Quotes About Oversight

To be in charge is certainly not only to carry out the proper measures yourself but to see that every one else does so too; to see that no one either willfully or ignorantly thwarts or prevents such measures. It is neither to do everything yourself nor to appoint a number of people to each duty, but to ensure that each does that duty to which he is appointed.

superintendency

Who shall guard the guardians? Who shall see that the guardians commit no offenses?

Often, the most important piece of information is that something has gone wrong. Bad administrators hide their mistakes until it's too late to make corrections.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodiet?

looked for signs of slackness and especially for areas of responsibility that were running too smoothly. The Senior Watchdog had her own watchwords: "Show me a completely smooth operation and I'll show you someone who's covering mistakes. Real boats rock.

All governments need to remain under suspicion in their time of power.

I would never have named them in the first place as they are not the ones I hold responsible. It's the organization that's to blame, the high officials are the ones to blame.

Hän ahmaisee tähteet omalta ruokapöydältään. Sen vuoksi hän on hetken ajan muita kylläisempi, mutta samalla hän myös unohtaa kuinka pöydän ääressä syödään, ja sen vuoksi tähteitä ei enää kuulukaan.

Climate change joined immigration, job creation, food safety, pilot training, veterans' care, campaign finance, transportation security, labor law, mine safety, wildfire management, and scores of executive and judicial appointments on the list of matters that the world's greatest deliberative body is incapable of addressing.

Winning, you can overlook so many things.

The first thing the federal government can do to help is get out of the way.

In my opinion, the most important thing in governance is management control.

And all officeholders, whether chosen by lot or elected, were held closely to account.

This Bush Doctrine stands today and is assumed by President Obama to be legitimate as he carries out a secret drone war worldwide with no congressional input or oversight.

Government is like a big baby—an alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.

That's weird. 'Cause many high-ranking staff members at the USDA were employed by, or are otherwise affiliated with, the meat and dairy industries.159 And if the group responsible for "the safety of meat, poultry, and egg products" is run by people from the same industries they're supposed to be protecting us from . . . well, that would be a conflict of interest. And it is.

We try to press against the boundaries of what we are allowed, walk a step past the edge. Our records will be scrutinized by Congress one day and decisions on whether to enlarge our jurisdiction will be made.

something you all got to start thinking about, I will check up on everything I ask you to do and I'll keep on checking until I'm satisfied.

A little neglect may breed great mischief.

If you're in command, it's always your fault.

Responsibility is something you actively agree to. You make a commitment to ensure that something is done right, but you don't necessarily have direct control over every aspect of it.

Any mistakes that may remain are, of course, my responsibility.

In 2014—like those Nigerian officers who kept ghost soldiers on their budgets—Military Professional Resources Inc. billed the U.S. government for hours supposedly worked by employees who were actually home on leave.