DOL Inspector General Headed for New Post
U.S. Labor Department Inspector General Gordon Heddell is the president's choice to be the Defense Department's inspector general.
Gordon Heddell, inspector general of the U.S. Department of Labor for hthe past eight years, is bound for a more important position: President Obama announced May 28 that he will nominate Heddell to be the Defense Department's inspector general.
Heddell has been DoD's acting inspector general for the past year, in addition to being DOL's IG. He has been a federal employee since 1966, beginning as an army Chief Warrant Officer, helicopter pilot, serving in Korea and Taiwan during the Vietnam War. He then served for 29 years in the U.S. Secret Service.
He progressed in the Secret Service to the position of assistant director, leading the Secret Service's Inspection and Internal Affairs programs worldwide, according to the White House.
Heddell's office issued two significant reports shortly after the Bush adminstration left office in January 2009 that found OSHA's enhanced enforcement program was poorly managed during the last years of the administration and that no documented work products resulted from a highly paid consultant's time during former OSHA Administrator Ed Foulke Jr.'s tenure.
Heddell is a former member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police and was the creator of the Secret Service's mentoring program at two Washington, D.C., public schools, according to the White House.