Pandemic IG spent end of tenure simultaneously in leadership at a different agency

The Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery spent at least the final month of his tenure concurrently serving in a senior role at a different agency. 

The Senate confirmed Brian Miller to serve as pandemic IG in 2020, where he investigated potential fraud in two programs that issued billions in loans to small and certain other businesses. The office sunsetted on March 27. 

A rule published in the Federal Register, however, shows that Brian Miller also has been the acting general counsel for the Housing and Urban Development Department since at least March 3. 

Inspectors general provide independent oversight of departments and agencies, while general counsels offer legal guidance to government entities and officials.

“Even if this arrangement didn’t violate the letter of the law, it undermines the spirit of independence that inspectors general are meant to embody,” said Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, in a statement to Government Executive.  

“Serving as an inspector general while concurrently holding a senior agency position — particularly at an agency involved in distributing some of the pandemic relief funds — reinforces a troubling practice that threatens public trust in watchdogs,” Brian continued. “IGs must be wholly independent from agency leadership to credibly conduct oversight. Blurring those lines sends the wrong message and risks compromising the integrity of the entire oversight system. Mr. Miller knows this.”

Previously, Miller was the IG for the General Services Administration for nearly a decade and worked in the White House Counsel’s Office during Trump’s first term. He was confirmed to be the SIGPR mostly along party lines, with Democrats questioning his ability to perform independently given his service in the Trump administration. 

HUD said there was no overlap between Miller’s work as SIGPR and as the department's general counsel.

“Mr. Miller’s duties as SIGPR had nothing to do with HUD. The remaining cases were against individuals allegedly defrauding pandemic programs. Mr. Miller’s duties at HUD had nothing to do with his duties as SIGPR. The two roles are different, but lawyers perform different roles all the time,” said HUD spokesperson Kasey Lovett in a statement to Government Executive. “There was no conflict of interest. Two separate positions, performed dutifully.” 

Miller is not Trump’s nominee to permanently fill the HUD general counsel role. The president nominated David Woll, who held senior roles at the department during Trump’s first term and served as general counsel for SIGPR. Woll’s nomination was advanced on May 6 by the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. 

During the first week of his second term, Trump fired nearly 20 agency inspectors general who the White House characterized as “rogue, partisan bureaucrats who have weaponized the justice system against their political enemies.”