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Podcast Series Trailer: Bad Watchdog

Jan 18, 2023
Maren Machles

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.

If you enjoy Bad Watchdog, consider signing up for emails from the Project On Government Oversight to learn more about POGO’s mission and work. 

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.