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 "FBI Federal Bureau of Investigations" ...

  • The Informants

    In the package, "Terrorists for the FBI," Mother Jones exposed this pattern with in-depth pieces that drilled deep into what has become federal law enforcement's No. 1 priority. As a part of an 18-month investigation, reporter Trevor Aaronson pulled court documents of all 508 federal terrorism convictions since September 11, 2001, and interviewed everyone from undercover FBI informants to street agents, top bureau officials, and legal and terrorism experts. The investigation found that following 9/11, the FBI built a massive network of domestic informants -15,000 in all- many of them tasked with surveilling and infiltrating Muslim neighborhoods and institutions.

    Tags: FBI; informants; undercover; federal agents; terrorism

    By Trevor Aaronson

    Mother Jones

    2011

  • Sabotaging the System

    This story includes the “first confirmed account of a successful cyber attack against an electric utility company, resulting in major blackouts that lasted for days”. The electric grid not only supplies electricity but also keeps water, telephones, trains, and air traffic control up and running. Also in the U.S., government agencies, defense contractors, and banks are hacked everyday by foreign spy agencies.

    Tags: National Intelligence; Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); cyber security; Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); computers; technology

    By Steve Kroft; Graham Messick; Michael Karzis; Kevin Livelli; Warren Lustig

    CBS News 60 Minutes

    2009

  • Dallas Crime Stats

    “Dallas had the highest reported crime rate among cities with more than 1 million people”. Many people were worried with distinction, so the police came up with a better system to record and report these statistics. Now that Dallas isn’t known to have the highest reported crime rate, it has come to attention that the rates being presented to the public are creating “an artificial image of crime in Dallas”.

    Tags: law enforcement; Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Police Department; Uniform Crime Reporting guidelines; officers; misclassified cases; Police Chief David Kunkle

    By Steve Thompson; Tanya Eiserer

    Dallas Morning News

    2009

  • Rat Trap

    In the story, an FBI informant has been known to hound the targets of the investigation with money and gifts, but also “led them by the nose”. He has also “prodded, persuaded and cajoled the targets to advance plans to launder money supposedly used to purchase an anti-aircraft missile”. So this article brought up the FBI’s use of informants and the ethical lines crossed by some of them.

    Tags: Federal Bureau of Investigation; anti-American; violent; terrorists; corruption; Middle Eastern descent

    By Graham Rayman

    Village Voice (New York)

    2009

  • WAMU: Inside The Collapse

    It's October 2008: major banks are failing, Congress is bailing them out with taxpayer dollars. The public deserves to know how we got into the mess. ABC News Nightline's "Inside the Collapse" was first to expose a top-down, company-wide reckless lending strategy that led to the biggest bank failure in U.S. history: Washington Mutual Bank. Senior Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas got inside Washington Mutual's culture and uncovered what really went wrong using original reporting, an exclusive whistleblower interview, a video of a jubilant company party, exclusive internal company documents, former employee interviews and victim interviews. His piece, as well as a follow-up on World news with Charles Gibson and articles on ABCNews.com, caught the attention of law enforcement. Two days after the piece aired, federal prosecutors announced that because of "intense public interest" they were investigating the bank's activities with assistance from the FBI, FDIC, SEC and IRS. The story was widely reported in the national media in the following weeks.

    Tags: Washington Mutual; Securities and Exchange Commission; Internal Revenue Service; Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; FDIC; Federal Bureau of Investigation; economics

    By James Goldston; Pierre Thomas; David Scott; Beth Tribolet; Arash Ghadishah; Lauren Pearle

    ABC News

    2008

  • The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America

    This book is Bamford's latest expose' of the National Security Agency. Among his findings, Bamford reveals that the agency had been targeting the Yemeni home that served as Osama bin Laden's operations center prior to 9/11 but had never told the FBI that the al-Qaida terrorists were there. Bamford's book demonstrates an unparalleled ability to penetrate the most secretive of institutions.

    Tags: National Security Agency; NSA; al-Qaida; al-Qaeda; national security; 9/11; September 11; Pentagon; CIA; Central Intelligence Agency; secrecy; FBI; Federal Bureau of Investigation

    By James Bamford

    Doubleday Books

    2008

  • Wrongdoing in Wilmer-Hutchins

    Using a hidden camera and the unpaid help of a mold remediation expert, reporters at KDFW exposed severe problems with the Wilmer-Hutchins district high school. News cameras also caught the district using illegal immigrants instead of mold remediation specialists to repair building problems. The investigation also lead to the discovery of mismanagement and fraud in the school district's leadership and its financial records. As a result of this report, a state education agency audit followed, along with investigations by the FBI, IRS, U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour division, and the Federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Throughout the investigation, district officials denied any wrongdoing, refused to hand over documents, and were eventually charged with tampering with evidence in the federal investigations.

    Tags: standardized testing; bonds; mismanagement of funds; Wilmer-Hutchins school district

    By Rehan Hyder;Becky Oliver;Kim Miller;Shaun Rabb;Jeff Crilley;Phil Fleming;Rick Larsen;Kevin Bell;Steve Bellairs;Michael Tew;Steve Yakub;Mark Duval;Bill Sutton

    KDFW-TV (Dallas)

    2004

  • The Mafia bombings

    This series re-examines a wave of mob bombings that occurred in the late 1960s in Tucson. It reveals, for the first time, how the FBI cut short its investigation of a suspect with close ties to the bureau and used threats to discourage state and local police from investigating, citing national security concerns. The series includes the first press interview with the accused agent, breaking his silence of 35 years, and makes extensive use of FBI records previously undisclosed and police records that initially were said to have been destroyed.

    Tags: Mob; Mafia; Arizona bombings; Freedom of Information; FOIA; FBI; Federal Bureau of Investigation; Tucson bombings

    By Enric Volante

    Arizona Daily Star (Tucson, Ariz.)

    2004

  • CNN presents: Seeds of Terror

    CNN traces the roots of Al Qaeda to Southeast Asia, based on a terrorist plot that occurred in that region in 1995, which was a blueprint for what happened on September 11, 2001. With rare footage shot in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore, hundreds of intelligence documents and access to top-level sources throughout the region, this documentary shows how Al Qaeda has grown in power and influence, spreading through the region, gathering followers and executing some of the world's most violent terrorist plots.

    Tags: TAPE; terrorism; September 11; 9/11; 9-11; nine eleven; Al Qaeda; terrorist; plot; top secret; Indonesia; Malaysia; Philippines; Singapore; terror; attack; Southeast Asia; intelligence; government; agency; FBI; Federal Bureau of Investigations; CIA; Central Intelligence Agency; military; Islam; terrorist cell; Osama Bin Laden; cold war.

    By Maria Ressa;Ken Shiffman;Jess Liwanag;Kathy Quiano;Armand Sol;Scott McGhee;Conrado Palileo;René Santiago;Gino Bruno

    CNN (Atlanta)

    2003

  • McVeigh Papers

    CBS News reports on documents the FBI failed to turn over to McVeigh's defense team. The discovery of these documents led to a delay in McVeigh's execution.

    Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; Timothy McVeigh; Federal Bureau of Investigation; FBI

    By Jim Murphy;Jim Stewart;Mark Katkov

    CBS News

    2001