June 19, 2013

Defense Contractor Hit with Ginormous Fraud Judgment

An Ohio federal court ordered defense contractor United Technologies Corporation to pay the government hundreds of millions of dollars in damages in an Air Force contract fraud lawsuit filed in 1999.

June 19, 2013

Michael Hastings Leaves Legacy of Promoting Accountability

Renowned journalist Michael Hastings died early Tuesday morning in a Los Angeles car crash first reported by Hastings’ employer, BuzzFeed.

June 19, 2013

Reducing Contractor Compensation Cap Will Save Hundreds of Millions Annually

Today, the GAO released a report which found savings of at least $100 million a year if the government reduces the taxpayers' burden to compensate contractor employees. A reduction is needed and Congress should get serious about cutting federal spending.

June 18, 2013

DynCorp Accused of Being a Deadbeat

A Turkish construction company has filed a breach of contract lawsuit against DynCorp International, seeking nearly $6 million in overdue payments and damages for construction work in Afghanistan, including a project for which the government failed to hold DynCorp accountable.

June 18, 2013

Shining Light on Closed Doors

Although some Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) subcommittees have slowly begun to open their NDAA markups to the public, POGO continues to wait for the day the SASC will open all its closed NDAA discussions to the public.

June 13, 2013

Bipartisan Groups Urge House to Pass Smart Spending Amendments on NDAA

As you prepare to vote on H.R. 1960, the National Defense Authorization Act of FY14 (NDAA), we hope you will consider ways to spend in accordance with the current law. The current bill authorizes $552 billion for defense—$54 billion above current law spending caps. Whether or not one supports those caps, it is irresponsible to continue to ignore current law and set our country on the path towards yet another sequestration this fall.

June 12, 2013

Testimony of POGO's Scott Amey on Using the Suspension and Debarment System Effectively to Avoid Risky Contractors

Since the 1990s, there have been several major shifts in federal procurement, including increased contract spending, a stretched acquisition workforce, spending on services outpacing spending on goods, and a host of acquisition reforms implemented to make spending easier. The result is that the government is sometimes doing business with risky contractors—contractors with criminal, civil, and administrative misconduct records or poor performance histories.

June 5, 2013

Unreleased: Probe Finds CIA Honcho Disclosed Top Secret Info to Hollywood

The Defense Department Inspector General’s office has been sitting on a report that former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta disclosed “TOP SECRET” information and other sensitive details at an event attended by a “Hollywood executive” working on Zero Dark Thirty, the movie about the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, according to a Project On Government Oversight (POGO) investigation published Tuesday night.

June 4, 2013

Openness Groups Urge Senate to Vote YES on Cardin, NO on Grassley-Donnelly on the Farm Bill

On behalf of the undersigned groups, we urge you to support the Cardin alternative (Amendment 1159) to the Grassley–Donnelly Amendments (Amendment 970, 1011, and 1097) to the Farm Bill (S. 954). The alternative we support would reinforce existing privacy protections for farmers and protect the ability of the public to access government information.

June 4, 2013

Unreleased: Probe Finds CIA Honcho Disclosed Top Secret Info to Hollywood

The Defense Department Inspector General’s office has been sitting on a report that former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta disclosed “TOP SECRET” information and other sensitive details two years ago at an event attended by a “Hollywood executive” working on the movie Zero Dark Thirty.

June 5, 2013

Secret Report: Panetta Gave bin Laden Raid Details to 'Zero Dark Thirty' Makers

The Atlantic Wire | Philip Bump

June 5, 2013

Leon Panetta gave Hollywood exec top secret info on Bin Laden raid's SEAL unit, leader

The Washington Examiner | Mark Tapscott

June 5, 2013

Report: Leon Panetta revealed classified SEAL unit info

Politico | Josh Gerstein

May 23, 2013

Report raps military propaganda efforts as ineffective

USA Today | Tom Vanden Brook

May 14, 2013

Lockheed CEO Backs F-35

Wall Street Journal | Dion Nissenbaum