Office of the Secretary

For Immediate Release: August 6, 1999

Contact: John Wright 202/208-6416

Earl E. Devaney Confirmed by the Senate as Inspector General
for the U.S. Department of the Interior

Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt today praised the Senate's speedy confirmation of Earl E. Devaney as the new Inspector General for the Interior Department. Devaney was nominated by President Clinton July 1, 1999, and confirmed by the Senate August 5. He succeeds Eljay B. Bowron, who resigned earlier this year.

"Earl Devaney has the experience, professional qualifications and integrity needed to carry out a vigorous program for searching out fraud, waste, and inefficiency," said Babbitt. "I am delighted that he has taken on this new challenge and I look forward to the energy and dedication that he brings to the Inspector General's position."

Mr. Devaney is a 21-year veteran of the U.S. Secret Service with a distinguished career as a national expert on fraud investigations. Before taking the Inspector General position at Interior, he served as Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics and Training (1991-99). In that post, Devaney led the agency's criminal enforcement program and established new policies that promoted investigative discretion and increased the quality of EPA's criminal cases.

Devaney began his career in law enforcement in 1971, as a Special Agent with the Secret Service in the Buffalo and Chicago field offices. During his 21-years with the Secret Service, he served in a variety of other positions, including Special Agent in Charge for the Office of Investigations in Washington, D.C.; and later as Special Agent in Charge of the Fraud Division in Washington, D.C.

A native of Massachusetts, Devaney holds a B.A. degree in government (1970) from Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He completed the Executive Development Program at George Washington University in 1990.

He and his wife Judith have two grown sons, and reside in Centreville, Virginia.

The Office of the Inspector General provides policy direction and conducts audits and investigations to promote efficiency, and detect and prevent fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement in Departmental programs and operations. The U.S. Department of the Interior Office of the Inspector General headquarters is in Washington, D.C., with field offices in 11 locations across the United States.

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