The DOT Inspector General is auditing the FAA’s progress in implementing its plan to hire approximately 12,500 new controllers to replace those expected to leave over the next 10 years. In December 2004 the FAA issued the first in a series of annual reports outlining its plans for addressing that challenge. But early last year, after the agency had announced it would begin hiring 1,250 controllers annually over the next 10 years, the White House allotted enough money to hire only 595 trainees in FY2006.