# Inspector General Act of 1978 > [!note] Stub > This is a short entry that hasn't been fully written yet. The statute that created the federal inspector general system, establishing independent audit and investigation offices inside executive agencies and requiring them to report both to the agency head and to Congress. It was recodified into Title 5 of the United States Code in 2022; the appointment and removal provisions now sit at 5 U.S.C. § 403. Two features matter most for how the offices actually work. Appointments are made by the President with Senate confirmation and, by the statute's own terms, "without regard to political affiliation and solely on the basis of integrity and demonstrated ability" in fields such as accounting, auditing, law and investigations. And the offices have **no fixed term** — which means the only thing standing between an inspector general and a removal is the notice requirement. That requirement was strengthened by the **Securing Inspector General Independence Act of 2022**, which rewrote § 403(b) to require the President to give both chambers of Congress 30 days' written notice before removing or transferring an inspector general, and to include in that notice a "substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons." A separate 15-day rationale is required before placing an inspector general on non-duty status. Its first large-scale test came in January 2025 and is covered at [[Storch v. Hegseth]]; for where the clause sits among federal removal protections generally, see [[Agency Head Removal Protections Crosswalk]]. ## See also - [[Inspector General]] · [[Inspectors General]] · [[Inspector General Oversight Tree]] · [[Storch v. Hegseth]] - [[Agency Head Removal Protections Crosswalk]] · [[Removal Power]] · [[Congressional Oversight]]