Hegseth’s push to tighten IG investigation timelines is a way to ‘make complaints go away’

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the military services to overhaul the inspector general complaint process, a move that legal experts say violates the law protecting the watchdog’s independence.

In a Sept. 30 memo titled “IG Oversight and Reform: Enhancing Timeliness, Transparency, and Due Process in Administrative Investigations,” Hegseth directed the secretaries of the Navy, Army and Air Force to work with the Defense Department’s Office of Inspector General to overhaul the complaint intake process, shorten investigation timelines, establish procedures to manage what he calls “repeat complainants” and create a tracking complaints system.

The new directive is part of Hegseth’s broader “no more walking on eggshells” policy that includes overhauling equal employment opportunity and military equal opportunity programs that he argues have long distracted the military from its warfighting mission.

“We are overhauling an inspector general process, the IG that has been weaponized, putting complainers, ideologues and poor performers in the driver’s seat,” Hegseth said during a highly unusual meeting with hundreds of admirals and generals who gathered in Quantico, Virginia, on Tuesday.

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“No more frivolous complaints, no more anonymous complaints, no more repeat complaints, no more smearing reputations. No more endless waiting, no more legal limbo. No more sidetracking careers,” he added.

In the memo, Hegseth said the current intake process for administrative complaints is “inefficient and inconsistent” and directed the military services and IG offices to ensure that “credibility assessments” of complaints are completed within seven duty days.

Once a complaint meets “credible-evidence standard,” investigations must be closed within 30 days from initiation, according to the memo.

Andrew Bakaj, Whistleblower Aid’s chief legal counsel and former inspector general senior investigator, said the new timelines are a way “not to have any meaningful oversight by the DoD IG.”

“The first thing is that the fact that Hegseth as secretary of defense is asking the secretaries of the services to weigh in and direct timelines to the Inspector General is him going way over his head. The Inspector General of the Department of Defense, just as all other IGs, are independent agencies that conduct oversight over the department. That would also mean that if a secretary of defense ever were under investigation administratively, it would be DoD IG conducting that investigation. So it’s absolutely inappropriate and a violation of statute that Hegseth is telling the IG what to do,” Bakaj told Federal News Network.

“With respect to saying that investigations have to be completed within a specific amount of time is ludicrous, because every investigation is different. If you’re saying you need to close out an investigation within 30 days, well, if you can’t, does that mean that the person who’s under investigation is off the hook? I feel like it’s actually a way to make things go away,” he added.

In addition, Hegseth instructed the investigating agency to provide the subject of the complaint, their commander and the complainant an investigation status update every 14 days.

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“Investigations take time. It involves document review, pulling emails, pulling other types of communications, speaking with witnesses. The fact that the subject has to be told that they’re going to be notified every 15 days on what the status is — that makes it a lot easier for somebody who’s under investigation to start manipulating an investigation,” Bakaj said. “The way that I view this is actually undoing and doing away with the independence of the IG.”

The memo also directs the inspector general to set procedures for handling repeat complainants, including those who file “complaints without credible evidence, that are frivolous, or that knowingly include false information.”

Bakaj said tracking and maintaining detailed records of “repeat and serial complainants” is ultimately about dissuading troops and DoD personnel from coming forward.

“The rank-and-file employees and service members may be intimidated by this, because the language that they’re hearing is is that not only do we not want to hear from you, but if you do file something, we’re going to find out if it’s frivolous, and we’re going to go after you. And by the way, how is frivolous defined?” Bakaj said.

The memo also calls on the military services to explore artificial intelligence tools to “classify and route complaints, enforce deadlines, protect privacy, and maintain audit logs.”

Hegseth’s directive comes after President Donald Trump fired 17 inspectors general right after his return to office. Earlier this week, the White House announced its decision to defund the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency — a group that essentially oversees the watchdogs.

“It’s an indicator that the White House is basically kneecapping any oversight over their administration,” Bakaj said.

Hegseth is currently under investigation by the department’s inspector general for using the commercial app Signal to discuss a highly sensitive operation.

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Hegseth’s push to tighten IG investigation timelines is a way to ‘make complaints go away’

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