The document is a July 2015 message from the President of the Association of Inspectors General (AIG) to members and friends of the organization. It discusses the importance of truth in the inspector general profession, citing examples where false narratives have spread quickly before facts could be gathered. It references a quote from someone interviewed about a retracted Rolling Stone article on a gang rape, who said "the truth doesn't matter." The president asserts that the truth is the only thing that matters for inspectors general and their highest duty. The message also provides updates on upcoming AIG conferences and training institutes.

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July 2015 AIG President’s Message
Dear Association Members and Friends,
“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”
(Mark Twain)
Anyone who has spent any time in the Inspector General business knows what it is like to see a
false narrative catch fire and spread, like a match to dry leaves. Many times this will occur
before we have had a chance to gather any facts. Sometimes it will happen when we are not in a
position to correct the record because an investigation is still ongoing. Over the years, I have
learned through personal experience and observing the world around me that the truth has
become an increasingly rare commodity. In 1996, Richard Jewell was falsely accused of the
Atlanta Olympic Park bombing. We all remember the Duke Lacrosse case in 2006. More
recently, most of you know about the article published in Rolling Stone last November alleging
that a gang rape occurred at a University of Virginia fraternity house. Rolling Stone retracted
that story after numerous media outlets and an independent review by the Columbia School of
Journalism demonstrated it to be unreliable. One person who was interviewed about the story
said the following:
"The thing is, it doesn’t matter," he said. "It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not, because
whether this one incident is true, there’s still a huge problem with sexual assault in the
United States."
I have to admit, folks … that one left my jaw on the floor. With a straight face and apparent
sincerity, this person said that the truth didn’t matter. God help us all if the day ever comes
when the truth doesn’t matter to us in the IG community. The truth has to matter. In fact, I
submit that it’s the only thing that matters. It is the highest duty we have, and it’s never been
more important. We should all ponder that as we go about our jobs each day.
To update everybody on the latest AIG business, our Summer Institutes in Jacksonville are
officially sold out. This continues a great pattern of success for the institutes. Thanks again to
Phil Zisman and his staff for handling the significant administrative details, and to Bob Clift,
Howard Schwartz and Hector Collazo for holding down the fort with course management,
admissions, instructors and curriculum.
The Fall Conference in Detroit will be here before we know it, and a fantastic lineup of speakers
is falling into place. Among the confirmed speakers are US DOJ Inspector General Michael
Horowitz, Eastern District of Michigan US Attorney Barbara McQuade, and former Eastern
District of Louisiana US Attorney Jim Letten. Registration for the conference is now open on
the AIG website, and we hope to have the full agenda posted there soon. Thanks to IG James
Heath and Deputy IG Kamau Marable of the Detroit OIG for handling details on the ground for
us. We are all looking forward to visiting Detroit in October.
In the meantime, let’s all keep standing up for the truth. It matters a great deal.
Respectfully,
Stephen B. Street, Jr., AIG National President