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 "Sept. 11, 2001" ...
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September 11 Lax Loans
"The government's $5 billion effort to help small businesses recover from the Sept. 11 attacks was so loosely managed that it gave low-interest loans to companies that didn't need terrorism relief - or even know they were getting it."
Tags: September 11, 2001; loans; companies; Ground Zero;
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Nobody's Hero
This is an investigation into the Defense Department agency Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) and its unreliability in helping returned servicemen and women reclaim their jobs upon return from deployment in the Middle East. Since Sept. 11, 2001, more than 560,000 National Guard members and reservists have been deployed to the Middle East, "the largest mobilization of citizen-soldiers since World War II." But thousands of the more than 460,000 who have returned home after completing their service are finding that employers are reluctant to allow them to return to work. The reservists can seek help from federal agencies including the Departments of Labor, Justice, Defense and the Office of Special Counsel, but the "military brass strongly encourages the rank and file" to ask the ESGR for assistance. Yet ESGR is disorganized and does not always give helpful advice.
Tags: Military Reservists; Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve; formed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act; disenfranchised veterans; veterans' issues; nobody's hero
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Private Security in a Post-9/11 World
As the focal point of a study of the private guard industry in New York state, WNYC looks at Tristar Patrol Services, "which had seen a dramatic expansion after the September 11 attack in NYC, getting more than $80 million in contract work with the City of New York." The company had more than a thousand employees, mostly young minority males, and they had the task of protecting all of the city's office space, infrastructure and Fire Department facilities. The investigation found that Tristar's owner, Gary Zimmer, had been convicted of assault and had to resign as a police officer for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, yet attained the right to hold a security guard company license when a judge, believing the owner's misrepresentation of his criminal case, granted him an exemption from state law. In addition, there were other issues as Tristar "had been disqualified from doing state work for misrepresenting it had properly credentialed guards, but went on to win a multi-million dollar, multi-year City contract." The company failed to properly compensate guards, including not paying for vacation or advanced state security credentials, and Tristar also did not pay "hundreds of thousands of dollars it was required to pay the union representing the guards to cover union dues and health and welfare benefits required by the contract." But because of the New York Secretary of State's lack of investigators, regulations were not enforced. Also, there is no uniform requirement across the country for the training and qualifications for security guards and companies.
Tags: Private security; Sept. 11, 2001; Tristar Patrol Services; Gary Zimmer; New York City security
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Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA Torture Program
Author Stephen Grey investigates the "CIA covert rendition program," whish is the transfer of suspected terrorists into foreign custody. He discusses the program's history, how it operates and the North Carolina airline involved. He and others were able to look into the treatment of terror suspects, and through interview Grey found out the interviewees' belief that many prisoners might be tortured as a result of the program.
Tags: CIA; terror suspects; Sept. 11. 2001; Air America; CIA covert rendition program; Bush Administration
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Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America
Brigitte Gabriel is a former news anchor in the Middle East who is now based in Washington, D.C. The founder of American Congress For Truth, Gabriel writes this book as a cautionary tale, using her own experiences to make the point that radical Islam groups will continue to be a threat to the United States and its people.
Tags: Terrorism; Islam; radical Islam; religious extremists; Sept. 11, 2001; political correctness; Middle East
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Unsafe at Any Altitude
Authors Susan and Joseph Trento assert the failings of the government to protect U.S. citizens from terrorism before and after 9/11. This includes an "inept" Transportation Security Administration which is not receiving a proper no-fly list from federal agencies, relying on information from Saudi Arabia regarding al-Qaeda, and alliances with groups that are now adversaries, that helped lead to 9/11.
Tags: Terrorism; Transportation Security Administration (TSA); commercial airlines; no-fly list; a-Qaeda; Bush Administration; Sept. 11, 2001
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Burning Rainbow Farm: How a Stoner Utopia Went Up in Smoke
Tom Crosslin and Rollie Rohm were the owners of Rainbow Farm, a 52-acre campground and concert venue with the mission of advocating the legalization and decriminalization of marijuana. Their activities included holding events on the property, events at which attendees smoked marijuana and which trumpeted many uses for hemp. Though the two men did not sell or deal the drug, these activities drew the ire of the local Cass County, MI prosecutor, who began to focus efforts on getting Rainbow Farm shut down. Rohm's son was taken away from the two men, and a series of legal pushes by the police ended in a standoff at Rainbow Farm. In the end, FBI snipers shot and killed both men, who had burned Rainbow Farm to the ground in an act of protest. Author Dean Kuiper examines the buildup to the fateful standoff, and discusses what Rainbow Farm's purpose was in this book. Ironically, this story was widely reported in the Midwest before the events of Sept. 11, 2001 pushed it off the front page. Yet Kuiper stuck with it to produce this story.
Tags: Cannabis; hemp; marijuana; drug legalization; Ruby Ridge; Waco; Tommy Chong; stoner; FBI
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The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
Lawrence Wright examines the rise of terrorist organization al-Qaeda, and how the U.S. intelligence community was unable to check it. Sources included Arabic press, captured al-Qaeda documents, jihadis and members of U.S. and Saudi Arabian intelligence.
Tags: al-Qaeda; Osama Bin Laden; terrorist groups; extremists; hijacking; terroorist attacks; Sept. 11, 2001
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The Illusion of Homeland Security
"The series questioned the common assumptions that lawmakers, policy leaders and law-enforcement officials had a meaningful and strategic plan to fight and thwart terrorists in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The research done in these stories showed that U.S. Department of Homeland Security grants were not based on risk, but were distributed and spent like entitlements, often without a concerted plan. Furthermore, supposed successes by the U.S. Department of Justice in rounding up would-be terrorists were found to be trumped up once the facts behind the statistics were unearthed."
Tags: FOIA; terrorism; homeland security; defense; money; government grants; government spending
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Security fears at Newark Airport
This series of stories examines the security deficiencies at Newark Liberty International Airport, one of the three airports breached by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001. More than two years after Sept. 11, thousands of bags each day are not being scanned for explosives and security checkpoints remain seriously understaffed, the newspaper found. Subsequent stories revealed equipment problems, security lapses and significant employee absences by security personnel.
Tags: airport security; Newark Liberty International Airport; Sept. 11; TSA; Transportation Security Administration