WASHINGTON–Eric Thorson likes fixing things. It’s why he has devoted the majority of his professional life to righting wrongs.
But while Thorson sees himself as a Mr. Fix-It, he doesn’t repair broken bookshelves or cracked windows. Instead, he mends the bonds severed by corrupt financial institutions as the Inspector General of the U.S. Treasury.
“It’s an interesting job and for people who like doing investigations,” Thorson said. “This has been a wonderful opportunity.”
Thorson has been the Treasury inspector general since August 2008 after being nominated to the post by President George W. Bush. In his role, he has conducted dozens of material loss reviews, which are audits of failed banks regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency or the Office of Thrift Supervision, two arms of the Treasury. The goal is to discover why a bank failed, and if the OCC or OTS did a sufficient job of regulation.
Thorson pointed out that a review can lead to longer investigations concerning illicit activities.
“Often as you look at these banks other issues will come up,” Thorson began. “One of the big things any IG does is look for fraud. If our auditors see indicators of fraud they’re trained to look for they will make a referral to the investigative side of our office who will open a case and determine whether or not any crime has been committed.
CIGIE: A group you don’t want to cross
The life of an inspector general can be a lonely existence. After all, people usually don’t like to have someone looking over their shoulder, especially someone within their own department. But that’s the exactly what’s expected, and now they know they can rely on one another.
In 2008, the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, or CIGIE, was established as an independent body within the executive branch. Composed of all the inspectors general across the federal government, CIGIE acts as a collective inspector general for “issues that transcend individual government agencies,” such as matters raised on Capitol Hill.
There are numerous committees within CIGIE but the legislative and integrity committees are two of the more important ones. The legislative committee handles requests from Congress. The integrity committee seats a member from the FBI and is the venue for the public to level an allegation against an IG or a senior official within an IG office.
Thorson said the committee exists to prevent conflicts of interest in potential investigations since all the inspectors general work so closely together.
Phyllis Fong, inspector general for the USDA, is the chair of CIGIE.
“It’s not slowing down unfortunately, and it’s a huge issue for us.”
Before his confirmation as Treasury IG, Thorson had a successful run in the same post at the Small Business Administration. While at the SBA, Thorson led an investigation in 2007 that revealed an executive at the Detroit branch of Business Loan Express defrauded the SBA out of at least $76 million. The SBA tried to pressure Thorson to rewrite the report to avoid controversy, and he refused.
In testimony before the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, Thorson said, “We conduct an audit for one purpose, and that is to attempt to draw attention to issues, oftentimes weaknesses, which will allow the agency to improve a process, procedure or program to make the agency run better and more efficiently. We have never rewritten an audit report to avoid controversy, and we will not do so in the future.” If Thorson’s reputation as a fixer wasn’t solidified already, his stance against changing this report did that beyond a shadow of a doubt, and guaranteed he’d uphold the integrity of the office.
Between the Treasury and the SBA, Thorson has been an inspector general for nearly five years. He stressed that it’s important for someone in his position to remain apolitical.
“We don’t get involved in setting policy,” Thorson said. “What we do is measure the department’s performance against their policies.” Thorson likened his job to an NFL referee who once said, “I love the game. It’s just that I don’t care who wins.”
A graduate of the Air Force Academy and former fighter pilot in Vietnam, Thorson also worked as chief investigator for the Senate Finance Committee at the end of President Bill Clinton’s administration. His tenure there saw the enactment of the IRS Restructuring Act after a series of hearings. The legacy of that piece of legislation is that it created the post of Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, an office that oversees the IRS and works in tandem with the Treasury IG.
“We have a very strict dividing line,” Thorson said of the two inspectors general underneath the umbrella of the Treasury. “Any time you have a situation where you have two people looking [at similar institutions] you have to define the jurisdiction. We get along and it works very well.”
Thorson understands that not many people get along with an inspector general, but he doesn’t care. His mission is not to make friends, but to make sure the Treasury is running as it should.
“It’s not always fun, you’re not always appreciated, your criticisms aren’t always welcome,” Thorson said. “But there’s a great reward in it.”
A reward in knowing that you’ve fixed what once was broken.