The Hill News

Glenn Fine, the Justice Department’s top internal watchdog, will step down at the end of January, the department announced Monday.

Fine served as Justice’s inspector general for 10 years during a time of intense public scrutiny of the department. He will leave just as Republicans in Congress are gearing up to launch an aggressive series of investigations of the Obama administration that will no doubt keep the Justice Department and its internal watchdog busy.

“Through our audits, investigations, inspections and special reviews, we have sought to improve the department’s performance, promote economy and efficiency in its programs and detect and deter waste,” Fine, the inspector general, wrote in a letter Monday to Attorney General Eric Holder.

Fine, 54, did not shy away from criticizing the Bush administration and then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’s tenure. In 2008, he issued a report that said Gonzales mishandled highly classified documents on highly sensitive intelligence programs. Last year he charged former Justice official Bradley Schlozman of improperly taking politics and ideology into account when hiring career lawyers.

Holder praised Fine’s “integrity and professionalism” and said it has been a privilege to work with him for his 15 years at the Justice Department.

“In the Justice Department’s most critical operations and practices, especially our efforts to combat corruption, fraud, waste and abuse, the work done by the Office of the Inspector General is essential,” Holder said. “Thanks to Glenn’s outstanding leadership, this office has never been stronger.”

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) singled out Fine’s work during the investigation of former President George W. Bush’s firing of nine U.S. attorneys.

“I particularly applaud his work to shed light on improper political influence in hiring and prosecutions, which helped bring the Department through a particularly dark chapter in its history,” Leahy said.