the SSA OIG as compared to staffing levels pre-Ennis and pre-Alpert, those on the front lines must be exhausted and downtrodden.
The “real enemy” is fraud, waste, and abuse. That is the running theme through all of the comments. Comments either highlight perceived fraud, waste, and abuse or focus on a remedy for the same. This is not surprising because it’s obvious the majority of comments come from SSA OIG. To suggest that Ennis and Alpert are the “real enemy” is to do exactly what they have done: focus on personalities and people instead of processes, products, and outcome. Though many of the comments in this blog are loaded with frustration and anger, that does not make Ennis or Alpert the enemy of fraud oversight professionals, it makes their actions that constitute fraud, waste or abuse the enemy: the managers conference is fair game for criticism, not “eating our own.” Remember, this IG refused to meet with her own employee council, sent her Deputy on an apology tour only after she received very negative press, and now some people highlight that flying all the supervisors to headquarters is waste. Government waste, by definition, is an opinion. So, I suggest that you make the argument that the managers’ conference is not a waste instead of using a non sequitur to end debate. Persuade with facts, not emotion.
Delete“To suggest that Ennis and Alpert are the “real enemy” is to do exactly what they have done: focus on personalities and people instead of processes, products, and outcome.”
DeleteThe FACT is: Most of all of these examples of gross mismanagement DID NOT exist before Ennis and Alpert, so yes they ARE the enemy. It’s about leading with integrity and neither of them have it. If they are replaced with leaders who have integrity, will the problems be corrected overnight? Of course not, we’ll still have all their buddies depleting our budget with their GS15 salaries, but it’s a start.
“The managers conference is fair game for criticism, not “eating our own.””
Have you made the same criticisms in previous years?
The FACT is: Supervisors have been flown to a city (sometimes Baltimore, sometimes another city) for management training EVERY single year (except the last two due to COVID) for over a decade. Should field Special Agents have received training? Absolutely. Should Special Agent supervisors receive training? Absolutely. Both of those things can be true.
“Remember, this IG refused to meet with her own employee council, sent her Deputy on an apology tour only after she received very negative press.”
No argument here.
“So, I suggest that you make the argument that the managers’ conference is not a waste instead of using a non sequitur to end debate.”
My arguments tend to stem from gathered facts. I have no idea what the manager’s conference entails separate from it occurring in Baltimore (Baltimore is a far cry from the SSA conference conga line at that exclusive resort). I’ll reserve judgment until I see an actual agenda, you should too.
“Persuade with facts, not emotion.”
Your posts sound far more emotional than mine. Regardless, hopefully my facts are persuadable.
Read the comment about the upcoming training conference for 14s & 15s. Might be wiser to spend this money training the SES and the IG given these blog comments.
ReplyDeleteWould continue to be a waste of federal training dollars funded by us taxpayers. Numerous removals are the proper corrective and necessary actions that need to occur based on the recent WAPO articles, federal agent union concerns raised last fall and all of these other revelations.
Delete"I’m against cronyism, and I had to learn that early on. Like, I don’t have an entourage, because I saw the negative effects of those things." - Jack Nicholson
ReplyDeleteIG Ennis walked into an organization that had such highly qualified SES leaders, especially in OA and OI, that if respected and retained would have had her back and would have kept her out of the Washington Post and other news mediums. Had she retained them instead of bringing on current SES, and worked with them to implement "change" slowly she wouldn't be in this mess.
ReplyDeleteWho audits the auditors? The place was questionable to begin with….but it’s at a different level now. The hiring of lawyers into every component? Come on. The productivity has dramatically diminished, too. If your still working there… get out!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe two recent WAPO articles are probably the tip of the iceberg here in this SSA OIG.
ReplyDeleteAny oversight entity with a backbone or dedication to fostering good government would be digging deeply and relentlessly here. So should the free press and media outlets. Not only with what appears to be a proliferation of outside lawyers brought in on seemingly two favored pipelines with no SSA programmatic or policy experience, but with the proliferation of highly graded staff throughout the organization now.
Up until 2019 this federal OIG office appeared productive for over 20 years, with appropriate staffing levels to succeed in its mission and be lean and efficient and effective. But since 2019 it appears the bottom has fallen out...even with a huge amount of lawyers and very highly paid personnel added. Subtraction by addition, no?
It appears there has been a massive increase in SES and GS-15 positions at the "support" levels...not at the mission-focused front line staff levels. Serious inquiry needs to occur with the ballooning of highly paid staff in the Resource Management, Human Resources, Budget/Finance, Procurement and Systems offices...especially at HQs in Baltimore. Also, the massive increase of "attorney and special advisors" should be researched as well as front office and administrative staffs. All of these folks are "overhead," and not where the rubber hits the road.
Value to the US taxpayer and SSA beneficiaries is at the investigative and auditing front lines. What has been foregone since 2019 in serious audit and investigative work in this federal OIG? Productivity has fallen off a cliff.
How many attorneys hold down spots in these "support" entities as of today and since 2019? How many were dumped or reassigned into them? How many lawyers encumber positions with duties and professionalism and education and experience needed that have nothing to do with the legal profession? And MOST importantly, how did this affect the operations, morale and productivity of front line investigative and audit staff and the rank-and file?
I am willing to bet the house if this information is obtained and the public is provided insight, this would incense responsible and ethical people throughout our nation...and expose a lot of rot. Poor frontline folks throughout the SSA OIG should be getting their resumes updated.
It has now been seven days since the first WAPO article on the SSA OIG was released. After two recent WAPO articles, last fall's federal investigators union 98% vote of complete no-confidence, and all of these further revelations, why are Ennis and Alpert still hanging around? Are they actually delusional enough to think they are any more effective than a pair of rocks?
ReplyDeleteIt is an affront and black eye to their staffs, the entire federal OIG community, American patriots and US taxpayers everywhere that these two are still collecting US taxpayer-funded paychecks. Social Security beneficiaries and retirees, most importantly, are suffering repetitively great disservice every 24 hour cycle these two have anything to do with Social Security oversight.
Someone should also look at how this IG convinced OPM to give her 5 additional SES slots in 2020. The office went from 11 SES positions to 16 SES positions, a 45 percent increase. This meant she also needed to create more support staff for these new positions. And what did the taxpayer get for this increase in overhead? A drop in productivity across the board. Someone needs to look at how this increase in positions was justified, who was promoted to the new slots, and why the OIG continues to underperform.
ReplyDeleteSimply speechless. 16 SES positions in a federal IG shop with probably around 600-700 or so total staff on board is heinous. Most SESers in the federal government probably oversee hundreds and hundreds of staff. A huge number of GS-15s in the federal government oversee hundreds of staff in operational and field units nationwide in many federal agencies, probably including SSA itself.
DeleteI hope numerous oversight entities have access to this blog or are made aware of it.
16 SESers in this OIG, if true, is simply criminal. I wonder what the overall ratio of SES and GS-15s executives to field and line staff is here? This place also appears to be flooded with GS-15s also.
Who has been monitoring this federal OIG office in any honorable and reasonable fashion?
SSAOIG is not the only OIG bloated with senior staff, special advisors and lawyers under current leadership. There is a pattern of parsing out FTE to OI and OA while bulking up positions that exist merely to support the IG and not the MISSION. Congress should be asking questions across the board.
ReplyDeleteThe mob mentality evident here as well as the distortion of facts in several areas is discouraging. Yes, there are real issues to resolve. Significant ones for sure. Focus on reality and solutions not name calling. The vast majority of 15s to include SACs and Directors in several components as well as several SES are long term OIG employees. Work with them on solutions. Don’t generalize all and perform character assassination.
ReplyDeleteThis comment is dubious. Federal investigators union had 98% no confidence vote in IG over eight months ago. FEVS results rating faith and trust in SSA OIG executive management decisionmaking in this OIG in the cellar for years. "Working to find solutions" internally here sounds like Sisyphus.
DeleteThis is exactly why outside oversight investigations are needed now to shed light here.
If statements in this post are true one has to wonder why legacy executive staff (SESes and GS-15s included) has not spoken up to any noticeable extent in years. It appears one admirably has, Funnie a few years ago. But since then, who?
The enemy of good government oversight is for the good to do nothing when things go bad. Or in this case, really bad. Funnie passed this test. After long periods of "significant" issues as the poster states, eventually guilt by association sets it. Or complacancy. Or a "I will just wait this out or keep marching towards my retirement" mentality. Or "I am scared so I will just stay quiet and not rock the boat." That is not leadership. That is capitulation.
Let's all just be nice and get along and kum-by-yah not solutions here. Many, many staff over the past few years probably tried and left in exasperation, just like they felt with their attempts to obtain valuable training. Let's get real here.
I don’t think anyone here has criticized the internal non-SES GS-15s. The issue and cancer we’re all describing centers around the lawyer friends Ennis and Alpert shuffled in as Senior Advisors and SES’s. They completely gutted our investigative branch to make room for their friend’s salaries.
DeleteThe result of their actions is that **HUNDREDS** of criminal allegations are being closed nationwide because we simply don’t have the manpower (Special Agent boots on the ground) to investigate them. There are entire states where every single fraud allegation that comes in there, is being closed due to the lack of Special Agent coverage. Now is the time to commit crimes against SSA because SSA OIG does not have the resources to stop it (see tanked stats for confirmation).
I hate to sound so defeated but your general outlook sounds a little too pollyannaish. I respect your “solutions based” approach. But what solutions do you suggest? In the last three and a half years we have watched an organization we loved and helped build crumble into a wasteland of corruption and incompetence. We’re the SSA OIG for God’s sake. Our mission is to fight fraud, waste and abuse, and aside from this forum, there is nothing we can do to about fraud waste and abuse festering in our own agency. Do you know how infuriating that is?
We stood in solidarity for a 98% no confidence vote (something that in itself seems unprecedented) and in the end **no one cared**. I know employees who have reported Ennis’ serious misconduct to their Congressman, to CIGIE, to White House committees, to investigative reporters but the fact of the matter is **no one cares**. This latest WaPo story gave us all some life. It was like a jolt of optimism that someone actually cares what is happening over at SSA OIG.
You say we should work with our superiors on solutions. I can’t speak for OA but our OI senior leadership (J. Walker, K. Huse, D. Jefferson) just stood by and did nothing to protect (or at least fight for) OI, and if they did, they sure as heck didn’t voice it. No chance would any of the previous OI senior leaders have taken it on the chin with these changes or allowed the telework spying/punishment to happen. So far, the new OI DAIGI seems like he gets it and truly cares about the field. But there’s only so much one person can do.
We’re all just in a waiting game. Will she resign? Absolutely not. Will Biden remove her? Doubtful. No matter what strides are made in OI, nothing will be enough until she and Alpert are gone. It’s the only way we can heal from this cancer and rebuild.
