{"id":11578924,"date":"2025-07-26T05:00:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T09:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/?p=11578924"},"modified":"2025-07-25T17:09:29","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T21:09:29","slug":"baltimore-county-inspector-general-appointee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2025\/07\/26\/baltimore-county-inspector-general-appointee\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is Khadija Walker? What to know about Baltimore County inspector general appointee"},"content":{"rendered":"

Khadija E. Walker, Baltimore County Executive Kathy Klausmeier’s pick to become the county’s next inspector general<\/a>, worked for decades in the federal government as an auditor and played a role in investigating some high-profile national crises.<\/p>\n

If confirmed, her new role would be to root out waste, fraud and abuse in county government, primarily through conducting investigations into complaints and producing reports. Recent reports produced by Kelly Madigan, the county’s current inspector general, for instance, have focused on fraud and misuse of county resources by county employees.<\/p>\n

The job is somewhat of a shift from a career in auditing \u2014 at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where Walker has spent much of her career, audits and evaluations “generally look at groups, processes, controls or structures,” rather than individual employees, according to the agency. This type of work differs from the agency’s investigations in that it does not deal with criminal activities.<\/p>\n

Walker’s appointment to the IG role is subject to approval by the Baltimore County Council, which will discuss her nomination Tuesday. Here\u2019s what to know about her career. <\/p>\n

Walker’s most recent job<\/h4>\n

Walker was most recently a deputy assistant inspector general for audits, inspections and evaluations at the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of Inspector General, according to social media<\/a> posts from the agency.<\/p>\n

She was sworn in to the role on Sept. 30 and had been working on overseeing USAID’s support to\u00a0Ukraine.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear when Walker left the agency, however. President Donald Trump\u2019s administration began dismantling USAID earlier this year, placing all direct-hire personnel, aside from leadership and those deemed mission-critical, on administrative leave at 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 23.<\/p>\n

Walker\u2019s most recent audit report<\/a> for USAID was dated March 19.<\/p>\n

A former longtime EPA auditor<\/h4>\n

Prior to her stint at USAID, Walker was with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of the Inspector General. She began her career as an auditor for the agency in 2003, according to her LinkedIn profile, and progressed through the ranks to project manager and director roles, with a focus on audits.<\/p>\n