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 "air marshal" ...
-
CBS News Investigates: Air Marshalls
CBS News discovered that the U.S. Air marshals are riddled with internal problems. CBS News obtained information that shows supervisors routinely discriminating and intimidating air marshals according to their race, gender and sexual orientation.
Tags: military; U.S. airplanes; discrimination; sexual discrimination; racism
-
Meet the Robinsons
The investigation found just 1 percent of commercial airlines carry armed federal air marshals, and cities most vulnerable include New York City and Washington, D.C. Air marshals who are critical of the Transportation Security Administration agreed to go on camera only in silhouette because of past retaliation by the agency - a fact well-documented in government whistle-blower reports.
Tags: Transportation Security Administration; air marshal; airline industry; Sept. 11; whistle-blower; watch list
-
Air Marshals: Undercover and Under Arrest
The Federal Air Marshal Service presents the image of an elite undercover force charged with making life-and-death decisions that demand sound judgment. ProPublica found that dozens of air marshals have been charged with crimes, including 18 felonies, and hundreds more have been accused of misconduct. Cases include smuggling drugs past airport security, aiding a human trafficking ring, child sex abuse, bribery, drunken driving, domestic violence, holding an escort against her will during an overnight layover, solicitation to commit murder and voyeurism after one air marshal was caught taking photos of women's genitals on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
Tags: air marshals; Transportation Safety Agency; human trafficking; child sex abuse; drunken driving; domestic violence; criminal convictions
-
Policing the Air Marshals
"The Federal Air Marshal Service presents the image of an elite undercover force charged with making life and death decisions that demand sound judgment. ProPublica found that dozens of federal air marshals have been charged with crimes, including 18 felonies, and hundreds more have been accused of misconduct."
Tags: military; air marshals; corruption; loose hiring practices; felonies; criminal records
-
Marshall Plant State's Top Mercury Polluter
The PPG Industries Chemical Plant in Natrium, Marshall County, "is West Virginia's largest source of mercury, a toxic metal that can poison the brain and is especially dangerous to children and developing fetuses." Reports filed with the Environmental Protection Agency reveal the plant "emit[s] more than 1,200 pounds of mercury into the air." The plant pumps salty water "through vats of pure mercury" to make chlorine and "only nine U.S. plants still use this 111-year-old process."
Tags: mercury; chlorine; toxic chemicals; chemical plants; West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection; Environmental Protection Agency; EPA; PPG Industries
-
Failure In the Sky
20/20 and ABC News report on the "fatally flawed" air marshal system, even getting an air marshal to speak, undisguised and on the record. The marshals are intended to be anonymous, but the marshal, Spencer Pickard, notes the rules for the air marshals include staying in the same hotels, a dress code that prohibits jeans and sneakers, and "airport boarding procedures that force air marshals to identify themselves as passengers watch." These rules can compromise their anonymity, and render them targets for terrorists rather than the hidden lawmen they are intended to be. The story resulted in a review of policy by the Federal Air Marshal Service, and an eventual relaxing of the dress code and hotel policy. But a solution regarding the boarding procedures is still pending.
Tags: Federal Air Marshal Service; terrorism; plane hijacks; air marshals; security; airport and airline security
-
Federal Air Marshals; System Failure
An exposed look at the public safety failures inside the Federal Air Marshal service. Some current and former air marshals that were interviewed said that "any diligent terrorist organizations could easily identify and single out flying federal air marshals under current regulations."
Tags: air marshal; airport security; terminal; national security;
-
The Columbia Disaster
These stories are about the Columbia space shuttle accident. They include pieces on the frequency and severity of foam impacts on previous shuttles;a story that Columbia mission engineers had been worried about possible damage by the foam strike but had been dismissed by their superiors; reporting on the behind-the-scenes debate over whether to seek imagery of the damage and about the inadequacies of the efforts to try to predict damage; a story on how accident investigating board members were being paid by NASA in order to get around federal-open meeting requirements; and a look at 6 other chronic shuttle problems that have been accepted as "normal" by NASA engineers, just as foam was accepted.
Tags: Columbia Space Shuttle; NASA; accident investigation; foam; Columbia mission; NASA engineers; Columbia Accident Investigation Board; engineering reports; astronauts; Mission Control; Challenger; Edwards Air Force Base; Atlantis; Endeavor; Discovery; Marshall Space Flight Center; insulation; debris; tiles; United Space Alliance; wing failure
-
Investigative Series into Air Marshal
Air Marshal's were pulled out of key flights to cut down expenses on overnight stay. Later Air Marshals were reinstated on international and cross-country flights.
Tags: Air Marshal; September 11; 2001; Patriot Act; Homeland Security; Hijack
-
Fire Trucks
This story uncovers dangerous conditions within the Detroit Fire Department, including fire trucks that can't pump water, trucks with rescue ladders that do not work and can't raise into the air, broken sirens, and failing brakes. Reporters take a secret fire truck graveyard where maintenence workers say they are ordered to canabilize parts from thirty-year-old trucks to use on fire trucks currently on the streets fighting fires.
Tags: TAPE