Last week, many people got a bit of a laugh when it was reported that Government Accountability Office had commenced a study of a study of studies. In short, the Pentagon found itself so overrun with studies in 2010 that it ordered a study to determine how much it cost to produce all the various studies. At some point, the GAO decided it needed to study the Pentagon's study, giving the world perhaps its first-ever study of a study of studies.

I doubt anyone was laughing at the SEC, however, where a similar dynamic seems to exist with respect to investigations. It was not too long ago that I wrote here about this phenomenon, after Bloomberg reported that the SEC's former Inspector General -- the person whose office is tasked with investigating the SEC's employees -- had himself become the subject of an investigation by the SEC's General Counsel. The SEC's IG said at the time that he would ask yet another set of investigators ("the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency") to further investigate whether he did anything improper.

David Kotz, the former SEC Inspector General, departed the agency in January 2012 to rejoin the private sector, and it seemed as if this surge of "investigations of investigations" had ended. It turns out that it has not and, if anything, it seems to be headed for levels of "investigations of investigations" that we have not before reached. 

To recap the latest development, in March 2012, after Kotz left the agency, a relatively new assistant inspector general for investigations named David Weber reportedly complained to SEC commissioners about supposed inappropriate conduct in the Inspector General's office. Kotz called Weber's accusations "completely and utterly ludicrous and untrue," and the allegation was referred to the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency for a possible investigation. 

After Weber's complaint, other employees then turned the tables on Weber, claiming that he spoke openly about wanting to carry a concealed firearm inside the SEC's headquarters, and brought a bullet-proof vest into work. Some employees complained that Weber was a "physical threat." Last week, the SEC reportedly placed Weber on leave and banned him from entering SEC headquarters in Washington D.C. This led, of course, to another investigation by a security consulting firm called AT-RISK, which will reportedly review the complaints about Weber's conduct.

But there's more! This week, U.S. Senator Charles Grassley decided that it would be good to add at least one more investigation onto the pile, and he is now separately probing the facts related to how the SEC decided to place Weber on leave. Bloomberg reports that on Monday of this week, Grassley sent a letter to SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro requesting a copy of the “security threat evaluation” addressing Weber's conduct, as well as details on any complaints filed about Weber.

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