Executive Branch

Lawfare Daily: Trump Admin Attacks on Inspectors General with Cristin Dorgelo and Rob Storch

Tyler McBrien, Cristin Dorgelo, Robert Storch, Jen Patja
Thursday, December 18, 2025, 6:49 AM

Published by The Lawfare Institute
in Cooperation With
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Lawfare Managing Editor Tyler McBrien sits down with Cristin Dorgelo, a former senior adviser for management at the Office of Management and Budget, and Rob Storch, who served as the inspector general of the Defense Department until the Trump administration fired him and many of his colleagues in January of this year. They discuss those firings, other Trump administration attacks on the offices of the inspector general, and various attempts by the administration to undermine oversight and evade accountability, all covered in a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities called “Trump Administration’s Undercutting of Oversight Hurts Taxpayers and Beneficiaries.”

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Tyler McBrien is the managing editor of Lawfare. He previously worked as an editor with the Council on Foreign Relations and a Princeton in Africa Fellow with Equal Education in South Africa, and holds an MA in international relations from the University of Chicago.
Cristin Dorgelo is a former government official who was the senior advisor for management at the Office of Management and Budget in the Biden Administration.
Robert Storch served as the inspector general in the Department of Defense from 2022 to Jan. 2025. He previously served as the inspector general of the National Security Agency.
Jen Patja is the editor of the Lawfare Podcast and Rational Security, and serves as Lawfare’s Director of Audience Engagement. Previously, she was Co-Executive Director of Virginia Civics and Deputy Director of the Center for the Constitution at James Madison's Montpelier, where she worked to deepen public understanding of constitutional democracy and inspire meaningful civic participation.
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