Oversight in your inbox
Weekly newsletter and updates
Latest Policy Publications
POGO’s experts push policymakers to enact commonsense reforms that tackle waste, corruption, and abuse of power; hold those who’ve violated the public trust accountable; protect our constitutional rights; and make the government work for all people.
-
Analysis
Flagrant Foul?
Even the appearance of political favoritism can cast a shadow on the independence of the IG community
-
Analysis
Phony Acquisition Reform
On June 4, The Washington Times ran a commentary, "Real Acquisition Reform," written by William J. Lynn III, the Deputy Secretary of Defense. Winslow Wheeler found Lynn's grasp for the mantle of military reform to be thoroughly preposterous and sent a letter...
-
Analysis
GAO Confirms POGO’s Concerns About Contractor Performance Data
Last week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released an assessment of the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS), a database of contractor past performance information that federal agencies are supposed to consult before awarding or renewing contracts....
-
Analysis
Powerful Leader Takes Command of a Battered FDA: Irresistible Force Meets Immovable Object
Margaret Hamburg, long admired as a strong leader who has tackled and solved public health problems that others shunned, was confirmed on May 18 as the new head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, an agency in trouble.
-
Analysis
Powerful Leader Takes Command of a Battered FDA: Irresistible Force Meets Immovable Object
Margaret Hamburg, long admired as a strong leader who has tackled and solved public health problems that others shunned, was confirmed on May 18 as the new head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, an agency in trouble.
-
Analysis
Experts Discuss F-22 Raptor in New Video
Straus Military Reform Project Director Winslow Wheeler, Danielle Brian of the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), and Colin Clark of DoD Buzz discuss the F-22 fighter aircraft's history and flaws on YouTube.
-
Analysis
A Defense Budget Preview
When the details of the defense budget start to come out in the press on May 7, the reporting is likely to follow long- established patterns. Winslow Wheeler, director of the CDI Straus Military Reform Project, has seen it happen year after year— much of the data you will read...
-
Analysis
Read No Evil, See No Evil
On April 29, Military.com ran a new piece Winslow Wheeler wrote on the F-22 and the F-35. This piece argues the new justification for these aircraft—jobs—is almost as weak as the claim that they assist the national defense. This piece was offered to newspapers in three states ...
-
Analysis
What “Sweeping Reforms” in DoD?
In the aftermath of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates' April 6 decisions on 50 Pentagon programs and policies, business-as-usual in the Defense Department is alive and well. That is the unavoidable conclusion when you consider how Gates took some bad advice to balance his exce...
-
Analysis
A Mere Five Defense Programs That Should Be Axed
The editors of The Ripon Forum of the Ripon Society, a moderate to progressive Republican-oriented group, asked CDI's Straus Military Reform Project Director Winslow Wheeler to address five programs in the Pentagon that should be cancelled and one that should be promo...
-
Analysis
A Tempered View of Gates’ Budget Cutbacks
The acclaimed defense budget recommendations and possible terminations by Defense Secretary Robert Gates require a closer, more detailed analysis of what exactly is going to change, explains CDI's Straus Military Reform Project Director Winslow Wheeler.
-
Analysis
Congressional Pressure Finally Leads to Resignation of NASA IG
Government Executive reported today that NASA Inspector General (IG) Robert "Moose" Cobb has resigned amidst pressure from Senators Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), and Charles Grassley (R-IA) calling for his removal. The Senators cited his "inef...