| I. Charles McCullough, III | |
| Office: | Inspector General of the Intelligence Community |
| President: | Barack Obama Donald Trump |
| 1Blankname: | Director |
| Term Start: | October 2010 |
| Term End: | March 2017 |
| Predecessor: | Position established |
| Successor: | Michael Atkinson |
| Education: | University of Kentucky (BA) Pennsylvania State University, Dickinson School of Law (JD) |
I. Charles McCullough, III is an American law enforcement and intelligence official. He is an attorney who served as the first Inspector General of the United States Intelligence Community.
McCullough earned a BA in Political Science from the University of Kentucky and a JD from Pennsylvania State University's Dickinson School of Law.[1]
McCullough began his career as a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was with the FBI for 10 years, serving as a Special Agent, Supervisory Special Agent, Associate Division Counsel, SWAT Team Member, and Special Assistant United States Attorney. After the FBI, he served as Senior Counsel for Law Enforcement and Intelligence at the US Treasury Department and as the Assistant Inspector General for Investigations and Special Inquiries at the National Security Agency (where he was a member of the Defense Intelligence Senior Executive Service). In 2010, he left the NSA to serve as the Deputy Inspector General at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. In August 2011, McCullough was nominated by President Barack Obama as the first Inspector General of the United States Intelligence Community.[2] He was confirmed by the US Senate in November 2011. McCullough's office, along with the State Department OIG, played a significant role in the initial handling of the controversy regarding Hillary Clinton's emails. McCullough retired from Federal service in 2017, entering private practice as an attorney. In 2023, McCullough represented David Grusch (UAP whistleblower claims) regarding the reprisals Grusch suffered as a result of his UAP-related disclosures to the Congressional intelligence committees. McCullough is a multi-year alumnus of the Ocean City Beach Patrol in Ocean City, Maryland. His father, Irvin Charles McCullough, Jr., was the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, and, in the 1950s, a multi-year member of the OCBP.