this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2026
60 points (100.0% liked)

politics

28100 readers
1874 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth wrote that she fears “repeated tacit threats” could be weakening the Department of Homeland Security inspector general’s independence.

The Department of Homeland Security’s general counsel warned the agency’s independent watchdog that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem asserts that she has the power to unilaterally kill their investigations, according to a new letter sent by Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth to Noem.

The DHS inspector general’s office states that its mission is to “provide objective, independent oversight of DHS programs and operations and to promote excellence, integrity, and accountability within DHS.”

In a meeting with DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari, Duckworth learned that DHS general counsel communicated multiple times with DHS OIG to “remind them” that Noem has the power to kill investigations by his department, according to the letter obtained by NBC News.

Duckworth says she also learned the IG’s office was also asked on Jan. 29 to disclose “every active audit, inspection and criminal investigation,” which the lawmaker writes is “extremely unusual, perhaps even unprecedented.”

top 4 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old

Pretty sure the primary point of a 3rd party auditor is to be free to audit without reprisal. My guess is they mean similar to how they just stole the evidence of murder in MN and refused to let local investigators see it.

[–] Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 day ago

That doesn't sound very independent.

[–] dhork@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

"The DHS Inspector General first realized this when he overheard Noem refer to him several times as 'Cricket'. "

~(not a real quote)~

[–] FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io 2 points 1 day ago

"independent"