Resource Center

Stories

The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast.

These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need.

Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:



Search results for "Defense Appropriations" ...

  • Feasting on the Spoils

    A biographical look at former U.S. Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham, one of the most corrupt members of Congress this nation has ever seen. Cunningham pleaded guilty to accepting more than $2.4 million in bribes that came from defense contractors in exchange for political favors.

    Tags: Defense Appropriations; House Intelligence Committee; Navy; CIA;

    By Seth Hettena

    St. Martin

    2007

  • Missile Defense: America's Costly Gamble

    Supporters of the Pentagon's planned missile defense system say that eventually it will be able to stop almost any type of missile, in any stage of flight. Cabbage's investigation found that those claims are still a long way from being realized. While some of the basic technology has been developed, the system still needs extensive testing and a lot of refinement. The military's current tests are not challenging enough; they're really just used to make it seem as if the technology is progressing. Partisan politics also have a part in the slow development of the technology and the lack of appropriate testing.

    Tags: missile; NASA; U.S. Strategic Command; defense; defense spending

    By Michael Cabbage

    Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.)

    2004

  • Hobson provides energy to get money flowing

    This story deals with campaign contributions for Republican Congressman David Hobson. In the first nine months of the last two year election cycle, he raised more than two and a half times the campaign cash he received during the same period in 2001. Numbers grew when he accepted a new chair for Energy and Water appropriations subcommittee. Hobson's appropriations clout grew 2.7 times with his new chair, meanwhile his campaign contributions increased by 2.6 times in the early going of this election cycle.

    Tags: Congressman David Hobson; energy and water appropriations committee; Kara Anastasio; campaign contributions; campaign committee; political action committee; PAC; Federal Elections Commission; Dayton Development Corporation; Wright-Patterson Air Force Base; Department of Defense; NASA

    By Ken McCall;Mei-Ling Hopgood

    Daily News (Dayton, Ohio)

    2003

  • If you cut our budget, we'll have to shoot this bear

    A Washingtonian investigation lists 30 strategies that lobbyists and agency officials use to save their programs from budget cutting. The we-are-a-bargain tactic, kids-will-suffer threat, and the explanation that unaffordable luxuries are actually wellsprings of technology, are among the most popular power plays, the magazine reports. The story describes the most time-honored defensive strategy of budgetary politics - the prediction that the most popular services would be the first to be sacrificed. Protection is provided also when the necessity of pandering to voters becomes especially crucial in times of coming elections. The article looks at the political games behind budget-cutting proposals, and reveals that, for example, Republicans' favorite target are programs introduced by President Clinton.

    Tags: Appalachian Regional Commission; budgets; appropriations; AmeriCorps; National Biological Service; spending; taxpayer money; NASA; Medicare; Medicaid; welfare; low-income programs; House; Senate

    By Larry Van Dyne

    Washingtonian

    1995

  • An Easy Out?

    National Journal looks at controversies surrounding the 13 annual appropriations bills in 2000. The story reveals internal conflicts in the Republican party, resulting from tax cuts and the fiscal belt-tightening that ensued. "The White House even threatened that Bush might veto spending bills written by his own party's congressional majority," the magazine reports. The article examines the spending allocations for the major House and Senate committees and subcommittees.

    Tags: education; defense; federal funds; budget; surplus; Democrats; Republicans; Tom Daschle; Congress

    By David Baumann

    National Journal

    2001

  • Exposing the Black Budget

    Wired magazine reports that "The Cold War is over. So why, Paul McGinnis wanted to know, are major CIA, NSA, and Department of Defense programs still being kept secret from Congress and US taxpayers?... The black budget is the government's illusory and tangled accounting of what it spends on intelligence gathering, covert operations, and - less noticeably - secret military research and weapons programs. It admits to no easy calculation, but by estimates of those who watch it, the black budget may hit US$30 billion a year - a figure larger than current federal expenditures for education."

    Tags: Central Intelligence Agency National Security Agency federal appropriations Pentagon Defense Intelligence Agency Central Imagery Office spy satellites

    By Phil Patton

    Wired Magazine

    1995

  • No title (id: 3649)

    Common Cause Magazine lists defense-company PAC contributions and honoraria fees given to each member of the House and Senate armed services committees and defense appropriations subcommittees during the past few years; also lists the top five defense contractors in each state and their total defense contract dollars in 1988, May/June, 1989.

    Tags: Cobb

    By None

    Common Cause Magazine (Washington, D.C.)

    1989