After a series of highly publicized frauds in the federal government in the 1970s, Congress passed the Inspector General Act of 1978.

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When in 1978 Congress and the President enacted the Inspector General Act, they were introducing a new and important level of oversight to the Executive Branch.

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Walter Stachnik, the former SEC inspector general who was supposed to act as the agency's ombudsman and who was a central character in the SEC's own Aguirre investigation, quit his job the day the Senate released the report.

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