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 "General Accountability Office" ...
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Drug Under the Rug
A four-month investigation into the whereabouts of Athens County law enforcement agencies' seizures and forfeitures of items obtained during drug busts revealed that many, particularly the Sheriff, failed to report these items to the Attorney General's Office and could not account for the whereabouts of these items when questioned.
Tags: Drugs; drug busts; forfeitures
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"Tax Dollars to Dead Farmers"
Some farmers who have died during the last 20 years are still being paid. By comparing the "Farm Bill database" and the "Social Security Death Index," WFOR-TV found 234 deceased farmers in South Florida continue to receive taxpayer money through the U.S. Farm Bill. The amount still being paid is estimated to be $9.5 million.
Tags: Farm Aid; U.S. Farm Bill; U.S. Department of Agriculture; Environmental Working Group; General Accountability Office; Richard Wiles
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Pumps Under Pressure: A story of risk and reliability after Katrina
After Hurricane Katrina and the hurricane protection had failed, many people questioned how well the Army Corps had done their job. One of them questioning is a 10-year Army Corps veteran, Maria Garzino. "Her concerns have spurred internal inquires, General Accounting Office reports, and congressional hearings."
Tags: Engineering; New Orleans; Army Corps; Hydraulic; Hurricane
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Go Army or Go to Jail
The Commanding General over recruiting for the entire United States Army had made a promise to KHOU: the overly aggressive, even illegal tactics the station uncovered three years earlier would be corrected. The station believed him. Sadly, they discovered they were sorely mistaken. "Go Army or Go to Jail" is a follow-up story but it also broke new ground in the investigation. The investigators uncovered new and illegal tactics the Army uses to force unwilling teenagers to join its ranks and solve a new problem: the number of participants in something called the delayed entry program had dwindled to an all-time low. Some recruiters' solution? To bully, threatened and lie to teenagers and their families in hopes of making mission and meeting quota. Their findings spurred the station to search for and discover what some believe is the very root of Army recruiting abuses that have gone on for years. The investigation contends that the U.S. Army has, quite simply, ignored recommendation after recommendation from the investigative arm of Congress on how the Army could reform.
Tags: U.S. Army; recruiting; investigation; follow-up; Houston; Texas; U.S. Government Accountability Office
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CSAR-X: Rescue Chopper Requirements Sacrificed for Schedule and Rivalries
The U.S. Air Force violated its own procedures and guidelines to pick a new helicopter for its combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) fleet. The Air Force chose an aircraft that did not meet the rescuer's requirements because it was settling old rivalries and arbitrary deadlines.
Tags: special operations command; army; armed forces; government accountability office; Pentagon Inspector General;
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Ohio Attorney General: Price of Corruption
WBNS-TV (Columbus, Ohio) revealed a pattern of corruption inside the state's highest law enforcement office including cronyism, misuse of state funds and property, improper use of campaign funds, ethics violations and cover-up. The reporters found that the Attorney General had used campaign funds to rent a condominium for two of his friends/employees that was later tied to sexual harassment,alleged crimes involving state vehicles and the hub for cronyism. Their reporting revealed that the Attorney General created a "transition fund" as an unregulated 501 c4 non-profit account. Through law enforcement, the station learned that this fund funneled at least $2,000 in inappropriate payments to the Attorney General's friend/employee/condo-mate.
Tags: Ohio Attorney General's Office; corruption; 501 c4 non-profit; cronyism; abuse of public funds; misappropriation of funds; abuse of power
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The Red Team
"Nearly six years after 9/11, classified test results leaked to 9NEWs show Transportation Security Administration screeners at Denver International Airport failed to find about 80% of weapons, like bombs and liquid explosives, carried by federal undercover agents called the Red Team. Denver is just one of many airports nationwide that are failing the tests, according to the Dept. of Homeland Security's OIG and US Government Accountability Office."
Tags: airports; security; homeland security; transport security association; TSA; bombs; weapons; flight safety
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Shriners Hospitals for Children Investigation Series
Freelance reporter Sandy Frost investigated a tip from Shriner Vernon Hill that there were irregularities in the way the fraternal Shriners organization and the charitable Shriners organizations were handling their money and not complying with Standards For Charitable Accountability.
Tags: Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine AKA Shriners; Standards for Charity Accountability; 2001 Criminal Tax Manual; Hershel Gober; Philanthropic Research, Inc. AKA Guidestar.org; Second Avenue Partners; Mike Slade; Aquantive; Nick Hanauer; Shriners; Masons; Knights Templar; Royal Order of Jesters; National Sojourners Order of Quetzacoatl; Mike Severe, Imperial Officer, Shrine of America; compensation; real estate transactions; excessive benefit transactions; charitable donation fraud; HIPPA; Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002; Vernon Hill; Suite101.com; Paul Dolnier; 501c10 non profit fraternal corporation; 501c3 non profit charity; Better Business Bureau; Charity Watch Center; Pennsylvania's Charitable Special Investigation Unit; Internal Revenue Service; IRS; good old boy system; U.S. Senate Committee on Finance; whistleblower retaliation; Charles G. Cumpstone Jr., Potentate Stewart W. Lewis; Charities Review Council of Minnesota; Generally Accepted Accounting Principles; GAAP; Independent Sector; SLAPP: strategic lawsuits against public participation; Cabiri Royal Order of Scotland; International Order of Demolay
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The No-Fly List
CBS News reported that the No-Fly List, compiled after 9/11 to "prevent an Islamic terrorist who's associated with al-Queda from getting on a plane" is "incomplete, inaccurate, outdated, and a source of aggravation to thousands of innocent Americans." The version available to airport screeners is "sanitized of the most sensitive information", because "intelligence agencies that supply the names don't want them circulated to airport employees in foreign countries for fear that they could end up in the hands of terrorists." Before 9/11 the list had 16 names on it; after 9/11, the list grew to include 44 thousand names, not including an additional 75 thousand names on the additional security screening list. Now there's another list: names of people who have shouldn't be on the first list. You have to apply to get on that list. The list airport screeners see has no birth dates or physical descriptions. For the past three years, the TSA has spent about 144 million dollars to develop a program called Secure Flight-- it hasn't been implemented yet.
Tags: Department of Homeland Security; anti-war activists; Iraq; No-Fly List; wiretaps; FBI; Excel; heads-of-state; Transportation Security Administration; TSA; data dump; National Security News Service; Joe Trento; NSA; Zaccarias Moussaoui; FBI Terrorist's Screening Center; Donna Bucella; Dawud Salahuddin; David Belfield; Kip Hawley; Cathy Berrick; General Accounting Office; Secure Flight
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Welcom to Boondoggle Unified
" At L.A. Unified, the nation's second largest school district, Joe Santos worked at a construction company that had won a $10 million dollar seismic bracing project, despite no experience in seismic safety work. When Santos witnessed false claims, left his company and became a federal whistle blower, he was troubled to find that not only were the school district and FEMA reluctant to root out the fraud and waste he exposed; the District Attorney was willing to prosecute him on computer theft charges, even though key evidence had been tainted. The story exposed a vacuum of accountability between FEMA, its inspector general, the general, the school district and its facilities management division. Selective prosecution raised questions about priorities and methods within the L.A. District Attorney's Office."
Tags: earthquake; seismic protection; fraud; construction; school district; FEMA