Intelligence Community Inspector General Christopher Fox told lawmakers his office lacks the authority needed to directly investigate alleged wrongdoing, compel cooperation and overcome agency resistance inside the intelligence community.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The Intelligence Community’s top watchdog told Congress that serious misconduct allegations involving intelligence personnel and contractors have gone unresolved for months or years because his office lacks the authority to investigate them directly and compel cooperation from agencies.
Intelligence Community Inspector General Christopher Fox testified Wednesday before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in a closed-door hearing, according to a written statement reported by Just the News. Fox said his office has raised alarms over alleged wrongdoing inside the Intelligence Community but has repeatedly been delayed by a lack of law enforcement authority and resistance from agencies he said are affected by “tribalism.”
Fox told lawmakers the problem represents “one of the most significant national security risks facing the United States.”
The inspector general said his office’s current powers allow access to intelligence information, personnel and facilities needed to perform oversight work, but do not give investigators the ability to directly conduct certain investigations, compel testimony or force the production of documents in the same way some other federal inspectors general can.
The result, Fox said, is an oversight system that can leave alleged misconduct unaddressed while the Intelligence Community Office of Inspector General waits for the Justice Department, the FBI or other agencies to act.
In one case described to lawmakers, Fox said an Intelligence Community employee bought illegal firearm components from a Chinese company in February 2023. The purchase raised red flags, but his office could not immediately investigate the matter on its own.
“Without law enforcement authority, our investigators could not act directly,” Fox said.
“They waited 19 months for the Department of Justice to decline prosecution,” he testified. “During this time, the employee maintained their position and clearance. Coincidentally, the employee was detained by customs for suspicious activity on a trip to Israel, at which time the illegal items were discovered.”
Fox also described a June 2021 case involving an intelligence contractor who searched the security profiles of more than 150 people without prior authorization. The inspector general said the information reviewed included sensitive details that could have value to a foreign intelligence service.
“Information included personal history, foreign national contacts, and other information of value to a foreign intelligence service for spotting and assessing potential recruitment targets,” Fox told the committee. “IC OIG was required to wait 16 months for coordination with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) before conducting the initial subject interview. It took another 15 months for the contractor’s removal from the IC.”
A third case involved a former senior official who allegedly violated post-employment communication restrictions after leaving government service for work with an Intelligence Community contractor. Fox said the official directly contacted current intelligence employees in an effort to influence contracts worth millions of dollars.
The Intelligence Community inspector general opened the investigation in March 2021, but Fox said delays followed because his office could not compel testimony and had to coordinate with the Justice Department before conducting an initial subject interview.
“Unable to compel testimony, IC OIG investigators faced delays in coordinating with DOJ for an initial subject interview. The former official was interviewed for the first time in December 2024 – more than three years after the investigation was opened,” Fox said.
Fox told lawmakers that the structural limits on his office are compounded by cultural resistance inside intelligence agencies. He described the problem as “agentic tribalism,” saying some officials treat oversight as a threat rather than a legal requirement.
“The most pervasive problem we face in our oversight mission is agentic tribalism,” Fox testified.
“Many career intelligence officers confuse loyalty to mission with loyalty to faction. They treat oversight not as a legal obligation, but as an intrusion to be managed, slow-rolled, or out-maneuvered. Officers arrive at inter-agency meetings wearing metaphorical agency jerseys,” Fox said. “Agencies cite their ‘equities’ or invoke lengthy processes when delay serves their purpose.”
The concerns have prompted lawmakers to consider legislation that would expand the watchdog’s authority. The proposal, called the Intelligence Community Inspector General Parity Act of 2026, was introduced by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.
The bill would give the Intelligence Community inspector general law enforcement powers similar to those available to other inspector general offices across the federal government, allowing the office to carry out investigations more directly.
Fox said the legislation is needed because agencies have been able to rely on what he called “delay, deter, deny” tactics that weaken oversight.
“Instead of relying on agencies to adhere to an oversight honor system, the IC IG Parity Act will deliver genuine accountability in the IC for the first time,” Fox said.
He told lawmakers the Intelligence Community is too powerful to be overseen through informal cooperation alone.
“The IC is too powerful to allow procedural friction and trust without verification. The IC IG must have explicit powers to inspect all systems without exceptions for novel technologies, classifications, compartments, political sensitivity, or any other excuse,” Fox said. “For decades, a passive culture among inspectors general has failed to fill critical oversight gaps with the necessary speed and teeth.”
Fox’s testimony placed the cases involving alleged illegal firearm-component purchases, unauthorized security-file searches and post-government contracting contacts within a broader warning about oversight gaps inside the Intelligence Community. He argued that without stronger investigative authority, alleged misconduct can remain unresolved long after the watchdog identifies potential risks.
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