D.C. City Administrator Dan Tangherlini warned the D.C. Council on Tuesday that overburdening District employees with tiers of bureaucracy risks opening the door to abuse by enterprising thieves.

In the wake of the largest corruption scandal in city history, Mayor Adrian Fenty’s administration is focusing on stronger oversight, performance assessment and auditing, Tangherlini told the government operations committee, chaired by Councilwoman Carol Schwartz. But too many layers of review “reduce accountability and obscure transparency,” he said.