“The mob mentality evident here…”
DeleteI can only assume this post is from Ben or at least a friend of Ben since the only name calling here was by someone calling him a “doofus”. If it is you Ben, please consider “falling on the sword.”
For those in the back…”To fall on one's sword means to take responsibility for something that has gone wrong, in particular, to resign from one's position as a way to acknowledge responsibility for something that has gone wrong.”
You and Gail continue to choose the bus over the sword. Excuses over accountability. Nothing you can do, short of owning your actions/leaving, will ever repair the damage that has been done.
I know you both thought Brene Brown or a Penguin book on leadership would fix all your problems, that if we just learned to be resilient and accept change you could continue to force your cronyism down our throats and gut our agency. Since we all complied (or risk being fired), I compel you to read another leadership book. The book is called Extreme Ownership. OI senior leaders made it a required reading (for leadership) just a year before you all arrived. Here is the associated Ted Talk if you want the short version.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ljqra3BcqWM
Can someone here please post a link to the "Penguin" book all SSA OIG staff had to read and participate in discussions on under fear of retribution, retaliation, discipline or worse? I would guess it is available at AMAZON or Barnes & Noble websites?
DeleteI, like probably plenty others (and hopefully oversight entities), would be interested in what was required reading here at this SSA OIG recently.
Thanks to anyone who can assist here with a link.
And, kudos here to everyone who is providing valuable insight into this environment. This forum appears quite valuable and I am hopeful many appreciate your facts, forwardness and numerous solutions offered here. May God Bless and watch over the federal civil servants here who clearly appear to care and give a damn about their professional world crumbling around them.
Facts are not character assassination. Facts are facts.
DeleteThe seriously confused sometimes think there is such a thing as "alternative facts."
But facts are facts. To think otherwise is insanity.
The two books our entire organization were required to read (and discuss virtually for weeks) were:
Delete“Rising Strong”
https://brenebrown.com/book/rising-strong/
And, “Our iceberg is melting”
—yes we completely see the irony—
https://www.ouricebergismelting.com
Instead of paying for our law enforcement officers to get the much needed ongoing required training for life and death situations, senior leadership suggested they watch use of force, baton and OC training videos from the late 1990s-early 2000s.
All while they forked out likely over $150,000 to this company https://colinkdunn.com to facilitate the virtual discussion of the required books.
And so 500+ copies of both of these books were purchased and sent out at taxpayers' expense I assume to all SSA OIG staff throughout the nation as COVID-19 shut down offices?
DeleteAm I correct here that some of the pages in the "Penguin" book were pictures, in basically their entirety, of penguins on icebergs?
And SSA OIG staff had virtual conversations in group settings about this "Penguin" book led by someone else hired at taxpayers' expense?
What was the true penalty if SSA OIG staff did not participate? Was it truly firing? Who is Brene Brown?
If only everything on here was a fact. No doubt the directive to read two books and the associated “training” was a bad joke as was the “time audit” process. But, come on painting previous IGs as great is delusional. Apparently, bringing in an endless parade of former Secret Service agents (double dippers) and actual relatives didn’t stink of cronyism? Now, Funnie as the savior? All other OI execs minus the newest are trash? Maybe they and some others are as frustrated as you? I think of the 16 SES mentioned 3-4 are long term SSA OIG employees. Has anyone reached out to them to get their thoughts?
DeleteMost everything here is factual it would seem. But this post's points are understood and EXACTLY why serious and comprehensive investigations and questioning is so sorely needed by outside impartial oversight entities and the press.
DeleteIf you are productive, efficient, effective and a true supporter of strong and ethical government oversight, you should be relaxed and have absolutely no worries.
If you a crony, syncophant, lapdog or brown nose, you should be nervous and getting your resume ready.
Outside oversight entities will be able to determine the wheat from the chaff. They did it at State OIG and some other federal OIGs a few years back.
Yes, not everyone is bad. But not everyone is good. Some bad. Some not. If oversight entities step in here soon, you just better be realistic with yourself what camp you are in. A good look in the mirror is probably warranted - and a realistic nod to the American taxpayers and SSA retirees and disabled beneficiares you were sworn in to protect upon your entry into federal service. And that is an opinion and a fact.
Under these previous IGs and OI management the SSA OIG was respected federal government-wide and extremely productive.
DeleteJust look at previous semiannual reports. And now productivity has dropped off a cliff. A huge cliff.
Does this poster hold a grudge? All those Secret Service alumni made the SSA OIG what it was up until 2019. And if you are not convinced just look at the productivity - hard to argue with its strength. Same goes for the Office of Audit, which was also very productive up until 2019.
Another red herring here. People seem to love red herrings here in this SSA OIG. Complaining about executives from many years ago who nothing can be done about today is simply spitting in the wind and allowing it to smack you back in your face. It may be your painting they were not very good, but productivity stats and agent retention rates during their tenures would argue otherwise. And if you were around back then, what did you do about it if you observed what you state?
DeleteFocus right now on what you can do to improve this morass and toxicity Tuesday morning, 6/1 for yourself and your fellow employees when reporting for your shift. FOCUS!
This individual sounds like a legacy employee. Well, I hope he/she is not in management. But if he/she is, did he/she get her position while under the Ennis/Alpert regime? Come this Tuesday will this individual simply continue to stick their head in the sand or lead like a leader should?
Hate to be preachy here but FOCUS needed here, unless you are a syncophant. If only 3-4 of the legacy SESers are of the 16 present, why have they either tolerated this for so long or shirked from what appears to be massive discontent from most (98% by last count in the federal investigator union survey eight months ago) of OI?
I would be curious what the SES running the massively built up SSA OIG Systems office thought about the "time audit" process conducted under his or her watch. What did he/she know and when did he/she know it? Did he/she sign off on it, or simply acquiesce to it? Did he/she participate in its deployment? Or was this SES completely inept and clueless? I assume this process was the snooping of OI agents computers. Was this SES one of the 3-4 mentioned in this post, or an Ennis/Alpert appointment? Or both?
DeleteHere we go with the whataboutism.
Delete—the technique or practice of responding to an accusation or difficult question by making a counteraccusation or raising a different issue—
Who cares what one poster said about the previous IGs or Funnie? You’re cherry-picking!
Nobody said “All the other OI Execs” were trash either. We said the top three didn’t do anything to protect or fight for OI or even express once that they were fighting the good fight against this idiocy. Jen was retirement eligible and she could have used her power for good, instead of cowering to Ennis at every turn and calling her staff “middle of the road law enforcement.” Her cowardice and disingenuous nature earned her the slightly lower 90% no confidence vote.
Why the hell would the field ask the seasoned SSA OIG OI execs how they feel or what their thoughts are? Why should we have to go digging to find out where they truly stand —behind closed doors—? I don’t give a shit what their thoughts are. Deeds not words!
I am not sure whether to sit down and have a good cry or double over in laughter at the comic absurdity of this post. In the midst of this current SSA OIG firestorm and serious morale and productivity debacle, someone brings up observations about executives from many years past?
DeleteMust have skipped the debate team tryouts back in high school, or was cut during them.
If I was a member of the public, I would really question my time and effort put into reporting a SSA fraud or sending in a fraud tip (or calling the 1-800 fraud hotline) to the SSA OIG if I knew it had even a small chance of just being closed out, dumped in a growing pile or simply ignored. But on what scale recently has this truly been happening since 2019? Why would I waste my time if the federal oversight entity I hoped to trust is possibly this ineffective?
DeleteAnd fraudsters are smart and always like to stay one step ahead of the curve. We all know that. Imagine if fraudsters figure out the gravy train runs through tiny Rhode Island, or the Dakotas, Maine, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho? Sparsely populated states but still many thousands of SSA retirees and disabled beneficiaries. But is there any realistic SSA OIG staff presence there...either investigators or auditors? It would seem monumentally inept to consider just hiring up more and more lawyers in SSA OIG HQs in Baltimore as the solution here. And I cannot imagine members of congress from these states would be very happy knowing the potential vulnerabilities here that may exist for their constituents.
Last time I checked the SSA OIG did not even have operational field audit teams (OA divisions) in the Seattle and Denver regions. That means there is no physical audit presence in two of SSA's 10 regions (and their regional HQs buildings) per their nationwide structure. Yet all SSA OIG staff is forced to read and vitually discuss a book about penguins and live in fear their computers are being monitored by fellow OIG Systems staff?
“”And so 500+ copies of both of these books were purchased and sent out at taxpayers' expense I assume to all SSA OIG staff throughout the nation as COVID-19 shut down offices…And SSA OIG staff had virtual conversations in group settings about this "Penguin" book led by someone else hired at taxpayers' expense?””
DeleteYes (approximately 1,000 books purchased and shipped to each employee’s home) and with the combined costs paid to Colin Dunn’s private company and productivity time lost from OI and OA employees being forced to participate in this clown show, it easily cost taxpayers close to a million dollars.
“”What was the true penalty if SSA OIG staff did not participate?””
Considering this regime has targeted and or tried to fire/punish dozens of employees (with internal computer spying, pin audits, retaliation, Federal Occupational Health administrative issues etc.), I don’t know of anyone who didn’t at least pretend to participate. It wasn’t the hill any of us wanted to die on.
“”Was it truly firing?””
Who knows? I wouldn’t put it past them. Separate from the book requirement, they have issued letters to employees threatening termination for not responding with a vote to an HQ email quickly enough. For the computer spying, some have been given letters “offering” them the option resign or be fired (without ANY due process or chance to defend themselves and prove one can conduct investigative work without being glued to a laptop), while also requiring them to to sign non-disclosure agreements (sound familiar?)! No one has chosen to resign.
Their witch hunts are so weak, with all of the employees Ennis and Alpert have punished, targeted or tried to fire, ALL but one employee has won against them on appeal.
“”Who is Brene Brown?””
A motivational speaker and author.
No offense intended, but a previous poster has requested we (and I guess others?) engage in a pity party for members of the executive staff who may feel as frustrated as we do - and should ask them about their feelings. I will reply with a NO to this RSVP and pull out my finger violin. But I do feel sad they probably feel sad. I respond much better to executives that lead through example in their words, deeds and activities.
DeleteImagine a general on a battlefield believing he or she needs to be interviewed about his or her woes that are also being experienced by a vast percentage of his or her foot soldiers.
Yes, firing was part of the reprimands.
DeleteSince Ennis REQUIRED everyone to read the books, staff were given duty time to read. Yep: nearly 500 Federal employees were allowed to set aside their actual work and take several hours to read self-help books while on the taxpayers’ dime.
