Ossoff will lead Senate’s historic dedicated investigative panel
Chairman has broad investigative powers and jurisdiction
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) is now Chairman of the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Homeland Security Chairman Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mi.) announced today.
Founded in 1941, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has uniquely broad powers and jurisdiction, including the power of subpoena, to investigate crime and corruption within or without the U.S. government and to probe any aspect of U.S. government policy and operations.
At 34 and as the Subcommittee’s 12th Chairman, Ossoff is its youngest ever. Former Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn chaired the Subcommittee from 1979-1980 and 1987-1994.
The Subcommittee was first led by Sen. Harry Truman, who investigated war profiteering from 1941-1948.
In 1957, under Chief Counsel Robert F. Kennedy, the Subcommittee investigated labor racketeering.
In 1963, the Subcommittee’s famous Valachi hearings exposed the Sicilian Mafia.
More recent investigations have included corporate abuses and financial crimes, international terrorism, domestic and transnational organized crime, war crimes, Enron, SARS preparedness, domestic surveillance, WMD proliferation, the security of U.S. energy supply, the 2007-2008 financial crisis, and the Iranian nuclear program.
Ossoff has a professional background in investigative journalism. After joining the Senate, Ossoff stepped down as CEO of Insight TWI, a 30-year old investigative media production company he led since 2013.
Under Ossoff’s eight years of leadership, the company produced internationally broadcast journalistic investigations of organized crime, official corruption, ISIS atrocities, war crimes committed by peacekeeping troops, corporate abuses, and human trafficking.
“As a former investigative journalist, Senator Ossoff is uniquely qualified to chair this prestigious subcommittee, which is instrumental to holding our nation’s most powerful entities accountable for wrongdoing,” said Senator Gary Peters, Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. “I look forward to working with him to shed a light on fraud, financial crimes, and other kinds of malpractice whether they take place in the public or private sector.”
“This Subcommittee will pursue the truth, inform the public, and hold power to account,” said Senator Ossoff. “I look forward to working with Ranking Member Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and my Subcommittee colleagues to serve the American public.”
###
Jon Ossoff is the Senior United States Senator from the state of Georgia. Elected in 2021, he serves on the powerful Senate Judiciary, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Banking, and Rules Committees. He also serves as Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
