Wayne A. McElrath

Wayne McElrath is the former Director of Forensic Investigations with the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO). During his tenure, Mr. McElrath was responsible for providing executive leadership and oversight for all GAO investigations, controls testing, and vulnerability assessments of federal funds, programs, facilities, and systems nationally and internationally. Additionally, he managed the application of GAO’s Fraud Framework. He administered the FraudNet, which is the United States government’s oldest publicly accessible hotline for reporting allegations of fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement. Before joining GAO, Mr. McElrath served as the Acting Assistant Inspector General for Investigations with the Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Inspector General (OIG); Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Affairs Division for the United States Postal Service, OIG, and the United States Postal Inspection Service; Senior Special Agent with the United States Customs Service, the forerunner to the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations; and as a Special Agent with the Department of Defense, Defense Criminal Investigative Service. Mr. McElrath holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Missouri–St. Louis and a Master’s Degree in National Defense and Strategic Studies, with an emphasis in Operational Law, from the United States Naval War College. He is a Harvard Kennedy School of Government Senior Executive Fellow and a graduate of the Office of Personnel Management’s Leadership for a Democratic Society program. Mr. McElrath also honorably served in the United States Marine Corps and the United States Army reserves.