DeleteWhat’s most upsetting is that Ennis and Alpert turned the organization upside down and when they realized the chaos that ensued, did they accept responsibility? No. To them, the problem was a workforce who stubbornly resisted change. They thought spending $ thousands on the classes and books and ordering staff to spend hundreds of duty hours reading some books and listening to lectures on resilience and change management would fix everything. It just made folks more resentful and disengage further because the IG and DIG were effectively telling their employees: YOU are the problem.
A Google search of relatively recent press and news articles shows the SSA OIG employs a little over 500 individuals nationwide. The vast majority are spread among field sites throughout the USA (auditors and investigators).
ReplyDeleteSo one SES for every 35 employees or so on average? Assuming no (or very few) SESers in the field, the bloat at SSA OIG HQs is incomprehensible.
And let's not forget this SSA OIG has dozens and dozens of GS-15s floating around. Who is doing the bread-and-butter work here with all this executive overhead?
How about this idea for some FREE training - would not cost the federal government or US taxpayers a dime. And no approval at the GS-15 level or above needed.
ReplyDeleteAll SESers in the federal government MUST sign mobility agreements upon appointment. All 7,000+ in the federal government can "supposedly" move seamlessly throughout the federal government based upon their "leadership" skillsets.
These "skillsets" appear in drastically short supply here, if not nonexistant.
Simply removed all 16 SESers from this SSA OIG. Fire the Presidentially-appointed one. Redeploy all the non-appointed SESers throughout the federal government in highly productive and well performing Agencies or their OIGs (and none together) so these remaining 15 can get trained up on the important duties, responsibilities and backbones they supposed should already have.
Sounds too incestuous and entrenched here with this SES corps. Follow this advice and major concerns may start dissipating, except for the legacy cronies at the GS-15 levels. But, it is a start and a rebuild. Just bring in well vetted SESers from other federal OIGs and begin moving out to re-engage in the MISSION.
While this blog is extremely informative, imagine if dozens and dozens of the 500+ SSA OIG employees here who are apparently dissatisfied all sent copies of this entire blog, the two recent WAPO articles from last week, and an article discussing the federal investigator union's grievances eight months ago to all of the following:
ReplyDeleteThe SSA Acting Commissioner,
The Editor-in-Chief of the WAPO,
The Editor-in-Chief of the Baltimore Sun,
The Editor-in-Chief of GOVEXEC.com,
President Biden and Vice-President Harris,
Back to the federal investigators union,
The Executive Director of the SSAB,
The Executive Director of CIGIE,
The Senate Finance Committee,
The House Subcommittee on Social Security,
Their two state senators,
Their member of the U.S. House,
Anyone else they deem appropriate in the spirit of fostering ethical and productive government oversight.
Imagine dozens and dozens of letters and envelopes dumped on oversight and press entities' desks late next week. There is strength in numbers. It may cost $30 or so in postage and supplies individually - and some personal time - but it might provide a small sense of accomplishment and satisfaction to each participant. This proposal is solution-focused, no?
After all, God helps those who help themselves. And if it does not help, time to brush up and send out resumes.
Just do it on your non-duty hours so you are not monitored. This blog deserves a much wider audience. This SSA OIG is in a huge crisis.
It would also help if any SSA OIG alumni who departed for greener pastures or retired also engaged in this outreach - especially if your departure was hastened or seriously influenced by the current state of affairs.
DeleteI would also add the Director of GAO to this list. GAO and SSA OIG probably work collectively on some efforts but GAO should also be playing an oversight role here as well.
DeleteAs an alumni who retired before I’d planned because of this current regime, I can say that many tried to reason with Ennis and Alpert with facts and results to get them to do what was right for the staff and the organization. It was a waste of your time and breath. Even if you could get them to briefly agree with your position, they would then have further discussions with or without others in the room, and go back to their original plan. Someone in an earlier post said that IG Ennis hates Federal employees. I’m not sure hate is the proper word. I think it is more that she has no respect for Federal employees and she definitely has no respect for anyone who did not graduate from law school. She has said that any attorney can come in and do audits and investigations. The problem is, who went to law school to be a front line auditor or investigator?
ReplyDeleteAlso, if you don’t understand SSA’s programs, you don’t know what is or isn’t illegal or abusive under this program, and that knowledge takes time to learn and you have to put in effort to learn it. But why bother to learn it since Ennis has little respect for SSA program knowledge until someone from Congress, OMB or SSAB calls with a question, then she suddenly is grateful there are people around who can answer their questions so that she can look good. She prefers to surround herself with other attorneys since they are the only ones she respects, but they cost a lot more in salary dollars than front line investigators and auditors who typically start at a grade 7 or 9 and those attorneys (often grade 15) are not going to be doing front line field work, hence the drop in productivity.
It is encouraging to hear from alumni and retirees on this public blog. We have lost many, many dedicated and simply good people over the past 24+ months.
DeleteIf I may have the honor of speaking on behalf of many remaining SSA OIG employees in this paragraph, all alumni and retirees must know we truly are happy for you. For both those that moved on to better professional opportunities and greener pastures and those of you who are now enjoying the fruits of retirement. The friendships that have remained and will remain between and among many of us, both professional and personal, are very much treasured, appreciated and valued. Life is short and at the end of the day, it simply comes down to people. May all of us on this Memorial Day weekend relax peacefully and with gratitude for those members of the US military that for 250+ years have earned our respect because "All gave some and Some gave all."
Ok I’ll bite, another SSA OIG Alumni here. How has nobody raised the fact that under Inspector General Ennis’s tenure, OIG wasted over $1,000,000 in tax payer money to pay Microsoft for a case management system they never even used, all before Titan?
ReplyDeleteSadly, if you add this $1 M cost to the almost priceless and undiscernable costs of (1) setting up and deploying a process to monitor and report out on internal employee computer usage and (2) the impact of this activity on employee dissapating morale and employee mistrust/disengagement, this $ figure would explode higher. I have to wonder how the management performance bonuses have been handled recently in this SSA OIG's Systems shop.
DeleteGoogle “FEVS 2021 OIG”
ReplyDeleteLook at how many OIGs have published their FEVS results for public consumption and transparency.
-USDA OIG
-TIGTA
-USAID OIG
-DOL OIG
-Commerce OIG- remember they were dead last among OIGs last year, slightly below SSA OIG???
… the list goes on.
These federal employee viewpoint survey (FEVS) results must be baaaaaaaad, like even worse than last year’s. Perhaps we finally edged out Commerce OIG?
We should be demanding these FEVS results. No slow walking them like they did last year with their FEVS workgroup wanting to submit a response before the results were out. No BS “commitment to addressing employee concerns.” Just give us the results!
Journalists/congressmen/taxpayers, if you’re reading this, you will have concrete statistics to back up everything most everyone here is saying the second the SSA OIG FEVS results are made public.
It is my understand that many folks, from within the SSA OIG community, SSA itself, and others outside the SSA environs have serious questioned how the Acting Commissioner of Social Security, Kilolo Kijakazi, can have any confidence in SSA IG Ennis providing ethical and responsive oversight over her Agency. None. Not only in the past, but also going forward.
ReplyDeleteThe relationship between these two and their executive teams must be severely strained and in tatters for many months now. Simply broken beyond repair and possibly toxic as well.
Going forward, it seems impossible these two can effectively move forward on supporting SSA retiree and disabled constituencies, as well as the US citizenry.
Actions must be taken. And really soon. Responsive leadership requires such. As mentioned earlier, the enemy of good government oversight is for good folks to remain silent when things go bad.
Speaking of issuing threatening letters, I know of one employee who had already put in retirement papers at about the same time a survey went out to all OIG staff asking a question related to COVID vaccination status in preparation for returning to the office. Since the employee would be retiring BEFORE the date listed as the planned return to the office, the employee didn’t bother to respond to the survey since it didn’t apply to her.
ReplyDeleteBecause she didn’t respond to the survey, her supervisor was ordered to issue a written reprimand for not responding to the survey a couple days before she retired. Why would anyone do that? They didn’t go back to her and ask her to respond to the survey despite her impending retirement, they just issued a formal reprimand to an employee about to retire after a 30-year plus Federal career. That is not leadership or reasonable behavior.
There is clearly a sickness and diseased rot in the entire chain of command above this recent retiree to allow such activity to happen. All the way to the top. Like cancer or a festering sore.
DeleteAnd I am sure this post is factual. Disgusting, cowardly and pathetic for all involved above this long-time federal servant. People treat their dogs and cats and gerbils better.
Close to 100 posts in just 10 days to this public blog. Appears to be getting a much wider audience now. This blog is not a "mob mentality." It appears to be a thoughtful forum offering some potential and needed solutions to example after example of pervasive, toxic, ethically challenged and wasteful activities. And come tomorrow morning it will most likely start geting much more wider exposure. As it should.
Anyone still convinced the SSA OIG is not the Titanic?
Unfortunately, when these letters were issued, they came directly from AIGI Walker. Any supervisor between the employee and the AIGI was not consulted or informed they were being issued, they were just issued. You cannot hold the supervisors in between accountable when they were not even consulted. Additionally, as a supervisor who has an employee rerimanded, I fought to defend the employee and argued the reprimand directly with the AIGI. In the majority of cases, the supervisors sided with the employees.
Delete
DeleteThank you for speaking out in support of your subordinate special agent and not being COMPLICIT with SILENCE. More people in leadership need to speak out against this regime’s corruption, hostile take over and retaliation against its workforce. I can count on one hand those leaders that choose to currently speak out (not behind closed doors).
It reminds me of this famous quote by Martin Niemöller:
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
Ennis and Alpert’s spying audit targeted the investigative branch in retaliation for asking too many questions about the congressional funding… in retaliation for their complaints to cuts in travel and training… in retaliation for not accepting their cronyism with open arms.
The judge in the MSPB ruling wrote:
“Finally, I find that, on the issue of motive, the testimony of Michele Williamson, the agency attorney whose duties included investigating whistleblower complaints, merits some weight, in light of her knowledge of and experience with the agency's treatment of whistleblowers. [*91] Williamson stated:
Sadly, and -- and I don't say this lightly, and I feel like I'm putting myself at risk by saying this, I think that we work in a very retaliatory environment. I think that this inspector general values loyalty above all else, and that dissent for disclosures about possible violations of law or ethical rules are not tolerated. And that if you dissent, at the -- at the -- 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.”
As we honor our nation's men and women who have fought and died to preserve our freedoms today, let's learn from their lessons of leadership. These soldiers would have respected us for doing so. Leaders lead from the front. Non-leaders live in a bubble, surround themselves with like-minded followers, and stunt growth, risk-taking and accountability. Eastern Europe is embroiled in a hellish war as we speak between two countries. Which country has a true leader and which clearly does not? And because of this, how have the troops responded fighting for each country?
ReplyDeleteI recently read about a true leader. An American soldier loved among his troops...
