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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
Reining in Mineral Mismanagement on Public Lands
After the troubled Minerals Management Service was successfully dissolved in 2011, the fight to ensure taxpayers receive their fair share continues as good government groups like POGO argue that minerals on public lands should not be given away for free. POGO recently publishe...
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Analysis
Cleaning Up Coal’s Act
While the Interior Department successfully overhauled regulations for the extraction of natural resources like oil, the federal coal program is due for more changes. POGO recently published the top five public natural resource reforms accomplished in the past eight years and t...
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AnalysisPentagon Admits Half of War Spending Account Is Slush
Tony Bertuca at Inside Defense discovered yet another way Pentagon budget gimmicks are getting worse, finding $30 billion from the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account will go to “enduring requirements” that should be funded through the Department of Defense’s base bu...
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Analysis
POGO and Others Oppose “Trojan Horse” Office for VA Whistleblowers
The Project On Government Oversight, Government Accountability Project, Senior Executives Association, and Public Citizen oppose a Senate measure that could harm Veterans Affairs whistleblowers.
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Analysis
IRS Gears Up for Third Try at Outsourced Tax Collection
Will the IRS’s newest attempt to use debt collection companies to recover delinquent taxes succeed where two previous efforts failed? Early indications are not promising.
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Analysis
Intelligence Community Encouraging Speaking Truth to Power
In a new initiative to incentivize certain kinds of whistleblowing, the U.S. intelligence community announced a new awards program for reporting wrongdoing through appropriate channels. This commitment to encouraging whistleblowing is much welcomed after the IC’s bad history o...
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AnalysisDrilling and Mining on Public Lands: The State of Play
The top five natural resource reforms from the past eight years that benefited American taxpayers and improved transparency in the federal government.
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Analysis
Must-Read: “What Congress Is Actually Good at” (The Atlantic)
POGO Executive Director Danielle Brian tells The Atlantic there are many examples of Congress conducting good oversight investigations under the radar.
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Analysis
Busting the Myth of Whistleblower Protections for IC Contractors
There is one undeniable fact surrounding Snowden’s circumstances that has been misreported by Congress and the Executive Branch far too many times: the Intelligence Community (IC) contractor would have had almost no protections had he come forward through proper channels.
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AnalysisNext Steps for Military Personnel Reform
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s new initiative, “Force of the Future,” attempted to modernize our military forces. In an interview, our Military Advisory Board Member Don Vandergriff assesses why the Pentagon’s initiative failed, what to make of Carter’s attempts to woo Sili...
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Analysis
Government Watchdog Identifies Lessons from Afghanistan Reconstruction
The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction has some important lessons about the systemic corruption that has hindered the 15-year effort to rebuild the war-torn country.
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Analysis
LISTEN: The Case against Unlimited Pentagon Spending
POGO’s Dan Grazier explains the problems with the current bloated Pentagon budget on the Steele & Ungar show following the comments of presidential candidate Donald Trump about ending the sequester on defense spending.