UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Paul Martin spent nearly 40 years in public service and will share reflections on the importance of government oversight to American democracy in a Nov. 6 lecture sponsored by the McCourtney Institute for Democracy in the College of the Liberal Arts.
Martin was deputy inspector general at the Department of Justice before becoming inspector general at NASA in 2009. He became inspector general of USAID in December 2023 and served in that role until February of this year.
Inspectors general serve as independent oversight bodies within federal government agencies to ensure that those agencies are serving the public interest and making the best use of taxpayer money. They conduct audits and investigations to detect fraud and waste while improving efficiency.
Martin holds a degree in journalism from Penn State and was on staff at The Daily Collegian as a student. He began his career as a newspaper reporter in Greenville, South Carolina, and later attended Georgetown Law School after catching what he described as the “law bug” while covering courts for the newspaper.
He said his journalism experience gave him the discipline and the investigative skills needed to compile audits and reports that inspectors general regularly publish about the agencies they oversee.
“The public investigations we write and publish as inspectors general are storytelling,” Martin said in an interview on The Inspector General podcast. “It’s about finding the facts, talking to the right people, putting the connections and analysis together and telling a story that lays out your evidence and recommendations.”
Martin said that another major component of an inspector general’s work is establishing the right tone for the relationship with the agency they are overseeing. An inspector general doesn’t want to be too close to an agency head, but shouldn’t be butting heads with them all the time, either.
Striking this balance often requires diplomacy and strong communication skills to convey that the agency and the inspector general are working toward the same goal of making government work as well as it can.
“The goal is not for a one-day headline in the Washington Post or the New York Times,” Martin said. “Rather, the goal was to fairly assess an agency’s programs and operations and make responsible recommendations for improvement.”
Martin will discuss these topics and more in his lecture on Nov. 6 at 5 p.m. in Foster Auditorium, 102, Paterno Library. Former U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, a fellow Penn State alumnus and longtime colleague of Martin’s, will introduce him at the lecture.
The event is free and open to the public. Visit the McCourtney Institute for Democracy website for more information.