"Theodore Roosevelt Jr., who had been shot in the leg and gassed nearly to blindness in World War I, was not going to let World War II go by without his direct involvement. First wave. D-Day. He was 56 and walked with a cane when his Higgins Boat reached Utah Beach on June 6, 1944.
The eldest son of the 26th U.S. president, Roosevelt Jr. famously said the American Legion could never have been founded by one individual. It was a point he made often in 1919, the organization’s founding year, when crowds of newly minted veterans shouted for him to serve as the first national commander after World War I. He declined the nomination in order to ensure that the American Legion would not be perceived as politically partisan in any way.
Prior to U.S. entry in World War I, he helped form American Legion, Inc., a national network of citizens trained to serve should the call to arms come. He led combat missions across France and soon after the armistice of Nov. 11, 1918, arranged the earliest meetings to plan what would become The American Legion."
We honor and thank leaders such as this soldier today.
I was just told that OPM conducted a comprehensive workforce analysis at SSA OIG last year. I imagine a number of issues discussed on this blog came up during that review. Has anyone read the report findings and recommendations? Is there any hope that OPM can shine some light on the disarray and aid in cleaning up the mess?
ReplyDeleteThe fact that about 98% or so of these blog comments are running with a negative vibe on the Ennis/Alpert regime is not lost on anyone reading this blog. Except for comic relief and diversionary tactics employed by the remaining 2% of posters, this SSA OIG environment appears to be a US taxpayer travesty on oxygen support.
ReplyDelete98% of OI agents voted no confidence in Ennis in October 2021. Sad, but in no way surprising, how the percentages are simply reinforcing themselves here. Where there is smoke there is fire. These 98%s are not happening by coincidence.
And it is clear here when a foundation is built on favortism, cronyism and incestuous/syncophantic groupthink hiring, those who benefitted from the spoils scurry like rats or dig themselves underground like rodents when exposed.
Some may feel offended by the terms rats and rodents. You cannot control how others think. However, if offended, just think in terms of Mickey Mouse, Sonic the Hedgehog or Peppe Le Pew.
DeletePart 1 of 4
ReplyDeleteOn March 31, 1995, SSA/OIG was created to:
-Oversee the economy, efficiency, & effectiveness of the SSA programs.
-Prevent & detect fraud, waste, & abuse in SSA programs.
-Inform SSA & Congress about agency problems & deficiencies.
In 1998, the SSA/OIG established the Cooperative Disability Investigations (CDI) Unit. The CDI Unit is a task force comprised of these team members:
-1 GS-13 SSA/OIG federal Special Agent (a CDI Team Leader) who works for SSA/OIG
-1 SSA Program Specialist who works for SSA
-1 Disability Determination Services (DDS) Analyst who works in the state where the CDI is located
-2-4 Task Force Officers (generally state law enforcement officers) who work for the state where the CDI is located.
CDIs are fully funded directly by SSA, with the exception of the SSA/OIG Team Leader’s salary. This includes the remaining team members’ salaries, supplies, benefits etc. CDI units started rolling out across the U.S. and became a popular initiative. It was so popular in fact, Congress mandated that there be one CDI Unit in all 50 states by 2022. Bipartisan Act of 2015:
Ensuring Correct Payments and Reducing Fraud: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/COMPS-11720/pdf/COMPS-11720.pdf
In order to staff the CDI Unit, SSA/OIG Office of Investigations (OI), the law enforcement section, had to give up a journeyman GS-13 Special Agent to run the CDI Unit. The GS-13 Special Agent would still work for SSA/OIG but their work was solely focused on running the CDI Unit. This meant that SSA/OIG was losing its best leaders who were now no longer available to mentor newly hired personnel or provide job specific expertise or institutional knowledge. It also meant OIG had less resources to work criminal fraud cases that did not fall under the CDI Unit mission. CDIs can work criminal fraud cases but generally only work non-criminal pre-effectuation cases.
At the time, SSA/OIG had a ceiling of employees it could hire, so every time a CDI Unit started, a GS-13 Special Agent was lost from OI without a back-fill to replace them.
Prior to 2019, SSA/OIG senior leaders recognized this hurdle and went to Congress to ask that SSA pay SSA/OIG back for all of the years a GS-13 Special Agent in OI was lost to CDI without being able to backfill the position. Congress agreed and mandated SSA pay SSA/OIG $10,000,000 every year beginning in 2019 to reimburse CDI Team Leader salaries:
“…the Budget requests that SSA transfer up to $10 million of its program integrity cap adjustment funds in SSA’s Limitation on Administration Expenses (LAE) account to the OIG for expenses incurred for OIG cooperative disability investigations (CDI) unit team leaders. This important anti-fraud activity is an authorized use of the cap adjustment.
CDI units are unable to function without an OIG team leader. Each CDI Unit includes an OIG Special Agent who serves as the Team Leader…Generally, CDI units investigate suspected fraud before the agency awards benefits...”
See SSA OIG Budgets:
https://www.ssa.gov/budget/FY19Files/2019OIG.pdf
https://www.ssa.gov/budget/FY20Files/2020OIG_1.pdf
ReplyDeletePart 2 of 4
SSA/OIG Senior Leaders announced to OI help was on the way. They told Special Agents over the next several months that the annual Congressional funding ($10,000,000) would be used to backfill all GS-13 Special Agent positions lost to CDI as Team Leaders.
Unfortunately, that all changed when President Trump nominated Gail Ennis to be the SSA/OIG Inspector General (IG). IG Ennis was a partner for WilmerHale and had no law enforcement or government experience.
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-115shrg40861/html/CHRG-115shrg40861.htm
“Unlike most IG officials, who are usually career government employees, Ennis is a political appointee who previously contributed to Trump’s campaign.”- The Hill
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/457452-new-policy-at-interiors-in-house-watchdog-clamps-down-on/
WilmerHale “represents at least two of President Trump’s family members who also are White House officials, his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as well as former campaign chairman Paul Manafort,” -Politico.
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/23/justice-department-trump-family-robert-mueller-investigation
“… Trump quietly appointed Gail Ennis, who previously earned $2 million per year at WilmerHale and donated thousands to Trump’s campaign, to oversee the Interior Department’s OIG. Staffers at the office reported that they were silenced during Ennis’ brief tenure at the agency. Ennis currently serves as the inspector general at the Social Security Administration.” -Salon
https://www.salon.com/2020/06/28/shocking-level-of-corruption-watchdogs-question-if-firm-was-rewarded-for-supporting-trumps-wall/
Since the beginning of IG Ennis’ tenure, she has expressed her distain for non-attorney government employees.
IG Ennis appointed Ben Alpert as her Deputy IG (DIG). DIG Alpert previously worked for SSA/OIG as a low-level attorney before he left to SIGTARP.
Ennis and Alpert immediately implemented a hiring freeze for all SSA/OIG positions nationwide. However, this freeze obviously did not apply to them as they began hiring Ennis’ Wilmer and Hale friends and Alpert’s SIGTARP and high school friends (mostly attorneys). None of these attorney positions were publicly advertised and veterans and other potential applicants could not compete for the positions Ennis and Alpert abused the excepted service direct hire loophole.
These dozens of new hires, mostly attorneys, began showing up in the SSA/OIG newsletters. The entire organization could not understand how it suddenly had the massive funding for hiring at the executive level when OI was hemorrhaging personnel nationwide. It turns out, the Congressional funding that was to be used to backfill all of the Special Agent positions (who went to CDI) was instead being used to hire Ennis and Alpert’s friends.
The funding was also used to establish the SSA/OIG OCIE which was used to overly discipline SSA/OIG employees for minor administrative infractions.
“Office of the Counsel for Investigations and Enforcement OCIE is comprised of investigative counsel, which supports the organization, development, and prosecution of complex and high-priority Social Security fraud cases, as well as the administration of the Civil Monetary Penalty (CMP) program. OCIE also includes the Office of Quality Assurance and Professional Responsibility (OQAPR), which … investigates allegations of misconduct by OIG employees.”
So instead of fulfilling a promise to Congress and OI, Ennis & Alpert used the millions of dollars to get their friends high paying government jobs and they established a workgroup (OCIE) aimed to target legacy SSA/OIG employees.
ReplyDeletePart 3 of 4
On December 18, 2020, there was an SSA/OIG OI All Hands Call with HQ and the field employees. The frustration in the field was coming to a boiling point and many were demanding to know what the $10,000,000 SSA reimbursement was used for in Fiscal Year 2019 and the $10,000,000 in Fiscal Year 2020 since it obviously was not used for what Congress and OI were promised (to back fill Special Agents).
Assistant Inspector General Jennifer Walker advised:
“One question we did get is… ‘What happened to the extra funding for special agent hires and could you give a timeline for backfilling positions’…Each component no longer has a hiring ceiling… there is no longer anything called a backfill…we’re looking as an organization more holistically… the IG joined us in January 2019 and soon after that the program integrity transfer from SSA began… where we got CDI team leader costs… what that funding did was it opened up additional monies in our base appropriations. OIG has used that funding to make strategic hires across the organization to include… the establishment of OCIE. One of the reasons that funding did not equate to the number of FTEs [Full Time Equivalent positions] was because we did some hiring at higher levels than we anticipated [all the attorneys previously described]... In the very beginning, a lot of folks thought the transfer of funds for CDI was going to equate to additional FTEs within OI, however when [IG] Gail [Ennis] came onboard, her vision was to look at the organization more holistically and that that money was not specifically earmarked for OI… In terms of hiring… in FY 2020 we did hire 18 employees, unfortunately, we attrited 26 employees… about half retired and a few went to other components and other agencies… I know everyone thought it was going to be a one for one replacement [CDI Team Leader lost for a new Special Agent hire] and for the reasons I stated, that is not the case.”
Because of Ennis’ hiring freeze, misappropriation of Congressional funding, and continued distain for OI, Special Agents retired or fled in droves to work for other federal agencies. The problem was no longer backfilling CDI Team Leaders, the problem became backfilling special agents in general. The toxicity of SSA/OIG senior leadership spread to outside law enforcement agencies and SSA OIG went from having outside applicants taking downgrades just to get in the SSA/OIG door, to having a national GS-13 multi city job announcement resulting in only 100 applicants.
SSA/OIG field offices were now closing hundreds of viable SSA fraud allegations that would normally be investigated by a special agent. Entire states and metropolises have no OI special agent coverage for non-CDI matters. Now is the prime time to commit fraud against SSA. Because of Ennis and Alpert’s incompetence, SSA/OIG can no longer adequately protect the trust fund.
Part 4 of 4
ReplyDeleteIG Ennis testified, “Should I be confirmed as the Inspector General for the Administration, I will work with Congress and the agency to address these and other challenges; to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse; and to continue to improve SSA's effectiveness and efficiency.”
