The 18th Oversight Boot Camp

Event Recap

This spring, twenty-four congressional staffers participated in the 18th Congressional Oversight Boot Camp, jointly hosted by the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy, and the Lugar Center. 

To date, over 400 congressional staff have completed this intensive training, gaining the skills and knowledge needed to navigate the complexities of conducting effective government oversight. 

The two-day oversight training was partitioned into four sections during which each lecture focused on the oversight process. Participants from twenty-four different congressional committees and personal offices from the House and Senate, equally divided among political backgrounds, were split into teams representing various congressional committees. These included the Committees on Environment and Public Works; Transportation and Infrastructure; Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; and Science, Space and Technology. By focusing on these committees, the boot camp provided a hands-on experience that allowed participants to apply their newfound knowledge to a real-world scenario, all through the lens of bipartisanship.

Throughout the boot camp, participants worked through a fictitious situation similar to a news story that would prompt a congressional inquiry. The fictional scandal involved new electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, that were simply not working as they were supposed to. The teams were tasked with working together within their “committees” to get at the heart of the problem, and to come up with recommendations for improving the program and preventing future mishaps. Working together, each group developed an investigative plan, a hearing plan, the outline of a report, and a follow-up plan to tackle the scandal. This approach allowed the teams to directly demonstrate what they learned during the lecture series. The boot campers also participated in role-playing exercises through which they were able to practice their skills addressing realistic problems and hurdles that congressional investigators are likely to experience during the course of an oversight investigation. One Senate staffer said, “I really enjoyed the more hands on group work — it was helpful to see how others transferred the info into the scandal scenario.”

Participants received valuable feedback and practical tips from the boot camp’s four instructors.

Details

The hosts: 

• Tim Stretton, director of the Congressional Oversight Initiative at POGO 
• Elise Bean, co-director of the Levin Center’s Washington office 

And the two bipartisan guest instructors: 

• Arya Hariharan, chief oversight counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee chaired by Dick Durbin (D-IL)
• Jonathan Skladany, special counsel at Jenner & Block covering congressional investigations, and former chief counsel for oversight at the House Committee on Financial Services under then-Ranking Member Patrick McHenry (R-NC). 

Participants learned from the instructors’ experiences, leaving with new insights and creative approaches to hurdles in conducting oversight. One Democratic staffer from the Senate said, “[The instructors were] so excellent. Wow. The anecdotes, sage advice, and recs were all incredibly helpful. I’m so grateful.” Attendees also enjoyed the role-playing exercises in collaboration with the instructors and fellow boot campers. They assumed the roles of congressional investigators, legal investigators, whistleblowers, legal counsel, Majority and Minority, staff legislative affairs liaison, media relations representatives, lobbyists, and campaign managers. One House Republican staffer said, “I enjoyed the attention given to specific hypothetical scenarios and found the role playing to be a useful exercise in understanding the various person-on-person interactions in the investigative process.” 

In addition to gaining practical skills, boot campers leave with new personal connections. Groups are carefully designed to foster long-term relationships with people they are likely to work with long after the boot camp is over. Boot camp alumni frequently report that they kept in touch with their teammates months after our program has finished.   

Here are some more testimonials from boot camp attendees:

• “This may be the best training I've ever taken. I've been doing oversight for 8 years and have found that the context really resonated, and the sage advice and political knowledge was invaluable. Throughout the two days I kept thinking how lucky are we to be able to learn from these experts/professionals at this level. Also, the candid feedback after trying the exercises was so great.” – Senate Democratic staffer
• “This was one of the most informative seminars I’ve done on the Hill. I learned more about the investigations process in these 2 days than my previous 4.5 years combined.” – House Republican staffer
• “As someone who is breaking into a Committee role, boot camp was essential in giving me the tools necessary to understand how oversight is conducted. I’m so grateful for this experience and look forward to applying it in the real world.” – House Democratic staffer
• “This experience was very grounding for me. As Congress can be such a hyper-partisan environment, it was great to come together with peers and not only remember why we all signed up for this work, but learn practical guidance on how to be more effective. I will use what I learned here for the rest of my career in government.” – House staffer
• “This was an informative and thorough how-to on congressional oversight in practice and I’m excited to bring these concepts back to my office!” – Senate Republican staffer
• “The time spent at the oversight boot camp was incredibly valuable. I now have concrete examples of how to approach oversight start to finish and appropriate follow-up.” – Senate Democratic staffer

The boot camp equips congressional staffers to undertake bipartisan oversight investigations. The knowledge acquired in the boot camp empowers participants to advocate for accountability effectively within their offices, transcending biases and cultivating a sturdier and more efficient legislative branch.

Stay tuned for the next Oversight Boot Camp, which will be held in August 2024. To learn more about what’s offered at our boot camp trainings, visit our website or reach out to Aisha Shafi, [email protected].