Federal watchdogs name top staffer to oversee pandemic response

Members of the National Guard fill cars with take-away meals in New York City. | Spencer Platt/Getty Images

A council of inspectors general that went dark after President Donald Trump removed the top coronavirus relief watchdog earlier this month resurfaced Monday, naming a top staffer to oversee the government’s pandemic response and launching a website that will catalog the IGs’ efforts.

The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, a panel of two dozen federal inspectors general charged with coordinating work to investigate the coronavirus relief effort, named Robert Westbrooks, a veteran inspector general, as its executive director on Monday. Westbrooks, a certified public accountant and an attorney, and the inspector general of a massive federal retirement benefit program, has held senior watchdog positions at the Small Business Administration, Department of Transportation, U.S. Postal Service and National Archives.

“I look forward to working with the entire oversight community — federal, state, and local — to coordinate and conduct independent oversight over these critically important emergency relief programs, and help ensure that funds are used effectively and efficiently and major program risks are addressed,” Westbrooks said in a statement.

Source: politico.com
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