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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
Minot Misses Again. Lost Nuclear Launch Code
Sources tell POGO that the Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota has been on security lockdown after discovering that a nuclear weapon launch code was lost or misplaced within the last couple of weeks. Apparently, it was later determined that an airman improperly took the code ...
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Analysis
Food and Drug Safety on the Cheap: It Can’t Be Done
Hundreds have been sickened by salmonella-contaminated vegetables – victims of an under-funded Food and Drug Administration that once again has failed to ensure the safety of our food. Those recovering from their illness may be pleased to learn that the FDA is about to receive...
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Analysis
DOD IG Report on Tenenbaum Leaves Questions Unanswered
This past May POGO obtained and posted a cache of internal documents from the Pentagon's Inspector General's Office that raised a number of troubling questions about the treatment meted out to a civilian Army engineer, David Tenenbaum. POGO became interested and involved beca...
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Analysis
Small Business Contractors Get a ‘John Deere’ Letter
Three weeks ago, the Department of Interior Office of Inspector General (DOI-IG) released a report entitled Interior Misstated Achievement of Small Business Goals by Including Fortune 500 Companies. The report found the DOI awarded $5.7 million in small business contracts in ...
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Analysis
Oberstar Pushes Stronger FAA Whistleblower Office
Yesterday, the bipartisan leadership of the House transportation committee and its aviation subcommittee introduced legislation that would create a new independent Aviation Safety Whistleblower Investigation Office and institute a two-year cooling off period for former FAA ins...
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Analysis
Senators Upset Over Pentagon’s Option for Destroying Chemical Weapons
A recent press release by the Chemical Weapons Working Group points out that the Pentagon has submitted its semiannual report to Congress on the state of its Chemical Demilitarization Program.
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Analysis
House Dems Introduce Corporate Monitor Oversight Bill
On Tuesday, Reps. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ), Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), John Conyers (D-MI), and Linda Sanchez (D-CA) introduced the "Accountability in Deferred Prosecution Act of 2008" (H.R. 6492), a bill that would regulate the use of corporate monitors in deferred...
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Analysis
Lurching from Bad to Worse to...
Back in May, right around the time the FBI raided the OSC offices and executed search warrants for the head of the office, Scott Bloch, POGO obtained access to an amazing internal OSC document. Here the OSC is the office charged with protecting whistleblowers from reprisal, a...
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Analysis
Updating the Record
Our friend smintheus on Daily Kos blogged earlier this week about the changes being voted upon in the Senate to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, the law that is supposed to govern electronic surveillance in national security cases, that was ignored when the ...
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Analysis
Not Another Dime
Today and Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee will have the opportunity to put their foot down on some wasteful nuclear weapons projects proposed by the Department of Energy (DOE).
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Analysis
U.S.-Iraq Deal on Contractor Immunity Goes Fourth
On Tuesday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari announced that the U.S. has agreed to lift immunity for private security contractors working in Iraq as part of U.S.-Iraq security pact negotiations. This concession is expected to bring the two countries closer to signing a lo...
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Analysis
Constituents & Taxpayers Don’t Wynn
In February, incumbent Rep. Albert Wynn (D-MD) lost in the primary election. On May 31, 2008, Wynn quit his term in Congress, thereby turning his back on his constituents, his supporters, Congress, and all taxpayers (watch the American News Project piece on Wynn's departure to...