Robert Storch
Inspector General, Department of Defense
Robert Phillip Storch earned an undergraduate degree from Harvard University. He received his Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School. He clerked at the Central District of California court.
Storch worked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York as deputy criminal chief and counsel to the U.S. Attorney. He was a Department of Justice Resident Legal Advisor in Ukraine for two years. He also served as the chief of the Appellate Division and senior litigation counsel as the District of Columbia’s Anti-Terrorism coordinator at the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice Cincinnati Division.
Storch was an assistant U.S. attorney in the Middle District of Florida and was deputy inspector general at the U.S. Department of Justice.
President Donald Trump nominated Storch to become Inspector General of the National Security Agency. He was confirmed by the Senate and assumed that role in January 2018.
President Joe Biden nominated Storch to become Inspector General of the Department of Defense. He was confirmed by the Senate and assumed that position in December 2022.
In the News…
A review of the notification process, procedures, and policies at the Department of Defense is underway by the Pentagon Inspector General Robert Storch. During his recent hospitalization, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin failed to notify key officials of his absence.
In announcing the review, Storch said officials at the Pentagon would “examine the roles, processes, procedures, responsibilities, and actions related to the Secretary of Defense’s hospitalization.”
The Inspector General’s office will also assess whether “policies and procedures are sufficient to ensure timely and appropriate notifications and the effective transition of authorities as may be warranted due to health-based or other unavailability of senior leadership.”
Secretary Austin was hospitalized on January 1, but the president did not learn of his absence until three days later. Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, who assumed full duties of the defense secretary from January 2 to January 5, also did not know he had been hospitalized until January 4.
