WASHINGTON -- President Reagan, vowing to 'prosecute any crook we find,' today created a special council to fight government fraud and waste and named six of an eventual 16 inspectors general to get the job done.
In a prepared statement, the president said his actions were in response 'to the demand of the American people for honesty in government.'
Reagan has insisted for years that billions of taxpayers' dollars were being lost due to fraud and abuse.
In his first weeks in office, Reagan fired all 16 inspectors general at federal agencies who were held over from the Carter administration, and White House press secretary Jim Brady said the president was looking for people who were 'meaner than a junkyard dog' to replace them.
Five of the six inspectors general named today held the same, or similar, jobs in the Carter administration.
Reagan, in signing an executive order creating the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency, said, 'The American people are demanding action, and they are going to get it.
'Believe me,' the president said, 'we are out to get control of our lives -- and we are going to follow every lead, root out every incompetent, and prosecute any crook we find who's cheating the people of this nation.'
The council, coordinated by the White House, eventually will be staffed by 16 government inspectors general and chaired by Edwin Harper, currently deputy budget director.
After signing the order, Reagan quipped, 'You see. I'm putting the pen back on the table. I'm not even taking the pen.'
Harper said government attempts to combat fraud and abuse saved $4 billion over the last two years, but he refused to project the savings Reagan hopes to realize from today's move.
Harper said one change from the past will be greater assistance from the FBI.
The president said he hopes his appointment of five inspectors general from the Carter administration will put to rest 'suspicions that have been voiced that politics has anything to do with these appointments.'
Reagan still has 10 more inspectors general to name.
Those named today were:
--Robert Brown, 61, a retired foreign service officer, to be inspector general for the State Department.
--Paul Boucher, 38, reappointed as inspector general for the Small Business Administration.
--Charles Dempsey, 52, reappointed as inspector general for the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
--Thomas McBride, 52, who held the inspector general job at the Agriculture Department in the last administration, was named to that post at the Labor Department.
--Frank Sato, 52, previously inspector general at the Transportation Department, was named to the post at the Environmental Protection Agency.
--James Thomas, reappointed as inspector general of the Education Department.
A statement by the White House press office said each of today's appointees compiled 'an excellent record of uncovering fraud and other abuses in the programs under their surveillance.'
