Search Documents and Resources

    • Mission and Vision
    • Board & Staff
    • Financials
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Donor Privacy Policy
    • Explore our work
    • Center for Defense Information
    • The Constitution Project
    • Congressional Oversight Initiative
    • Policy Letters
    • Reports
    • Testimony
    • For Oversight Staff
    • Whistleblower Resources
    • Report Corruption
  • Take Action
  • Sign Up
  • Donate
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
    • Mission and Vision
    • Board & Staff
    • Financials
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Donor Privacy Policy
    • Explore our work
    • Center for Defense Information
    • The Constitution Project
    • Congressional Oversight Initiative
    • Policy Letters
    • Reports
    • Testimony
    • For Oversight Staff
    • Whistleblower Resources
    • Report Corruption
Project On Government Oversight
  • Take Action
  • Sign Up
  • Donate
  • Afghanistan
  • More Topics
  • About
  • Mission & History
  • Board & Staff
  • Financials
  • Take Action
  • For Federal Employees
  • COVID-19: Tips
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Subscribe
  • Donate
Project On Government Oversight
    • Mission and Vision
    • Board & Staff
    • Financials
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Donor Privacy Policy
    • Explore our work
    • Center for Defense Information
    • The Constitution Project
    • Congressional Oversight Initiative
    • Policy Letters
    • Reports
    • Testimony
    • For Oversight Staff
    • Whistleblower Resources
    • Report Corruption
  • Take Action
  • Sign Up
  • Donate
Bad Watchdog

Podcast Series Trailer: Bad Watchdog

January 18, 2023

Government watchdogs don’t normally make the evening news. But when Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari failed to alert Congress for months that Secret Service agents deleted text messages after January 6, he was thrust into the national spotlight. And it turns out there was a lot more that he was covering up. This is Bad Watchdog.

Listen on Stitcher Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify Listen on Amazon Music

What happens when the watchdog tasked with overseeing the most powerful law enforcement agency in the country doesn’t do its job? 

In a six-part series, host Maren Machles and investigative reporters from the Project On Government Oversight uncover a shocking pattern of misconduct at the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, which resulted in a failure to investigate some of the most troubling events in recent history.

Read the transcript

Host Maren Machles: The Department of Homeland Security is a federal agency that you may not be paying attention to. But over the last several years it’s been at the center of a lot of controversy.

From Secret Service agents roughly clearing BLM protesters in D.C. …

[Crowd noise from Lafayette Square protests]

To the crisis at our southern border …

[KHOU11 reporter: One agent was caught on camera swinging his horse strap at one of the migrants.]

Maren: To January 6th …

[Audio from January 6th insurrection, including radio communications of law enforcement: (inaudible radio communication) ...breached the line. We need backup.]

Maren: It’s a powerful agency. But what happens when the people inside it abuse their power? And what happens when the watchdog tasked with exposing those abuses chooses to look the other way?

[POGO Senior Investigator Nick Schwellenbach: This is the guy running the watchdog shop. But he doesn’t wanna raise red flags when clearly they’re warranted.]

[POGO Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs Liz Hempowicz: President Trump was firing inspectors general left and right if they displeased him.]

[Former Inspector General Gordon Heddell: There’s enough smoke here to … to know that there's a fire burning somewhere.]

[Activist Jenn Budd: How the hell am I gonna be a border patrol agent? If I can’t protect myself
and I can’t do this anymore? I said, “I don’t even believe in what we do anymore. The people I arrest are less criminals than the guys I’m sitting next to.”]

[Director of the Constitution Project Sarah Turberville: Joseph Cuffari is giving cover to abusive agents within the ranks.]

[Former POGO Senior Investigator Adam Zagorin: All these people said that when they reported things, it was detrimental to their career. I mean, this is the story of an agency.]

Maren: This is a podcast about finding the truth and holding people accountable, which is essentially — and not coincidentally — the work of an inspector general.

I’m Maren Machles, and from the Project On Government Oversight, this is Bad Watchdog, a new six-part investigative series launching Thursday, January 26th. Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts.

People

  • Host

    Maren Machles

    Maren Machles is a Researcher at POGO.

Show Notes:

  • Subscribe to the podcast on Acast
  • Stay tuned with POGO's latest

Podcast series navigation

  • Go To Series

    Bad Watchdog
  • Next Episode

    Bad Watchdog
    Bad Watchdog Episode 1: The Missing Text Messages
  • View All Episodes

Related Tags

    Accountability Civil Liberties Inspectors General Department of Homeland Security (DHS) January 6, 2021 Whistleblowers U.S. Secret Service

Related Content

  • Oversight

    DHS Watchdog Staff Call on Biden to Fire Inspector General Cuffari

  • Accountability

    Protecting the Predators at DHS

  • Oversight

    Missing: More January 6 Texts Sought by Congress

  • Oversight

    Did Whistleblower Reprisal Help Set the Stage for a January 6 Intelligence Failure?

Site Footer

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • Press Center
  • Contact Us
  • Careers
  • Briefing
  • Newsletters
  • Publications
  • Report Corruption
Better Business Bureau Accredited Charity CharityWatch Top Rated Charity Great Nonprofits 2021 Top-Rated Charity Navigator Four-Star Charity

©2023 POGO | Privacy Policy

Project On Government Oversight logo

Project On Government Oversight

Oversight in your inbox.