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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
Cutting the W88 - The Right Target
The House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee has taken a step toward sanity in the U.S. nuclear weapons complex. The Subcommittee is now saying that there is no more money for building plutonium pits, which are at the core of the W88 warhead that is carried aboard U....
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Analysis
Senator Proposes Solutions to Contracting Fraud
An article appearing in the June 24th issue of Politico proposes steps towards eliminating waste and fraud in defense contracting. The authors, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) of the Senate Budget Committee and William Hartung of the New America Foundation, focus on two problems w...
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Analysis
The Continuing Saga of the Munitions Maven from Miami Beach
Last March, POGO blogged about the incredible case of Efraim Diveroli, the 22-year-old defense contractor who allegedly engaged in improprieties on a $300 million U.S. Army contract to supply the Afghan government with rifle and machine gun cartridges.
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Analysis
New Legislation Closes Tax Loophole for Federal Contractors
A new law will bring an end to a tax loophole that allowed some federal contractors to evade federal taxes even while technically following the law. Part of the Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax Act of 2008, signed into law on Tuesday by President Bush, requires forei...
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Analysis
Hostile Work Environment & E-Discovery: OSC Gives On-the-job Lessons
A retreat next week for the staff of the Office of Special Counsel at the Hotel Monaco in Alexandria, VA looks like it's going to be a doozy. Most curiously, according to the agenda, it seems Special Counsel Scott Bloch thinks his staff needs training on a "hostile work e...
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Analysis
KBR Whistleblower Comes Forward
Today we learn about yet another story of a government employee who was retaliated against for doing his job honestly. Charles Smith, a senior civilian official at the Pentagon, was removed from his position and reassigned after he attempted to hold defense contractor KBR acco...
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Analysis
‘Small’ Business Administration?
Is the Small Business Administration (SBA) lying to Congress and the public about the diversion of federal small business contracts to some of the largest companies in the world?
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Analysis
Interior Staff Had Inappropriate Relationships with Oil Industry
The Department of Interior Inspector General (IG) Earl Devaney has just released a report on the Royalty-In-Kind Program (RIK), an obscure multi-billion-dollar oil and natural gas trading program at the Department that has been the focus of controversy.
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Analysis
DoD IG Investigating C-17: Yet Another Reason Why the Air Force Needs to Grow Up
Sources tell POGO that the DoD IG is investigating alleged improper communications between Air Force senior officials, Members of Congress, and Boeing on how to keep the C-17 production lines open, even though the additional C-17s are not needed for national security. Isn't th...
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Analysis
Obama for...Transparency
If you read the morning paper, you know that Senator Obama has clinched the Democratic presidential nomination. What you might not know is that yesterday, Senators Obama (D-IL) and Coburn (R-OK) introduced legislation to improve public access to government contract, grant, and...
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Analysis
Defense Contractor Pleads Guilty in Bribery Scheme
On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced that Raman International Inc. pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery for its participation in a scheme to influence the awarding of DoD contracts at Camp Victory, Iraq. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Ram...
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Analysis
Oak Ridge Managers Enjoy Luxuries at Taxpayers’ Expense
Apparently Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) managers are accustomed to far more lavish conference settings than are consistent with federal and Department of Energy (DOE) guidelines. According to a report released by the DOE Inspector General, lab managers at ORNL provided...