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-115shrg40861/html/CHRG-115shrg40861.htm
Despite this reassurance, instead, the SSA/OIG has been flailing for three and a half years under her administration with no real clear mission and no competent leadership. Instead of stamping out fraud, waste, and abuse, she ushered it into the agency both internally and externally.
Instead of drafting their own strategic plan, which they had years to complete, they added an additional year to the previous strategic plan (2015-2020) so SSA/OIG could operate through April 2021. When their strategic plan was finally revealed, they had eliminated the strategic and ambitious SSA/OIG performance measures and replaced them with vague, lackluster, and easily achievable goals. They did however focus their priorities on the “OIG Pets” section of the Weekly newsletter as well as changing the SSA/OIG logo, you know, the important stuff.
Since IG Ennis began her tenure in 2019, SSA/OIG has lost more employees than at any other time in the agency’s existence. The morale is at an all-time low.
https://bestplacestowork.org/rankings/detail/?c=SZ05
SSA/OIG went from being one of the best OIGs to work for to the second to last. In 2020, SSA/OIG was ranked 382 out of the 411 agency subcomponents. Comparable FEVS results are not yet available on OPM’s website for 2021.
https://bestplacestowork.org/rankings/?view=overall&size=sub&category=leadership&
2021 FEVS results have been released to each government agency; however, Ennis and Alpert kept these terrible results hidden from their workforce (up until this blog’s comments section pressured their release) and the taxpayers (SSA/OIG FEVS results have not been published for the general public), despite other OIGs immediately publishing their FEVS results for public consumption on their websites.
For years, The SSA union had been calling for the termination of the Commissioner Andrew Saul which eventually came to fruition.
The union cited, “Since Trump appointed Saul … in 2019, SSA employees have withstood years of mismanagement, hostile labor relations, a notable decline in employee morale...”
It is notable that since Trump appointed IG Gail Ennis, SSA OIG employees have also withstood years of mismanagement, hostility to SSA OIG employees, and a notable decline in employee morale. In fact, aside from COVID-19 protocols, the SSA OIG morale is far lower than the SSA morale.
https://bestplacestowork.org/rankings/detail/?c=SZ00
https://bestplacestowork.org/rankings/detail/?c=SZ05
In 2021, the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association held a no-confidence vote for its SSA OIG members. Of those who voted, 98% said they had no confidence in IG Ennis’ leadership.
https://www.fleoa.org/news-story.aspx?id=10006
White House/Biden administration, CIGIE, GAO, SSAB, OSC, Congress, taxpayers, journalists: if you’re reading this, please send help!
THIS IS INSANE!!! I cannot believe they’ve gotten away with this. It now makes total sense why they separated OI from CDI in the last 6 months. They got away with stealing this congressional funding for 3 years and are now trying to clean it all up.
DeleteThis is damningly FACTUAL. With constant references to published proof. An extremely well-written and thorough four part discussion. It is admirable seeing people stand up and speak truth to power. Well done.
DeleteThis post needs to be shared with the Washington Post.
DeleteThis entire blog needs to be shared with the Washington Post and many others. See the previous poster's list of entities that should be contacted immediately.
DeleteI shared this blog with the Washington post.
DeleteIt’s one thing to gripe about changes, but this 4-part narrative is a road map to very illegal activities conducted by the IG and her regime. Thank you for putting into words how they destroyed an otherwise reputable and stellar agency. Just know everything is temporary and for those still hanging on in the agency, don’t forget you’re the voice for young auditors and investigators. Don’t give up and keep fighting the good fight. Once this nightmare is over, SSA OIG can hopefully return to what it once was, if not better. It makes me happy to know people still give a damn about SSA OIG.
DeleteSpeaking of the “OIG Pets,” let's not forget the importance of the OIG Cookbook! 🤣
DeleteNot going to lie, I’m a little salty I just learned from your post that we can use emojis on this blog. This ride could have been a lot more fun.
DeleteThe real fun ride here is trying to follow the recipe for the "Upside Down" cake in the SSA OIG Cookbook, only to find out it bakes out into a complete disaster, catches the oven on fire - and burns down the entire house!
DeleteStay away from the scrambled eggs recipe too.
So this story now comes full circle from when it broke a couple of Fridays ago. CMP fines on SSA disabled beneficiaries were pumped up to ridiculous amounts to "show" huge potential monetary recoveries. Bring in the sledgehammer when a regular hammer would have done the job on poor fellow Americans. And these fines would have been used to request and justify additional funding dollars from congress and SSA, only for it to be channeled into massive non-agent hires who were lawyers, overhead, friends and individuals with no SSA programmatic or policy or operations experience. The impact of this is overall agent and audit productivity has plummeted...and fraud referrals and allegations simply being tossed aside or closed out by the hundreds, if not thousands.
ReplyDeleteThe SSA OIG's annual appropriated budget is barely over $100M every year. With $10M in annual "CDI" funding apparently used elsewhere, $1M+ lost in a failed Systems office deployment effort, and a lot of $s spent on a penguin book and a contracted discussion facilitator, funding is hemorhaging from the mission here. And when is the "management meeting" in Baltimore where many folks are flying in from everywhere in the US going to be held?
ReplyDeleteThe damages the current IG the DIG did were beyond repairs. They forced out the most experienced executives and replaced them with people with no SSA experience or any knowledge about SSA programs. They also do not care about the existing staff. They make decisions to include lots of work that lead to nowhere and totally wasted. While the new OIG strategic plan puts maintaining quality workforce as a strategic goal, it is very difficult to get trainings to meet hard to get professional certificates. They have also refused to pay for license and certification fees for the the licenses/verifications obtained for the jobs. they said only lawyers need to have the licenses to their jobs.
ReplyDeleteThe office wide trainings are also not useful and requiring everyone to take the same trainings. The audit related trainings are for Internal auditors but we are actually external auditors. Change Mangement related trainings are such as joke. The IG and DIG are the ones who should be taking trainings.
What they do not know is that they do not know what is an audit and did not make an effort to learn what is an audit. Our work was reviewed by three layers of lawyers who had no ideas about the subjects and no ideas what is an audit and made repeated nonsenses comments and questions. I can’t believe this is SSA IG….When I joined the office, the Executives were so highly qualified and had unbelievable level of SSA knowledge, and highly respected subject matter experts.
It now takes three layers of review for SSA OIG audits to get out the door by lawyers with no SSA experience, either programmatic, operational or policy-wise?
ReplyDeleteThis sounds unbelievable, especially since federal auditors are professionals with training, education and licensing who know how to write and conduct audits. Federal auditors are held to many governmental standards and requirements, like GAO'S Yellow Book and Generally Accepted Auditing Principles (GAAP).
Is this really true and a fact? This sounds utterly incomprehensible. This cannot be true. Are some of the 16 SESers running the audit shop? What are they doing about this? Were any SESers that exist in the audit shop appointed by Ennis and Alpert, two lawyers themselves?
It is true, and they actually line edit the reports. The head of audit was pushed out 2 years ago for asking too many questions and not going along.
DeleteIt is my understanding there currently are two SESers in the SSA OIG Office of Audit. Both appointed by Ennis and Alpert.
DeleteAnd two SESers in the Office of Audit have departed since Ennis and Alpert arrived. One legacy SES took a downgrade to a GS-15 but kept save pay (why would this SESer be downgraded like that)? Then this SES retired. The other was hired from outside but left after about a year.
And get ready - this office is in the process of bringing a third SES on board as we speak into Baltimore. Can you believe that? The office size is probably less than 125 staff nationwide.
It’s a start:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/01/social-security-ennis-investigation-white-house/
CIGIE opening investigation
An earlier post said the FEVS results for 2021 must be bad since they had not yet been shared. They were finally shared with staff yesterday and some are in the Washington Post article was issued today. Yes, they are very, very bad and a significant drop since 2018, before Ennis was appointed. Also, the response rate was very high - twice that of the government as a whole - so this was not just a few employees complaining. This indicates that the workforce wanted their voices heard. And what did they say?
ReplyDeleteOnly 28% said they recommend SSA OIG as a good place to work.
Only 13% agreed that SSA OIG senior leaders generate high levels of motivation and commitment in the workforce.
Only 22% said SSA OIG senior leaders maintain high standards of HONESTY and INTEGRITY.
Has anyone ever seen scores this low at an OIG before? At any Federal agency that wasn’t in crisis mode?
They were only shared because they are reading this blog. I have never seen scores like this before.
DeleteDon’t forget this one: “I have a high level of respect for my organizations senior leaders.”
21.7% agree
Simply disgusting Ennis and Alpert do not get around to releasing FEVS results to their entire staff well before the press reports out on them. Released the same day internally as reported out in WAPO.
DeleteThe whitewashing, cover-my-butt activities have just started up here. It will get worse.
A response in the comments section to this WAPO article yesterday...
ReplyDelete"There is a difference between deterrence and sadism. If it is not worth prosecuting in criminal court, it should not merit a life crushing fine. The people fined did not get a day in court with an attorney before a jury of their peers."
Spot on.
Ennis and Alpert led and were completely accepting and complicit in the environment surrounding these egregiously fined CMP cases that were not even considered at the federal level to be worthy of being pursued in a court of law. Hence, the penalties just handed out. Sounds like Ennis and Alpert, lawyers themselves, are not up to speed with the term "due process." I am not a lawyer, but I learned about that term in a civics class way back in high school.
From the 6/1 WAPO article:
ReplyDelete"Over a seven-month period that ended in mid-2019..."
Was the previous Acting IG, Gale Stone, complicit in this CMP travesty? She did move on quickly after Ennis assumed command. Outside investigators and oversight must be stubbornly comprehensive, detailed and diligent here. This is not a red herring but rather a valid question.
The stench of the Ennis and Alpert legacies should remain stuck to both of these individuals for the remainder of their careers. And Alpert is a relatively young person who boomeranged back to the SSA OIG - beginning as a staff attorney and via a layover at SIGTARP. Prime example of promotion through cronyism and lapdog activity.
ReplyDeleteNo reputable federal entity or law firm should employ either Ennis or Alpert going forward. The toxicity will never escape these two. It appears ingrained.
Based upon the information below, it appears future employers of SES B. Chad Bungard should be very wary as well.
DeleteWhy did the listing of SSA OIG executives and their oversight duties, present for many years on the SSA OIG public facing website, recently disappear? Hmm...
ReplyDeleteOne must wonder if investigators and oversight entities are also curious about B. Chad Bungard, currently the SSA OIG SES Chief Strategy Officer and former SSA IG Chief of Staff. Remember from press releases back in 2019:
"B. Chad Bungard, a former general counsel at the board responsible for hearing federal employee appeals of personnel actions, is President Donald Trump’s pick to be a member of the panel.
