Link , Link , Link , Link , Link , See>>("We wanted inspectors general because of an out-of-control president named Richard Nixon and this president is trying to destroy them," said Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight. "What's happened this week has been a total full-on assault on the IG system." Fine is a career official who has served Republican and Democratic presidents. He had been acting Pentagon inspector general for more than four years, and before that was inspector general at the Justice Department for 11 years. Fine and his staff were caught by surprise when informed of the decision Monday, and were given no explanation for the move, according to U.S. federal officials. Trump cast his decision to remove Fine as merely cleaning house of Obama-era holdover appointments, saying those officials could be biased.)