Report Contents
What OIG Inspected
OIG inspected the executive direction, program and policy implementation, resource management, and information management operations of Embassy Athens. The inspection included Consulate General Thessaloniki.
What OIG Recommends
OIG made 14 recommendations to Embassy Athens. In its comments on the draft report, Embassy Athens concurred with all 14 recommendations. OIG considers all 14 recommendations resolved. The embassy’s response to each recommendation, and OIG’s reply, can be found in the Recommendations section of this report. The embassy’s formal response is reprinted in its entirety in Appendix B.
What OIG Found
- Mission Greece’s leadership team advanced the bilateral relationship between the governments of Greece and the United States.
- During the COVID-19 pandemic, the mission successfully shifted more than 300 staff members to telework and provided equipment and training for Department of State collaboration and cloud technologies.
- Public diplomacy grants administration did not meet Department standards for documenting grant monitoring and evaluation.
- Forty-seven percent of the mission’s residences had not been assessed for seismic risk despite the Department rating the occurrence or frequency of earthquakes in Athens as “very high” and in Thessaloniki as “high.”
- The embassy did not complete the required systems authorization process for 13 locally developed computer applications.
- Spotlight on Success: The embassy’s initially small “CodeGirls” computer programming initiative, aimed at addressing Greece’s tech sector gender gap, expanded nationwide due to strong support from local communities and the private sector.
Report Terms
Report Recommendations
Embassy Athens should monitor and evaluate the programmatic performance of its grant recipients and document its findings, in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Athens should comply with Department standards for consular crisis preparedness.
Embassy Athens should require that safety certifications for all mission properties are conducted and documented in the Post Occupational Health and Safety Officer Certification Application and that any identified safety issues be corrected prior to occupancy, in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Athens, in coordination with Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, should evaluate all mission residential properties for seismic risk in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Athens should enforce driver duty limits for mission drivers in accordance with Department guidelines.
Embassy Athens should comply with Department standards on training employees in the use of powered industrial trucks.
Embassy Athens should submit its foreign per diem reports in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Athens should dismantle and remove its shipping containers and portable structures in accordance with Department requirements or obtain authorization from the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations to use them as permanent storage.
Embassy Athens should follow Department guidance for accommodation exchange services.
Embassy Athens should comply with Department standards for records management.
Embassy Athens, in coordination with the Bureau of Information Resource Management, should complete the systems authorization process for its locally developed applications.
Embassy Athens should require that all Information Systems Security Officer duties be performed in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Athens should register and authorize Mission Greece’s dedicated internet networks on the Department’s Information Technology Configuration Control Board Dedicated Internet Network registration site.
Embassy Athens should reduce its printer inventory to comply with Department standards for printer management, so that funds of up to $150,000 can be put to better use.