The president on April 30 nominated Bungard to be a member of the Merit Systems Protection Board for a term that would expire on March 1, 2025. If Bungard, as well as Trump’s two previously announced MSPB nominees, are confirmed by the Senate, they can begin to address a backlog of more than 2,000 cases. The three-member board hasn’t had a two-member quorum since January 2017, and it hasn’t ..."
And internal SSA OIG whistle-blower corruption has been highlighted now and confirmed in court proceedings? This duplicity and abject two-faced SES environment in the SSA OIG is sickening. It is infuriating. A complete house cleaning is in order here.
Imagine the irony if an individual is seated on the MSPB, sworn to preside over cases of ALL federal employee personnel appeal actions, came from an environment where internal whistle blower retaliation was confirmed by a court of law?
DeleteWhere was this SES in defending his fellow SSA OIG executives and line staff attorneys? Where was a backbone or speaking up to this travesty for his own troops?
A quick internet search has uncovered a factual nugget here. Evidently this individual graduated from Liberty University, a bastion of Trump-related support for many years.
It appears the rot and lapdog mentality throughout the SSA OIG executive corps is deeply entrenched. And it appears he was hired into his position by Ennis and Alpert. Let's all hope and fight hard here for a deep and thorough oversight investigation to be conducted immediately.
Speaking of Mr Bungard, that raises another issue that should be investigated. Mr Bungard and DIG Alpert had followed each other from SSA OIG to SIGTARP to SSA and then back to SSA OIG in recent years. When DIG Alpert brought Chad Bungard back to SSA OIG as the new Chief of Staff, his immediate prior position had been with SSA and one of his responsibilities was overseeing the Audit Liaison function at SSA. Audit Liaison is who provides SSA OIG all the documents needed for audits and facilitates all the meetings between auditors and SSA officials during the course of the audit. Chad also oversaw specific SSA operations. With OIG again, he immediately started commenting on ongoing audits and audit proposals as well as providing detailed comments on audit methodologies. This was a clear independence issue under Government Auditing Standards. Chad even bragged to anyone who would listen how he got certain audits “killed”. On paper, he recused himself from involvement in audits for 1 year, but he still routinely reviewed audit reports at IG Ennis or DIG Alpert’s request, despite his signed recusal. The former AIGA repeatedly reminded IG and DIG of Bungard’s independence impairment and then she stepped down. Not long after that, Bungard put some of his comments on an audit methodology over an SSA operational function that had been under his supervision until he moved to OIG in writing to an Audit Director who reported them to the Chief Counsel. As this was a violation of his recusal, he was then removed as Chief of Staff, but who knows whether his interference in audits continued or if it just went underground. Many in The Office of Audit expected this issue to come up during the recent Audit Peer Review conducted by DOD OIG, but there is no sign in the public report that it did. CIGIE should look into this also.
ReplyDeleteAren't peer reviews conducted by fellow federal OIG offices to provide oversight over themselves? It is very disconcerting if nothing was mentioned in a public-facing report of issues present like this. Peer reviews should be thorough and substantive. I think it is factual to say these peer reviews are conducted under CIGIE requirement and oversight.
DeleteOne has to wonder what else was not reported in this Department of Defense peer review conducted recently. Can someone post an internet link? How "clean" was this report issued of all the issues being raised in this blog and the WAPO articles?
The definition of "cronyism" in the the Webester's Dictionary should be replaced with a discussion of this environment. Just an opinion here - not a fact.
Deletehttps://oig.ssa.gov/peer-review-reports/2021-11-01-external-peer-review-report-on-the-u-s-social-security-administration-office-of-inspector-general-audit-organization/
DeleteLink to clean peer review report as requested. There is also referenced a letter of comments but it is not online that I could find.
DeleteThank you for the internet link.
It probably takes all of three to five minutes for most folks to read this peer review report. It is stated, "Audit organizations can receive a rating of pass, pass with deficiencies, or fail. The SSA OIG has received an External Peer Review rating of pass."
This peer review by DoD was released in the fall of 2021, less than a year ago. It seems very questionable, if not far-fetched, how this conclusion could be reached with all of the issues clearly being uncovered here and by WAPO and seemingly present for years now. It needs to be questioned here how much responsible, defensible and professional due diligence was emplpyed in the conduct here of this peer review.
And with the SSA OIG also probably tasked with conducting peer reviews of other federal OIGs, it must be questioned how much veracity these might have been conducted with. How can an entity with so many issues responsibly conduct a peer reviews of others?
It is VERY honorable and commendable to see so many ethical, concerned and mission-focused SSA OIG employees and others posting to this blog. We are all Americans and US taxpayers - and we will most likely be (or currently are) Social Security recipients of retiree or disability benefits.
ReplyDeleteIt appears this blog has turned into a massively detailed and informative whistle-blower complaint by many concerned folks. No retaliation is deserved here for all these brave folks discussing all these issues. They are true Patriots!
ReplyDeleteWho is going to responsibly investigate and take action here on the issues and observations made? Hopefully more than just CIGIE and the good folks at WAPO.
It needs to be duly noted by ALL investigative and oversight entities involved that SSA IG Ennis is a member of CIGIE's Integrity Committee, per CIGIE's website. That is another fact here. It is crucial those who are being investigated are NOT involved in any way over their own oversight malfeasance.
ReplyDeleteWith the FEVS results, WAPO articles, last fall's FLEOA letters, staffers being hauled to the Hill today - and the revelations and observations being made over the past two weeks - any shred of common decency or self- respect dictates Ennis, Alpert and Bungard would have resigned their positions by now. Or by COB today. Or at the latest, COB tomorrow so they can clean out their offices. My God, the SSA IG is presidentially appointed and serves at the pleasure of the President!
ReplyDeleteAnd other SES staff and executive leaders here should be giving themselves really hard internal looks at themselves. And moving on or leaving also for the good of the organization. Simply guilt by association. They may sit around waiting for all the investigations to be conducted, but that is probably folly. The vast questionableness here appears deep and wide.
Not all the current executives should be lumped in together. There are several who have worked at SSA OIG for many years and, even though they were promoted by this IG, they earned their positions through years of dedicated hard work and are continuing to fight for their staff the best they can while hoping to rebuild down the line.
ReplyDeleteThen there are the executives who were promoted from within or brought in from outside who are just trying to survive with their jobs intact without drawing the IG’s ire and becoming the next target for reprisal. These individuals are not willing to risk their jobs like Joscelyn Funnie’ and Debbie Shaw did.
The group that should get the most attention are the ones actively participating in the abuses with the IG. DIG Alpert is definitely in that group as he has brought on many friends and past coworkers without knowing what needed position they would fill and has agreed with or carried out many questionable actions for this IG. I would also put Chief Counsel Michelle Murray in this group. Michelle Murray provides legal advice to the IG and has a lot of influence in the IG’s decisions. She is also the one who would carry out any personnel actions, such as the firing of Joscelyn Funnie’ and the actions taken against Debbie Shaw and other former executives and employees, such as those investigators targeted for not using their laptops “enough”. The IG did not take these actions alone.
Debbie Shaw’s MSPB ALJ case decision concludes it is a “prima facie case of whistleblower reprisal”. None of those personnel actions would have happened without Michelle Murray’s active participation and advice to the IG. If Murray had a problem with any of them, she would have left by now as other executives have done when faced with actively participating in illegal or questionable actions if they stayed.
Points well taken. Outside investigators and oversight should be able to parse through this situation here to determine the wheat from the chaff, as a previous poster stated. But still, the silence from MANY up until now is deafening, especially those entrusted with leadership roles. Who is leading here? And who gets a good night's sleep?
DeleteThe questionable will eat each other alive and throw each other under a bus. Has happended since the beginning of time. Those who are performing admirably will rise to the cream of the crop as investigations and oversight activities start up here.
DeleteThere are 16 or so SESers in the SSA OIG now according to posters. And more being added? That is clearly ridiculous to begin with. It appears four should be clearly investigated. How far has this rot spread?
DeleteIf a federal SES is simply burying their head in the sand trying to "survive" in the federal government, they will be viewed by many as cowards. The federal SES corps is supposed to be filled with leaders, not executives who are just biding their time hoping things will get better in the future. Respected SES leaders take necessary risks any true leader would take, as its staffs would unquestionably expect and demand of them.
DeleteThe rank-and-file folks here have just been trying to "survive" for what appears years now. And this poster trying to bail out SES staff?
@Anonymous1:42 PM, June 02, 2022
DeleteYou are right! HUSE rose to the top faster and younger than anyone (besides ALPERT) in the history of OIG based on his merits and hard work…It had absolutely nothing to do with his uncle serving as the first IG.
Internal executives are doing “the best they can while hoping to rebuild down the line.”
When faced with the near annihilation of their troops, these brave men and women…[checks notes]… hoped to rebuild down the line???
Yikes. I don’t think you meant for this to sound as cowardly as it does. Sure they don’t belong in the same category as the sycophants and external lapdogs (MURRAY, PLANZOS, STAFFORD, ETC), but they sure as hell aren’t the heroes we all needed them to be in this story.
Don't forget Sarah Stafford (the current "Chief Advisor" to the IG) who came over from WilmerHale in May 2019 as a GS-15 attorney-advisor for the now defunct Office of Strategy and Performance making over $160K. It should be noted that van der Schalie also came over as part of this group along with Michelle Murray...imagine that!! In October 2020, Stafford was promoted to Chief Advisor to the IG, which came with a shiny new "Senior Level" pay scale (instead of GS) and upped her salary to almost $180K. I am not sure anyone knows what she does as Chief Advisor since she clearly has not given the IG any sound advice since she came on. Just another "yes man" to do the IG's bidding.
ReplyDeleteIf you're curious about federal salaries, here is a handy website: https://www.fedsdatacenter.com. Note that 2021 data is strange and the search doesn't work as nicely for whatever reason. But you can select all years to get information through 2020 and then search for 2021 by last name separately and go from there. Happy hunting!
This federal employee payroll site is useful also:
Deletehttps://www.federalpay.org/employees
Some folks making some huge salaries here! This is where the value of federal sunshine laws and public facing websites such as these come into play. And some of these federal payroll sites show annual bonus information as well, just in case anyone is interested in their size and who they went out to. Just remember, the information may not be complete or as up-to-date as we would like. But some simple FOIA requests or good investigative digging should be able to get this information all the way up through May 2022.
So this SSA OIG "Chief Advisor" makes around $180K a year. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the national average salary in 2020 was $56,310.
DeleteA vast majority of these Americans toil daily with their blood, sweat and tears. Or run into buildings on fire or serve in the military or keep our streets safe. Or pave our roads. Or work hard in medical facilities or teach our children. These folks DO NOT get anywhere near $180K simply to "advise" others or have "advise" as part of their job title.
How can this person have an advisory capabilities anyway - they were a lawyer dump from WilmerHale. If questioned thoroughly about SSA policies, procedures and operations, could this person even respond intelligently? Sometimes a little bit of simple perspective clearly shows the rot and toxicity present.
