Rachel M. Hart currently works as a Program Manager for the Inspector General Criminal Investigator Academy (IGCIA), responsible for coordinating, managing, and delivering training programs to law enforcement officers throughout the Inspector General community. In this role, she has focused primarily on teaching and mentoring Special Agents who are recent basic training graduates. Prior to her current assignment, she spent 22 years as a Special Agent in the Inspector General community with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) - OIG, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) - OIG, and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) - OIG.
As a Special Agent, Hart leveraged an accounting background to successfully conduct multifaceted program fraud and financial investigations and garnered a wide variety of investigative skill sets, including effective interviewing skills, handling Confidential Human Sources, and testimonial skills. Her program fraud and financial investigations resulted in dozens of criminal convictions and civil settlements throughout her career, with millions of dollars in ordered restitution. Hart also has extensive experience conducting highly sensitive public corruption and internal affairs investigations, resulting in numerous criminal convictions of federal and state law enforcement officers for misconduct, including bribery, excessive use of force, and drug-dealing.
As a Special Agent, Hart also dedicated herself to a role as an adjunct instructor and facilitator with the IGCIA, where she taught as a subject matter expert in a variety of IGCIA training programs, teaching blocks of instruction on several topics, to include employee misconduct, proactive approaches to investigations, handling sources, employee rights and obligations, case presentation to prosecutors, search warrant affidavits, and conducting interviews in the presence of legal counsel.
Hart has received many awards throughout her career, including the Secretary’s Distinguished Service Award from HHS for work related to being a Hurricane Katrina first responder. She also earned two integrity awards from the agency for work related to multimillion-dollar health care fraud investigations. Furthermore, Hart earned two awards from The Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) for work related to a multimillion-dollar USDA Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program investigation and a Rural Development investigation regarding fraudulent loans. Throughout her career, Hart has earned multiple commendations, including from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas, the CIGIE Training Institute, and the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-OIG. In 2016, prior to her assignment as a Program Manager, Hart earned an award for being the IGCIA’s Adjunct Instructor of the Year.
Hart obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from North Dakota State University and worked as an auditor for HHS - OIG before beginning her federal law enforcement career in 2000.