Eric Soskin and Cardell Richardson are among the reported 18 inspector generals who were fired by President Donald Trump in a controversial move on Jan. 24.
Soskin had been the Transportation Department's inspector general since December 2020. Richardson had been the State Department's IG since last May.
The job of the Transportation Department's IG is providing nonpartisan, independent oversight -- often through audits that explore malfeasance, waste and the effectiveness of DOT programs.
Recent IG audits have critiqued the FAA's oversight processes for resolving Boeing production issues and criticized FAA actions related to air traffic control modernization. The IG has also inspected the DOT's oversight of airline compliance with consumer-protection rules and conducted audits of the FAA's oversight of airline safety and maintenance programs.
In comments to the press aboard Air Force One on Jan. 25, Trump defended his dismissal of the IGs.
"I don't know them, but some people thought that some were unfair or some were not doing their job," he said, according to a Washington Post report. "It's a very standard thing to do."
The widespread IG firings is not ordinary as administrations change hands. In a letter to the White House on Jan. 24, Hannibal "Mike" Ware, chair of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, said that IGs had been told they were being removed "due to changing priorities."
Ware pointed to statuary language passed by Congress in 2022 that requires the president to notify Congress 30 days prior to removal of an inspector general and to provide "substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons," for such removal.
"Congress specifically established the authorities and structure of the IGs to safeguard their vital oversight role, by mandating independence under the IG Act," Ware said in a separate statement. "Removals inconsistent with the law are a significant threat to the actual and perceived independence of IGs."
The top-ranking Democrats on 21 House committees have also written to Trump to condemn the firings as illegal.
Along with Soskin and Richardson, Trump dismissed IGs for the departments of defense, energy and many others. Republican lawmakers have expressed mixed reactions to the move, with some backing the president while others have been more circumspect.