Good God! Where does this rot lead? Does it ever end?
ReplyDeleteWhat is a "Chief Advisor?" If she is the chief are a bunch of other "advisors" running around? What productivity metrics can be used here to measure a "Chief Advisor's" performance and value to the mission?
Sorry, just not being convinced here ALL SESers here do not need a good looking into. All 16. Again, simply guilt by association or unwillingness to be leaders in a leadership role. And maybe some others whose salaries are substantial and being paid by us US taxpayers.
I learned that Gail Ennis “detailed” the SESer leading her personnel shop (called the Office of Resource Management) soon after OPM shared its workforce analysis report on SSA OIG. Coincidence? The Office of Audit is already struggling to issue audits and now it has to carry an out-of-favor SESer? I guess the OIG has so many SES positions that it can sideline them with no real work to do. Your tax dollars at work. What was in that OPM report? And when will we see it?
ReplyDeleteA SES with no presumably no audit experience was taken from the SSA OIG Office of Resource Management recently and dumped into the Office of Audit (she was running the Resource Management Office for goodness sake)?
DeleteAnd it appears the SSA OIG Office of Audit is currently in the process of bringing on board yet another SESer. Will that make four in this Office of Audit for a staff no larger than 125 or so?
This blog MUST be disseminated FAR and WIDE to anyone and anything that can make a difference here in this OIG.
An immediate hiring freeze, reassignment freeze and promotion freeze should be imposed by the SSA ACOSS until this is sorted out and a true and comprehensive personnel needs and deployment study is conducted by outside independent sources.
This has got to be criminal shirking of OPM and federal government personnel rules and regulations. OPM, you also looking into this and ALL 16 SESers here? I thought us taxpayers could be confident that SESs in the federal government were the best of the best. Really?
Anyone still remember when Ennis opened her confirmation hearing back in 2019 how she introduced a young child family member in the audience? It is in the televised history archives somewhere I am sure if anyone wants to view it. She had been brought along to view the operations of good government and how good government works. What on earth has this child been exposed to? Hoodwinked congressmembers it appears. Simply nothing too low to plumb the depths here.
ReplyDelete—————No matter what happens, whether Ennis is removed or she keeps her job, if you are reading this and you were hired by the regime as an Ennis WilmerHale lapdog or a friend of Ben (looking at you SIG TARP and high school cronies), just know the SSA OIG workforce considers you a pariah. While you may have just been along for the ride, you took an FTE from the Office of Investigations’ front line (the real ‘boots on the ground’ fighters of fraud). You will always be whispered about and no matter what you do, you will never get the stench of this disgusting scum administration off of you and you will never be respected here. Take one for the team, jump ship and give us our FTEs back. You’re not welcome here.—————
ReplyDelete
DeleteDo any of these individuals really understand the gravity and sanctity of the oath they were sworn in under upon joining the SSA OIG?
An individual, except the President, elected or appointed to an office of honor or profit in the civil service or uniformed services, shall take the following oath: “I, ______, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”
SSA OIG Office of Audit has a staff of 125 per this blog and per their website they've issued 19 audit reports this year. Obviously, SES AIGA leadership in this component also needs to be investigated.
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree with this post. 👍 We are only four months away from the end of FY 2022. In years past this office released 80 to 105 audits on a yearly basis. That is a fact - go look at the semiannual reports from FYs 2010 through 2018 or so. Investigate ALL SES in this bloated mess. No excuse for this productivity drop.
DeleteIf this place was an Amazon warehouse, I am willing to bet about 98% of the employees would have walked out and gone on strike here, holding signs and picketing at the front entrance. Just a hunch.
ReplyDeleteIn the spirit of transparency and accountability this blog should be shared among all current SSA OIG employees and any retirees and alumni staff who have moved on and can be contacted. This blog is going to be very helpful to those in the oversight community looking into this.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think OA has 125 staff now. I think it is less than 100. Back when we issued over 100 reports per year, we had closer to 150 staff. When IG Ennis came on board, we had about 125, but OA has had large losses over the past 3 years and most of those staff have not been replaced. Most of the lost productivity has to do with losing staff and IG Ennis canceling or combining audits. She said she wanted bigger scope audits that would have a bigger impact. Then getting her to approve an audit to start takes months and months of pitching an audit and several meetings of answering her and DIG Alpert’s questions. Each time you meet, they have new questions, don’t remember what they asked you to do during the last meeting, and send you back to do more planning. By the time you finally get to start an audit with their approval, you have wasted a lot of staff time and elapsed time waiting for a decision - sometimes a year or more has passed just to get them to approve the audit methodology. With this level of micromanaging every audit, it is a wonder any reports get issued.
ReplyDeleteYour dedication to the mission and insights (and apparent doggedness and persistence) here are appreciated, poster. And thank you for clarifications.
DeleteWell, if under 100 staff in SSA OIG Office of Audit now, and transferring one SES into and bringing another one on board...
Deletethat would equal four SES in this shop. And this shop also has over a dozen GS-15s spread throughout its ranks.
No wonder barely any adults getting out the door. No offense meant here, but the stink and rot here is you have a huge amount of "chiefs" running around here and not enough "indians." The trails that build back to the roots of all these SSA OIG problems and issues will be littered with examples like this if folks just do some digging.
This ☝🏻is absolutely the reason the productivity in OA has declined. It’s not by any means that the audit teams are not working hard. It’s that we are constantly changing our approach because of the IO changing their minds and practices every single day.
DeleteSome congressional staffers for various congresspeople and congressional oversight committees should be smart enough to realize here they should simply print out this entire blog and require Ennis and Alpert to, under oath, respond to each and every post and answer all of the questions being asked by all of these posters.
ReplyDeleteAnd ask for a seven day turnaround. And no cop outs, "NAs" or taking the fourth amendment with this inquiry allowed.
And the leadoff paragraph for the entire request should be "Did this happen or is this occurring since you assumed your position in the SSA OIG - yes or no. And if you disagree or respond no, why?"
I think this poster meant the fifth amendment. But hey, this request would not be an "unreasonable search and seizure" as defined in the fourth amendment. It would actually be a smart move.
DeleteNo doubt, the leadership of OIG is corrupt and needs to be removed. Just wait until Congress finds the SES bonuses are tied to the CMP payments. Get your popcorn ready!
ReplyDeleteThis can be clearly proven through the bonus paperwork submitted and approved. And by looking at the SES performance rating plans issued annually to all SSA OIG employees at the beginning of each FY.
DeleteSo, you knock a poor fellow American to his knees with a 2x4 and then line your pockets with bonus money. And the more and harder you hit, and the more people you chop off at the knees, the bigger your bonus. That is usually how these scenarios unfold.
I must admit, as an avid reader and FOB (friend of books NOT friend of Ben), that this blog - when printed out in its entirety and read - is better than some of the books currently on the NY Times best sellers list. It is so sad the oath of federal service means nothing (as proven through their actions, words and deeds) to these WILMERHALE and SIGTARP folks in the SSA OIG. A basket full of deplorable is clearly present here.
ReplyDeleteOhhhhhhh SNAP! Somebody said it! I’ve been waiting for someone to drop the FOB reference that OIG employees use for “Friends of Ben.” Speaking of FOBs, this doesn’t just apply to attorneys you know? One of these FOBs (SIGTARP- of course) was hired as a GS-14 investigative analyst for the MCU. Did anyone ever see that job announcement? I sure didn’t! Our agency has never even had a GS-14 investigative analyst in its entire existence before her.
DeleteThe fraud runs wide and deep. Someone should be asking for a headcount of all current and former SSA OIG employees from WILMERHALE and SIGTARP here in this OIG and then start asking questions before they all scurry. The only things now missing from this drama are bribes, payoffs and sexual favors.
DeleteSad to see fraud so entrenched that Alpert actually has a moniker and running inside joke among his own employees.
Ohhhh that’s a fun fact I didn’t know. These people are a disgrace. 🍿
ReplyDeleteI am glad to read that CIGIE, the OSC, and House Oversight & Ways and Means are now involved. What about Senate Finance? Doesn’t that Committee have an oversight role? And how about the House and Senate appropriations committees. If half of this information is true, then OIG managers have been misleading appropriations staffers on the use of appropriated funds. Isn’t there a penalty for misusing appropriated funds and misleading Congress?
ReplyDeleteMany probably still fondly remember the start of their careers back in the good old days, around the time when on June 30, 1988, Democratic presidential nominee Dukakis stated "There's an old Greek saying, you know, a fish rots from the head first..." at a news conference in Louisville. Things haven't changed much here in 2022 as many are probably looking forward to their upcoming retirement years.
ReplyDeleteSo, our taxpayer dollars were not spent on the OIG components that actually achieve the OIG's mission - Office of Audit and Office of Investigations? Rather, resources provided by Congress for mission critical activities were diverted from the mission critical components to create a mini law firm within an agency where lawyers are usually small in numbers and rarely needed? Am I understanding this correctly based on all these blog comments?
ReplyDeleteExcellent observation bringing a common thread together from this blog. Should expand this observation by including a "friendship fraternity" as well as a "mini law firm." This is a well developed "umbrella" type depiction, yes. Would be proven out by comprehensive and serious investigations. But it appears much more is also going on under the hood here and at the fringes. As previous posters have said, the rot is deep and wide.
DeleteAnd the ONE office that all these lawyers should have been good in, the SSA OIG Office of Counsel, had the CMP program disaster and whistle-blower reprisals under its watch. It appears IG Ennis, a lawyer herself, is shifting blame from herself to this office and throwing this office under the bus. How she and Alpert are one iota respected or effective since all of these WAPO articles broke in late May is the elephant in the room now.
Research of historical precedence would show when this organization was "right sized" from a personnel perspective in the past, the SSA OIG was highly productive, effective and a good steward of taxpayer dollars. And, if you are still not convinced, look at the staffing models and personnel makeups at other agency OIGs throughout the federal government. The amount of reorganizations, personnel reassignment and "new" office startups and shutdowns here has been head spinning.
You cannot simply hire dozens and dozens of lawyers from the ourside with no SSA knowledge and experience, toss them throughout an organization in specific skillset and education/experience needed positions, and then expect success. That is a pipe dream. Like bringing a bunch of elephants onto your professional dog sled team in Alaska. Now, in its current state, the SSA OIG is in shambles.
This is the hill that must be fought over yet again, overtaken yet again, and then ALWAYS held moving forward in the federal OIG community. CIGIE take note. No three years here with the SSA OIG like with the FHA OIG previously, President Biden. Act now.
