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 "GAO" ...
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Imperial Life in the Emerald City
This book uses the Coalition Provisional Authority's Green Zone Headquarters in Baghdad to detail "the incompetence and arrogance that bedevilled the [American government's]effort to reconstruct and govern Iraq in the crucial first year after the fall of Saddam Hussein's government." Chandasekaran's sources included former CPA employees who had returned to the U.S. after sovereignty was re-established in Iraq.
Tags: Coalition Provisional Authority; CPA; Green Zone; Washington Post; FOIA; Department of Defense; DOD; Pentagon; Government Accountability Office; GAO; State Department; Ambassador Paul L. Bremer; Kurdish Regional Government; de-Baathification; U.S. Agency for International Development; USAID; Persian Gulf War; Sunni Tiangle; Abu Ghraib Prison; Paul Wolfowitz
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Project security: Indiana's WMD
This WISH investigation reveals the danger to the public from the 1,200 tons of VX stored at the Newport Chemical Weapons Depot in Indiana. The TV station uncovers a number of security lapses at the depot, questions the efficacy of the government's disaster plan, and exposes a number of lies by the U.S. Army regarding the safe destruction of the chemical.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; VX nerve agent; chemical weapons; weapons of mass destruction; WMD
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Amtrak security
This WPTV investigation shows security lapses at Amtrak. Passengers are allowed to board trains without showing identification. Unidentified luggage is brought aboard. General Accountability Office records added depth to the story while the undercover news team observed lapses first-hand.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; Amtrak; railroad security; terrorism; GAO; Department of Homeland Security
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"Millions Pledged to Fight Terrorism Unused" "Cities Grumble About Terror Money." "Report Questions Terror Spending."
"Federal homeland-security grants to first-responders are being spread so thinly that many small cities don't know how to spend it, while larger cities are going woefully underfunded. Our analysis showed that Des Moines, which is larger than any of Iowa's 98 outlying counties, got just $250,000 out of the first $28 million provided to the state. Some of the state's smallest counties - with the fewest critically important resources - are spending thousands of dollars on traffic cones and are getting equipment like ballistic helmets that Des Moines can't afford."
Tags: GAO; General Accounting Office; grants; terrorism; security; police
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"Whistle stop: Did Northwest Airlines try to muzzle a whistleblower?"
This story investigates the circumstances in which an airline mechanic was fired after reporting a series of safety violations to the FAA. By detailing the mechanic's plight through arbitration testimony, Department of Labor documents, GAO files and other public records, the story shows how industry lobbying and a relaxation of federal oversight have resulted in the "virtual elimination" of whistleblower protections for airline workers.
Tags: airlines; FAA; deregulation; union; transportation
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Someone to watch over me: How a flawed system fails the retarded and disabled
The Star-Ledger investigates the seven New Jersey state institutions for mentally retarded and autistic. The investigation uncovers a flawed system, struggling to meet the federal standards, and depicts dozens of helpless residents hurt by abuse and neglect. As New Jersey is one of the few states that still depend on large institutions, possible federal sanctions could cost the state millions in aid.
Tags: GAO report; group homes; developmental centers; deaths; understaffed; retarded; social workers; mentally retarded; developmentally disabled; state institutions; New Lisbon Developmental Center; Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services; inspection reports; database mapping project
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I.R.S. Reparations Scam
CBS investigates fraudulent refunds paid by the Internal Revenue Service to African Americans for the so-called "black investment tax." As many believed the tax was paying reparations for descendants of former slaves, filings more than doubled in less than two years. The story sheds light on the activities of "tax scammer" Vernon James, who helped hundreds of African Americans receive the black investment tax. A major finding, based on a GAO report, is that IRS lacks internal audits and pays out billions of erroneous or fraudulent refunds.
Tags: General Accounting Office (GAO); finances; minorities; crime; TAPE; TRANSCRIPT
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U.S. pads its arrest record on terrorism
A Philadelphia Inquirer investigative series reveals that the Department of Justice has overstated its record of arresting and convicting terrorists, inflating the numbers it gives Congress with crimes that have no connection to terrorism. Improperly labeled cases involve mostly erratic behavior by mentally ill or drunk people, the Inquirer reports. The Department invented a new crime category, "domestic terrorism," to apply to such cases. The inflated figures were needed to justify budget requests, according to government official quoted in the first story. The latest annual report by the Justice Department listed 236 terrorism convictions, but would not disclose any information about the cases.
Tags: law; September 11; FBI; CIA; statistics; intelligence; lawyers; attorneys; John Ashcroft; Senate; Congress; prosecutors; General Accounting Office (GAO)
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Nuclear Safety Fallout
Time follows up on a 1996 nuclear safety scandal at Northeast's Millstone Station in Waterford, Connecticut. The story describes how the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reacted to the scandal by becoming a more aggressive regulator. A major finding is that, despite appearances, little has changed: more than one hundred commercial regulators in the U.S. continue to operate in noncompliance with their NRC-approved designs.
Tags: safety; Ralph Nader; Critical Mass Energy Project; radioactive fuel; politics; GAO; whistleblowers; business; politics; corporate interests
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Dragged into Drug Court
Governing examines the effectiveness of drug courts that have been evolving over the past decade as special courts to deal with drug users. The article reveals that the vast majority of the drug courts studied "failed to track the status of the program participants after they left treatment" and "made no comparison of arrest rates of participants to nonparticipants after the conclusion of the treatment program." The story exposes the lack of recidivism rates throughout the country. The voices some judges' criticism that "drug courts are a waste of time and money" but also acknowledges a major advantage - that drug courts keep drug users out of incarceration and from continuing to use drugs, thus saving thousands of prison and jail days.
Tags: judges; courts; drug abuse; legislature; rehabilitation programs; treatment programs; Texas; California; Florida; GAO