In the latest episode of The Inspector General, host Clark Ervin of our Government Investigations & White Collar Practice sits down with Michael Missal, former Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), to discuss the challenges and opportunities of overseeing one of the federal government’s largest and most complex agencies.

Although often overlooked in discussions of the federal bureaucracy, the VA manages a vast enterprise, with a budget exceeding $350 billion, a workforce of roughly 500,000 employees and the nation’s largest integrated healthcare system.

During his nine years as Inspector General, Missal led a multidisciplinary team of auditors, investigators and healthcare professionals and issued approximately 2,500 reports, made more than 10,000 recommendations and generated an estimated $4.5 billion in monetary impact. In this episode, Missal reflects on some of the audits and investigations that drew national attention, explaining how oversight efforts helped strengthen agency operations and improve services for veterans across the country.

The conversation also explores the importance of Inspector General independence, the tools available to oversight offices and the balance required to maintain productive relationships with agency leadership and Congress.