Deletehttps://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/560704-its-time-for-biden-to-remove-an-inspector-general-the-right-way/
IG Ennis and DIG Alpert must resign! No agency can be held accountable or credible as long as there is an image of impropriety and corruption. There is no way forward unless they are removed. Oddly enough, in the words of President Trump, whom IG Ennis engaged in a pay-to-play scheme with "You're Fired"
ReplyDeleteI had completely forgotten about the term "pay to play." But according to her publicly viewable political donations, she sure did toss a lot of money, at many distinct and different times, to the Trump campaigns over the past six years or so.
DeleteThis PAY TO PLAY goes beyond her political contributions. WilmerHale represented the president’s beloved daughter Ivanka and son in law Jared, not to mention previous campaign manager and felon, Paul Manafort. The political donations are just the paper trail she left behind. All the other corruption is likely there but requires the one thing she despises —accountability & federal law enforcement officers—
DeleteYes. And a vast reduction in the number and types of lawyers present in this bloated OIG is needed to return it to its previous levels of productivity and re-establish its once prized reputation. Federal civil service rules may apply but a major house cleaning is needed here. If you came on board based upon fraudulent activity, clearly friendship or family ties, or by skirting of OPM hiring rules and regulations, you should be able to be removed quickly. A cancer, if left untreated, just spreads. You must cut out the malignancy.
ReplyDeleteYes, taxpayer dollars not spent on OIG components (Office of Investigations and Office of Audit) that actually achieve the OIG mission.
ReplyDeleteThis all reminds me of another WilmerHale attorney who became IG, mismanaged her office, was investigated by CIGIE, and later resigned before being fired. Check out IG Wertheimer - https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/550777-report-finds-federal-housing-agency-official-abused-her-authority/
ReplyDeleteThe apple does not fall far from the tree. Hopefully the US Congress and President Biden will use this situation as a roadmap to avoid pitfalls and delays in removing Ennis and Alpert. She and Alpert should already be gone. And some others.
DeleteWilmerHale's large motto on the first page of its website is...
"Legal excellence. Dedication to clients. Commitment to public service."
Many must be thinking what a crock. Ennis was a partner.
Now two alumni disasters recently and a current SSA OIG flooded with them. The black eye and the damage being inflicted by these alumni on the WilmerHale law firm's prestige and reputation is probably going to be vast. Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, WilmerHale looking really bad here.
The parallels here and with this posted article are damning. But not surprising. What is in the water at WilmerHale? Looks like WilmerHale needs to engage in some serious damage control, and quickly. Maybe Wertheimer and Ennis can provide WilmerHale an alert or quick text or phone call to their previous employer.
Why does CIGIE appear to always be behind the curve? I hope many other oversight entities are involved here now. Ennis was part of CIGIE's internal integrity board, for God's sake. It appears CIGIE needs a good looking into also. Policing their own a repeated dismal failure.
Inspector General Ennis’s Office of Communication sent out a survey a few days ago to all OIG employees. A couple of questions related to whether employees wanted more articles about people’s pets in the IG’s bi-weekly newsletter to employees. This is same Office of Communications that sends email each weekday to supervisors summarizing news articles about SSA and other topics related to the agency, but failed to include the 3 Washington Post articles in any of its daily summaries. At same time, employees are constantly told not to spend work time on free training to enhance investigative and audit skills because free training is not free since your salary costs for your time is a cost. However, spend work time writing article about your pets so Ennius can include it in her by-weekly news letter. Ennis has dogs if you are wondering. Speaking of the newsletter, a few months back, there was announcement of a new attorney being hired in OIG’s New Orleans office. We were so used to attorneys being hired, it was not really news. What was news was that OIG suddenly had a 1-person office in New Orleans. Investigations and Audit have no office there.
ReplyDelete?
DeleteThe SSA OIG has never had a physical body stationed in New Orleans since its inception. What is a stand alone lawyer, again probably very highly paid, doing by himself or herself in New Orleans? And the SSA OIG still has no audit teams/offices in the Seattle and Denver Regions, two of SSA's 10 regions.
What is going on here??????
Scroll down WilmerHale's public website and you will come across this statement in large sized font:
ReplyDelete"Read about WilmerHale's unwavering commitment to the pursuit of equal justice..."
Well, many are reading about it here in this blog and coming to the realization WilmerHale may be a breeding ground for diseased lawyers. First Wertheimer. Now Ennis. Who next? It seems about 100 egregiously fined SSA CMP recipients and two federal OIG offices may be coming to this same conclusion. How deep is the rot?
Adding to what the post at 2:36 PM, June 02, 2022 mentioned, is anyone surprised that there has not been more written about another huge cancer in the organization, Chief Counsel Michelle Murray? She has brought over an entire team of employment law attorneys at the GS-15 level from her previous agency and IG Ennis has been using them as her own personal law firm. Where were the announcements for these unnecessary positions? Employment law is not a mission of SSA OIG, yet there were more attorneys working on employment matters (issues created under IG Ennis) than on the CMP program. Per the MSPB decision mentioned in earlier posts and in the Washington Post articles, Murray was also found to be a key player, if not the mastermind, in the retaliation against Debbie Shaw. Murray’s mistreatment of employees only begins there and needs to be investigated.
ReplyDeleteWith Murray’s sidekick, Executive Officer, Lisa Blum, they have hired a group of former colleagues of Lisa Blum and promoted two of them to be GS-15 Deputies, neither of which had any OIG experience, yet have denied promotions to more qualified attorneys that have been with SSA OIG for years without any legitimate justification. Taxpayers should be interested to learn that one of those deputies has been running the CMP program despite never having any formal training on the program. Murray’s only interest is employment law and she was quick to delegate the CMP program to an inexperienced friend of Blum that would do whatever she was told. Kissing ass is the only way to the top and both Murray and Blum are extremely experienced in that realm vs achievement by actual merit.
Aside from the WilmerHale and FOB cronyism hires, the hires related to both Murray and Blum should also be investigated.
From the SSA OIG website: "We accomplish our mission by: conducting independent audits, evaluations and investigations; searching for and reporting systemic weaknesses in SSA's programs and operations; and providing recommendations for program, operations, and management improvements.
ReplyDeleteIt's very clear that the mission is achieved by auditors and investigators. So, Congress, why are my taxpayer dollare being used to hire dozens of attorneys from a private law firm associated with these executives instead of auditors and investigators that can help to ensure SSA benefits are available for my parents and me?
The laptop and time monitoring debacle led to deep mistrust throughout the SSA OIG OI investigator ranks. Can someone please confirm or deny that SSA OI agents IG Ennis wished to discipline or remove were actually flown into Baltimore on round-trip commercial airline flights (at taxpayer's expense) so that disciplinary/removal paperwork could be served? If true, how many OI agents were flown in and does travel orders evidence exist?
ReplyDelete💥💥💥 The laptop debacle did not LEAD to deep mistrust throughout the SSA OIG OI ranks. The trust was already nonexistent! Ennis and Alpert had already illegally misappropriated $30,000,000+ in tax payer dollars meant to go to rebuilding/hiring special agents in the investigative branch from 2019-2020.
DeleteIn 2021, they realized that they could no longer get away with blatantly stealing this congressional funding outright so they started playing little games with timesheets. They asked OI special agents (who were also serving as ACTING CDI team leaders) to attribute all of their leave and holiday pay (salary) to the CDI kickback funding ($10,000,000), even though a majority of these special agent’s duties fell under OI and not CDI.
The reason they split CDI and OI in 2022 was because what they had done for the previous 3 years with the congressional funding was ILLEGAL and they were likely tired of being questioned about it.
I’m not going to get into how many agents were flown to HQ but I will say yes, this is true. However, the trips to HQ suddenly stopped after Kevin and Don’s in-person meetings with the disciplined special agents started to get too contentious for their liking. The remainder of the discipline meetings occurred over video.
Ennis was scheduled to finally meet with the OHC members around this time (for the first time ever) to discuss how to improve the atrocious morale nationwide. Instead, she cancelled the OHC meeting and chose to meet with republican congressional officials who wanted to expand her telework spying across the entire government.
“Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., the top Republican on the Oversight and Reform Committee's panel on Government Operations, also sent a telework letter on Tuesday, asking the Social Security Administration's inspector general to brief him on his oversight of the agency's use of remote work. Citing Government Executive’s reporting that some of the IG’s own investigators are facing discipline after a remote monitoring of employee logs found some workers were allegedly not working when they said they were, Hice asked whether the IG's findings could be "extrapolated as a model" for the rest of SSA and the federal government. He asked for a briefing about the IG's findings from its internal review monitoring employees' telework habits, with a focus on how other agencies could also track their employees remotely.”
https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2021/09/republicans-renew-efforts-end-mass-telework-call-hearings/185577/ 💥💥💥
Someone should investigate the circumstances around Ben Alpert’s appointment to the Dep. IG position. It appears he was appointed improperly, resulting in an overpayment that IG Ennis waived. Then, they cooked the books by shifting him and the chief of staff on paper—but no real change in duties. A review of the personnel actions of him and the former chief of staff, along with the timing of the actual vacancy announcement, should be very interesting. Maybe the OPM review last year already caught this, but we won’t know unless the report is made public.
ReplyDeleteAlpert and Bungard are attached at the hip. Jumped together in very close timeframes from SSA OIG to SIGTARP to SSA back to SSA OIG again over past decade. If questionable paperwork and appointments are proven it would not be surprising.
DeleteIt would be very interesting to see the rationale for any overpayment waivers that exist. A payment arrangement could have been easily instituted. Alpert works in the SSA OIG so no issues with chasing him down or not being able to collect in full through a payment plan or lump sum.
Improperly gained taxpayer dollars provided as payments to federal employees should always be provided back to the federal coffer. Waivers only given if miniscule in size or person's inability to pay back proven - waivers should only be used as a last resort. Alpert is an SES. But within the SSA OIG itself, which should be ethically at the highest standards to begin with, this would be sickening.
100 or so huge CMPs were handed out to folks who should have never kept federal $s provided to them, right? And these 100 or so poorer Americans were hammered. But if a waiver given here as the previous poster has stated, this would be the height of hypocrisy and arrogance.
Investigators and oversight entities also seriously need to really dig into all the financial bonuses provided to internal SSA OIG employees since Ennis assumed her IG position in 2019.
Someone should investigate about a situation where apparently hundreds of thousands of 1-800 OIG hotline calls became backlogged for many, many months under IG Ennis' watch. Focus should be on whether this was an OI staffing issue and/or operational snafu for all these monumentally delayed or non-worked 1-800 OIG hotline calls. As a member of the public I would expect at a minimum that any fraud hotline complaint I phoned in was taken, acted upon and processed quickly. It would be very interesting to determine if this situation was resolved, and if so, how.
ReplyDeleteI heard about the waiver of overpayment regarding Ben’s overpaid salary related to his initial appointment that was determined to be inappropriate. I heard the amount waived was around $10,000.
ReplyDelete