WASHINGTON, April 24 (UPI) -- Reconstruction officials complain the special inspector general for Iraq has become a major obstacle to getting the job done, The Washington Times reports.
Defense officials say that Stuart Bowen Jr., a former aide to President George Bush who heads the office, has too many inspectors. With 55 inspectors on staff, that's one for almost every program manager and means that managers spend much of their time answering queries, the newspaper said.
There are also complaints that reports from SIGIR, the acronym for the office, are riddled with errors.
"The quality of the SIGIR reports has been so poor that the government agencies who are the subject of the reports have become the quality assurance for the documents," a defense official who did not want his name used told the Times. "Countless man-hours are expended correcting the SIGIR's mistakes and inaccuracies."
James Mitchell, a spokesman for Bowen, denied the claim, saying that most reports are returned simply marked "concur."
