What OIG Inspected 

OIG inspected the operating environment, executive direction, policy and program implementation, resource management, and information management operations of Embassy Bucharest.   

What OIG Recommends 

OIG made 20 recommendations: 19 to Embassy Bucharest and 1 to the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. The Department concurred with 17 recommendations and neither agreed nor disagreed with 3 recommendations. OIG considers all 20 recommendations resolved. The Department’s response to each recommendation, and OIG’s reply, can be found in the Recommendations section of this report. The Department’s formal responses are reprinted in their entirety in Appendix B. 

What OIG Found 

• The Ambassador and Deputy Chief of Mission led Embassy Bucharest in a professional and collaborative manner.
• Embassy Bucharest advanced important U.S. national security and foreign policy objectives, including those related to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 
• Embassy Bucharest’s American Spaces program supported the embassy’s key policy objectives to strengthen Romanian support for shared democratic values. 
• The Consular Section and Defense Attaché Office collaborated to provide American Citizen Services to U.S. service members in Romania. 
• The embassy suffered from attrition and difficulty in hiring new local employees due to noncompetitive salaries. Vacancies in locally employed staff positions contributed to some internal control deficiencies. 
• Embassy Bucharest did not have a process for coordinating foreign assistance programs managed by multiple Department of State bureaus and U.S. agencies. 
• The embassy lacked updated policies and standard operating procedures across multiple sections. 
• Some internal controls in general services, financial management, and human resources did not meet Department standards. 
• The employee association did not have authorization to process official residence expenses for the Ambassador and Deputy Chief of Mission as a service under the association’s charter.