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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.
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Analysis
What does an F-22 Cost?
The recent event of a tragic F-22 crash in California, killing the pilot, was exploited by some to disseminate some misinformation about the cost of F-22 fighters. Straus Military Reform Project Director Winslow Wheeler sets some of the facts straight in a commentary on the tr...
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Analysis
Superficial Defense Reform Once Again
Straus Military Reform Project Director Winslow Wheeler exposes the useless and cosmetic nature of feints at acquisition reform from the Defense Department and phony reformers in Congress in a commentary that was published in the Monday, March 16, 2009 issue of Politico.
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Analysis
Playing Defense
"Playing Defense" was first published by The American Conservative magazine in its March 9, 2009 issue.
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Analysis
Measuring the Decay: DoD-wide
On the evening of Thursday, Feb. 19 at the Stewart R. Mott Charitable Trust in Washington, D.C., three authors of "America's Defense Meltdown" discussed the ongoing decay in the U.S. armed forces. In sharp contrast to the political apparatchiks that protest that more...
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Analysis
ICBL Releases New Annual Landmine Report
In November 2008, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) released its tenth annual report, “Landmine Monitor Report, 2008: Towards a Mine-Free World.” The report acts as the de facto monitoring regime for the Mine Ban Treaty, and monitors states’ (party to it) impl...
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Analysis
SIGTARP Gets Down to Business
The jury is still out on Neil Barofsky, the recently confirmed Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), but it looks like he's off to a promising start.
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AnalysisStohl Analyzes CRS Annual Report on Arms Transfers
On Oct. 23, 2008, the Congressional Research Service released the most recent version of its annual arms transfer report, “Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 2000-2007.” According to the report, U.S. arms agreements to both developed and developing countries in...
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Analysis
Andrew Cockburn interviews Winslow Wheeler on “America’s Defense Meltdown” for CounterPunch
Various blogs and websites have reproduced author Andrew Cockburn's interview of Winslow Wheeler on the subject of the recent military reform anthology "America's Defense Meltdown: Pentagon Reform for President Obama and the New Congress." The Center for Defense Info...
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Analysis
Email Goof Exposes Whistleblower Problems at FAMS
POGO has obtained an email--mistakenly sent from the Deputy Director of the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) to a former FAMS Security Assistant--that raises serious concerns about the agency's attitude toward whistleblower retaliation.
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Analysis
The Pentagon’s Challenge to President-elect Obama
The challenges posed by the Defense Department and the U.S. military are imposing to say the least, explains Straus Military Reform Project Director Winslow Wheeler. Also, CDI releases the advance, electronic version of the "America's Defense Meltdown" preface, a mil...
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Analysis
New Contractor Ethics Rule Set for December Rollout
Last November, the civilian and defense acquisition councils proposed changing the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to impose greater ethical responsibilities on federal contractors. The proposed rule would require contractors to implement a code of business ethics and an...
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Analysis
The Other Meltdown
The financial and economic collapse, our deeply flawed health care system, the gridlock in Washington, two long wars not going well, and long-term, fundamental problems with energy and Social Security do not complete the list of raging crises the new president must face. Add t...