Hannibal “Mike” Ware

Former Chair, Council of Inspectors General on Integrity & Efficiency 
Former Inspector General, Small Business Administration

“We are the taxpayers’ advocate.”

“When you have this kind of attack on oversight, who’s going to tell the truth? Who’s going to be brave enough to speak up about what’s happening?” Those are the questions former Inspector General “Mike” Ware asked in the wake of his dismissal in January by Trump, along with 16 other IGs. He joined eight IGs to file a lawsuit on February 2, 2025, demanding reinstatement on the grounds of illegal dismissal. 

The IGs argue Trump’s action violates a 2022 law that requires the President to provide Congress with 30-day notice and a justifiable reason before terminating any Inspector General. Instead, Trump issued a two-line email sent by the director or deputy director of the Office of Presidential Personnel to remove them from their positions on the basis of “changing priorities.” 

Trump’s actions, Ware and other IGs argue, are a blanket attack on the US democratic system of checks and balances that are designed to keep any one branch from becoming too powerful, including the presidency, or executive branch. 

Ware served as Chairman of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency and was appointed by Trump in his first term to be the IG at the Small Business Administration (SBA). He has over 30 years’ experience in IG positions, having started back at the Department of the Interior (DOI) in 1990. Born in the US Virgin Islands, Ware has received many awards for his public service over the years.

The plaintiff IGs argue that Trump’s illegal actions are dangerous to the American public since they take away the public’s right to know how their money is spent by eliminating their independent oversight role. This opens the door to fraud and corruption. “The thing is that inspectors general have separate protections that guard against the wanton removal of the oversight mechanism,” Ware points out. “These positions are nonpartisan, apolitical, and independent. You don’t want those removed and replaced by loyalists who are beholden to the administration. Without these safeguards, the public can never really know what’s happening with their tax dollars.”

As their lawsuit argues, IGs are nonpartisan appointments and remain in office across multiple presidential administrations. They serve as independent watchdogs to ensure the effective and efficient operation of our government and do so via audits and investigations of federal agency operations and personnel to root out and prevent waste, fraud, and abuse, and to offer recommendations for improving agency operations. The American public has benefited: the IGs’ work has saved American taxpayers billions of dollars.

Together, they provide oversight of over $5 trillion dollars in appropriated funds, most in the annual federal budget, and of over 3.5 million federal employees, representing approximately 80% of the federal workforce. 

The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia; the other IG plaintiffs are Robert P. Storch, Michael L. Missal, Christi A. Grimm, Cardell K. Richardson, Phyllis K. Fong, and Larry D. Turner. They represent the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, State, Education, Agriculture and Labor, and the Small Business Administration. Their case is being represented by former attorney general Seth Waxman. (Note: One former IG, Eric Sosin, removed from his job at the Dept. of Transportation, filed an amicus brief to separate his case from other IGs, saying he believes a president has authority to fire IGs, per Fox News.)

Many public leaders condemned the IG firings and hailed the action by Ware and other public officials. Democratic US senator Chuck Schumer reportedly called the firings “a chilling purge,” telling a HuffPo reporter, “This is Donald Trump’s way of telling us he’s terrified of accountability.”

“Our community has been doing effective work since the inception of the IG Act in 1978,” Ware stated in the wake of his dismissal. “We are not even put in office based on political affiliation. Which is why it is critical that you have independent watchdogs who are unafraid to speak the truth to power. We are your biggest advocates.” 

As of June, the case remained on the legal docket. Read more here.