David C. Williams (Inspector General)

David C. Williams is the Inspector General (IG) for the U.S. Postal Service, in the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General.

Early life
Williams is a native of Illinois. He graduated from Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, Illinois, and received an Advanced Degree in Education and a Masters in Education from the University of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois. He also attended the U.S. Military Intelligence Academy, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, and the Secret Service Training Academy.

Career
Williams received the Bronze Star and the Vietnamese Medal of Honor for service in Vietnam. He served in the U.S. Army Military Intelligence, and began his civilian federal career as a special agent with the U.S. Secret Service. He then served as Director of Operations in the Office of Labor Racketeering at the Department of Labor; the President’s Commission on Organized Crime; and as Director of the Office of Special Investigations at the General Accounting Office.

Williams has served as IG for five federal agencies. He was appointed by President George Bush to serve as IG for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 1989 to 1996. President William Clinton appointed him IG for the Social Security Administration from 1996 to 1998, and then IG of the Department of the Treasury in 1998. In 1999, President Clinton named him the first IG for Tax Administration of the Department of Treasury. In 2001, President George W. Bush named him the Acting IG for HUD, while he was also serving at the Department of the Treasury.

Williams then served as the Deputy Assistant Administrator for Aviation Operations at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) from August 2002 until August 2003.

Current activities
Williams was sworn in as the second independent Inspector General (IG) for the U.S. Postal Service on August 20, 2003. He is responsible for a staff of more than 1,100 employees that conducts independent audits and investigations for the largest civilian federal agency, with a workforce of 528,458 career employees.

In July 2011, Williams was appointed by the Obama administration to serve as Vice Chair on the Government Accountability and Transparency Board. The Board is to develop plans to enhance transparency for federal spending and to improve methods for detecting and acting upon fraud and waste in federal programs.

After Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Assistant Inspector General David P. Weber alleged improper conduct by SEC Inspector General David Kotz in the investigation of the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme, Williams was brought in to conduct an independent, outside review of Kotz's alleged improper conduct in 2012. The Williams Report questioned Kotz’s work on the Madoff investigation, because Kotz was a "very good friend" with Markopolos. Although investigators were not able to determine when Kotz and Markopolos became friends, the Report concluded that it would have violated U.S. ethics rules if their relationship began before or during Kotz’s investigation of Madoff.

In June 2013, Williams criticized the Postal Service's real estate contract with CBRE, a multinational real estate company.