To investigate H-1B fraud, does the Secretary of Labor need to authorize it?
No. Most laws contain phrases such as “The Secretary of Defense must …” or “The Secretary of Labor must …”. This does not mean that the cabinet member must personally authorize it – this phrase simply refers to the department. For that matter, immigration law also provides that “The Attorney General” (or today the Secretary for Homeland Security) has to approve H-1Bs. Nobody interprets such a phrase as “personally”.