Top military investigator to step down

The Pentagon’s inspector general is resigning after just over a year in the job, at a time when defense spending has skyrocketed but personnel shortfalls have strained the office’s ability to probe allegations of waste, fraud and abuse.

Claude Kicklighter, 74, took over as the military’s top investigator in April 2007. He’ll be replaced by Gordon Heddell, the Labor Department’s inspector general since January 2001.

In a March 31 report to Congress, Kicklighter’s office estimated that nearly half of the military’s $316-billion weapons budget went unchecked last year because his office lacked manpower. A decade ago, an auditor would have reviewed $642 million in contracts, versus $2 billion today.