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 "US Federal Agents" ...

  • Need to Know: Crossing the Line at the Border Parts 1 & 2

    Few, if any, pieces published or broadcast in 2012 had as much impact as “Crossing the Line at the Border,” a joint project of the weekly PBS newsmagazine, “Need to Know,” and the Nation Institute that was in the best tradition of American investigative journalism. Within days of its broadcast, 16 members of Congress demanded that the U.S. Justice Department investigate the killing of Anastasio Hernandez Rojas, a 42-year-old Mexican whose death at the hands of U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents was detailed in our report. A few months later, a U.S. attorney in convened a federal grand jury. It is currently considering criminal charges in the case. And months after that, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the incident had prompted it to launch a full-scale review of its use of force. Hernandez Rojas had a fatal heart attack shortly after being subdued by agents, beaten, and shot with a Taser gun at the San Ysidro border crossing on May 28th, 2010. His death was largely ignored until the "Need to Know” team, in partnership with the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute, unearthed never-before-seen eyewitness video of the incident.

    Tags: U.S. Justice Department; border; killing; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Taser

    By John Larson; Brian Epstein; John Carlos Frey; Judith Starr Wolff; Alexandra Nikolchev; Esther Kaplan; Irene Francis; Brenda Breslauer; Scott Davis; Stephen Segaller; Neal Shapiro

    WNET-TV (New York)

    2012

  • RGJ: ATF/US Attorney Rift

    A months-long Reno Gazette-Journal investigation found that after Reno’s chief U.S. Attorney told local ATF agents that her office would not prosecute their cases until certain unnamed “issues” were resolved, most of the agents transferred to new jobs outside Nevada, leaving Reno vulnerable to gun violence. The investigation found that the federal prosecutors dismissed or refused more than a dozen cases involving violent criminals. The RGJ probe also revealed that dozens of people who bought guns and later failed background checks were allowed to keep the guns because the rift emptied the Reno ATF office of the very agents who are tasked with retrieving those guns. The RGJ series led to an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and an independent review of the dropped cases. It also sparked Congressional action.

    Tags: Department of Justice; guns; gun violence

    By Martha Bellisle; Reno Gazette

    Reno Gazette-Journal

    2012

  • Gunwalkers

    CBS News broke and developed the story of the Gunwalker Scandal. US Federal agents covertly helped deliver thousands of assault rifles and other weapons to killer Mexican Drug Cartels.

    Tags: Drug Cartels; Federal Agents; Gunwalker Scandal; US Federal Agents; CBS News; Drug Cartels

    By Sharyl Attkinson; Chris Scholl; Bill Piersol; Kim Skeen; Matt Tureck; Patricia Shevlin; Matt Tureck; Batt Humphreys

    CBS News

    2011

  • Gunwalker

    A story uncovering how U.S. federal agents covertly helped deliver thousands of assault rifles and other weapons to killer Mexican drug cartels.

    Tags: smuggling; guns; weapons; mexico; drug cartels; federal agents;

    By Sharyl Attkisson; Chris Scholl; Kim Skeen; Matt Tureck

    CBS News

    2011

  • The Lizard King

    "The Lizard King is the story of wildlife smuggling from the perspective of both the smuggler and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents assigned to stop it."

    Tags: reptile; lizard; king; smuggler; federal; customs;

    By Bryan Christy

    Twelve Publishers (New York, N.Y.)

    2008

  • 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

    By Deborah Sherman

    KUSA-TV (Denver)

    2007

  • Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the Steroids scandal that Rocked Professional Sports

    San Francisco Chronicle reporters broke the story that some elite athletes used drugs to "run faster, hit harder, and cash in on the fame that comes only to those at the very top of their games." Fainaru-Wada and Williams used"Federal Grand Jury transcripts and federal investigative reports... court records and state health department records," among other documents. (332 pages)

    Tags: steroids; drugs; BALCO; Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative; San Francisco Chronicle; Victor Conte; Major League Baseball; football; track and field; California Public Records Act; Federal Grand Jury; sports agents; trainers; sports doping; Olympics; Justice Department; IRS; U.S. Anti-Doping Agency; USADA

    By Mark Fainaru-Wada; Lance Williams

    Book

    2006

  • Pittsburgh Terror Plot

    In October 2001, it was made known that Pittsburgh was on a list of seven US cities cited as possible targets for terrorism. The WTAE-TV investigation confirmed with sources inside the US Justice Department that in the days following the attacks of 9/11, American intelligence agents in Hamburg, Germany, discovered plans for a possible Al Qaida assault in Pittsburgh. The target was the US Post Office and Courthouse in Pittsburgh.

    Tags: Federal Bureau of Investigation; United States Marshal; United States Coast Guard; Al Qaida; United States Post Office and Courthouse in Pittsburgh

    By Jim Parsons;Kendall Cross;Michael Lazorko

    WTAE-TV (Pittsburgh)

    2004

  • Terrorist tentacles know no boundaries

    The U.S. government believes that the Columbia, Missouri based Islamic African Relief Agency helped finance bin Laden and other terrorists. Federal agents seized the charity's office in October 2004. The Kansas City Star diagrammed the summary the U.S. Treasury created to support its allegations against the IARA. Some points include: at least eight connections between IARA and Osama bin Laden, his organizations or the Taliban; two connections to Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist organization whose suicide bombings ravaged life in Israel; connections to three other groups that long have been designated as terrorist organizations by federal authorities. The piece also contains a map of IARA funding worldwide in an attempt to track the money.

    Tags: Islamic African Relief Agency; Osama bin Laden; Hamas; Taliban; Social Network Analysis; CAR

    By Mark Morris;Jaimi Dowdell;Aaron Kessler

    Star (Kansas City, Mo.)

    2004

  • Justice at Stake

    "In July 2003, a Mississippi Supreme Court justice, his former wide, two former lower court judges and a prominent trial lawyer were indicted on federal bribery and fraud charges after a more than yearlong investigation. The Sun Herald found out the at an FBI agent was removed from the investigation when he wanted to investigate the financial ties between famed tobacco lawyer Richard 'Dickie' Scruggs and several judges. Scruggs is one of the richest men in Mississippi and is the brother - in - law of US Sen. Trent Lott.

    Tags: None

    By Margaret Baker;Tom Wilemon;Beth Musgrave

    Sun Herald

    2003