Trump’s new Education IG nominee continues dizzying run of leadership changes at the watchdog office

President Donald Trump swapped out the nominee to head the Education Department inspector general office, a watchdog agency that has experienced frequent leadership turnover since the start of his second administration. 

On Monday, the president nominated Mark Priebe to be the Education IG. Until recently, the nominee served as the department’s acting IG. Trump withdrew the nomination of Heidi Semann, who also had a stint as acting Education IG, for the position on Sept. 17.  

Priebe has been a senior official at the Education OIG since 2017 and previously worked as an auditor for other agencies. Government Executive reported when he became acting IG in 2025 that he appears to have shared social media posts supporting Trump.

The nominee also said during a panel in July that he wasn’t concerned about the president’s firing of nearly 20 IGs: “If a new administration comes in and says we want all of our own IGs, that's fine. I really think that the executive branch should have some say over their policies and their procedures and how they enact that.” 

Education’s IG position opened up after Trump fired Sandra Bruce as part of the mass firing of IGs at the start of his second term. Deputy Education IG René Rocque then became acting IG, but she was replaced in summer 2025 after notifying Congress that auditors “experienced unreasonable denials and repeated delays” from department officials during a review of staff reductions that halved the agency’s workforce. The administration is seeking to dismantle Education. 

The OIG did issue a report in June, while Priebe was acting head, that layoffs at Education during the first two months of Trump’s second term resulted in the agency being unable to perform legally required activities. Auditors wrote that the department did not provide all requested information or allow “unfettered” access to staffers, which restricted the review. 

Last year, Rocque was swapped out for Heidi Semann, a senior special agent who came from the Federal Reserve Board OIG. The president is allowed to replace an acting IG, but he is limited to selecting an employee of any OIG. 

Semann’s tenure as acting Education IG came to a close at the end of 2025, after which Priebe took over, due to time limits on acting officials in the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. But the president in May then submitted her nomination, which he has since withdrawn, for the position.

In response to a request for comment, the OIG told Government Executive that Priebe left the agency on Monday and that Rocque is, once again, the acting Education IG. Nominees generally cannot serve in an acting capacity for a position after they’ve been nominated. 

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the nomination swap. 

The Rhode Island Current reported that Priebe on Monday withdrew his application to serve as that state’s IG.  

Also on Monday, the president nominated Robert Steinau to serve as the IG for NASA. According to his biography on the office’s website, Steinau is the assistant IG for investigations at the space agency and has been with that OIG since 2009. 

While many of Trump’s initial IG nominees previously served in his first or second administration, raising concerns about independent oversight, some of his recent picks, including Priebe and Steinau, have experience working in an OIG. That being said, the president last month nominated Dennis Kirk, a co-author of the conservative presidential transition initiative Project 2025, to serve as IG at the Interior Department.