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 "missing weapons" ...
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Fast and Furious: Arizona Crime Ties
When Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was shot to death near the Arizona/Mexico border in December 2010, we quickly learned the guns found at the murder scene were linked to a controversial Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives case called Fast and Furious. Phoenix ATF agents testified in front of Congressional leaders about the flawed gun case and the strategy in which they knowingly allowed criminals to obtain deadly assault weapons. The agents admitted to watching straw buyers purchase weapons on behalf of criminals. The agents said they did nothing to stop the purchases or to track the guns in a meaningful way after they were purchased. As a result of the Fast and Furious case, approximately two thousand weapons went missing. They are presumed to be on the streets somewhere in the United States, near the border, or in Mexico. The agents' testimonies sparked a slew of Congressional hearings and a major shuffle within the leadership ranks of the ATF and other areas of the Department of Justice.
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Police Illegally Buying Machine Guns
"An ongoing, in-depth investigation, coupled with ongoing Freedom of Information litigation, of the secret, illegal purchase of dozens of machine guns by officers of the Albany, NY Police Department who used their agency's authority to buy automatic weapons for official use only as a means to acquire restricted firearms for personal sport and amusement. Eventually, the guns began turning up for sale in at least two gun stores. To this day, several machine guns remain missing and unaccounted for while the department refuses to comply with New York's FOI Laws and has fought disclosure of the truth at every turn."
Tags: police; weapons; fireams; FOI; city government; law enforcement; gun control
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Errant gun dealer, wary agents paved way for Beltway sniper tragedy
This story deals with the gun dealer that supplied John Muhammad, and Lee Boyd Malvo with the military weapon used in the sniper shootings. Law enforcement sources say Lee Boyd Malvo told investigators he shoplifted the gun from the Bulls Eye firing range. The store has no sales record, and can't produce records for scores of other missing guns. Bull's Eye's negligent operation and the government's timid enforcement of errant gun dealers contributed to the tragedy according to released documents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and numerous interviews with current and former agency employees .
Tags: sniper; Bull's Eye's firing range; Lee Boyd Malvo; John Muhammad; Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms; gun supplier; ATF; ATF National Tracing Center; Bulls Eye Shooter Supply; Pacific Shooters Supply; 1968 Gun Control Act; Federal Firearms License; National Rifle Association
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"Nuclear Security Problems: Los Alamos Lab Security"
CBS News reporters uncover security lapses in Los Alamos National Laboratory, a U.S. weapons laboratory. In some cases the labs failed to check visas and passports of foreign workers, even after the 9-11 attacks. Two former employees were fired after trying to expose acts of fraud and mismanagement within the labs. The reports also showed that a large number of equipment and supplies were "missing" and/or "stolen," many of which cost thousands or millions of tax dollars. Reporters also exposed a misappropriation of even more tax dollars as some employees were discovered to have spent millions on "questionable purchases" for VCRs, trips to the spa, and diamond rings. One employee who was trusted with a million dollar a month credit line charged a $30,000 custom Mustang to the government credit card, and received no penalty for her actions.
Tags: nuclear security problems; mismanagement; fraud; waste
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An Atomic Veteran's Story
From the contest questionnaire: "The series tells the story of Jim Lyerly, a sailor who took part in nuclear weapons testing in the 1950s." The Daily Press finds the government's official version, which claims Lyerly and his shipmates aboard the USS Walton "were exposed to only paltry amounts of radiation," is wrong. Other findings are that the government set radiation standards without regard to what is actually dangerous; atomic veterans with numbers of ailments were told they had not been sufficiently exposed to qualify for compensation; records of actual testing appeared to be missing.
Tags: Navy; health; atomic bombs; secret human tests; Camp Desert Rock; radioactivity
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Wall St.'s Soldier of Fortune
This story examines the fall from grace of Wall Street trader Kevin Ingram, who became implicated in a scheme involving allegations of money laundering and international arms dealing. There is concern by the government that some of the arms may have been destined for the Taliban.
Tags: Kevin Ingram; arms trade; weapons; Jon Corzine; Robert Rubin; Mohson; Malik; Taliban; Bin Laden; Deutsche Bank; Randy Glass; Goldman Sachs; TruMarkets; Jesse Jackson
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Explaining Terrorism
The Los Angeles Times provides explanations and warnings of the terror threat to the United States published before September 11, and further explanations and insights after the attacks about the methods and nature of the terror networks behind the attacks. Major findings include: the Millennium bomb plot aroused fears of sleeping terrorism cells in the U.S.; two months before the attacks reporters documents the high level of threat from sleeper cells throughout the West; after the attack the Times identified Mohammed Atta as the leader of the plot; a major terrorist threat was exposed in Western Europe and Bosnia; tied September 11 hijackers to the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole; foretold problems for Islamic charities; detailed the warnings authorities missed prior to September 11; discovered bin Laden's extensive use of aircraft and secret U.S. fears as early as 1996 that terrorists might use crop dusters as weapons.
Tags: terrorism; September 11th; 2001; Federal Bureau of Investigation; Central Intelligence Agency; terrorism threats; terrorism in Europe; Afghanistan; Osama bin Laden; Mohammed Atta; Millennium bomb plot
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Rideau Revisited
In a three-part series the Times of Acadiana examines the "long and peculiar career" of Wilbert Rideau, a local prisoner who was arrested and tried for the murder of Julia Ferguson in 1961. Rideau, a slender black boy at the time of his arrest has since then become an award-winning journalist and editor of the prison news magazine. In 2001 he is now facing a fourth trial. The problem is that most witnesses of the crime are dead and the murder weapons are missing, the Times reports. The series depicts the political and social climate of Louisiana in 1961 and Rideau's efforts toward rehabilitation.
Tags: crime; murder; robbery; corrections; capital punishment; death row; Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola; courts; judges; justice
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The case of the missing H-bomb
An In These Times investigation reveals that "the Pentagon has lost track of the mother of all weapons, a hydrogen bomb ... designed to incinerate Moscow." The article tells a 40-year old story of a training mishap, which resulted in dropping the bomb into the shallow waters of Warsaw Sound, near the mouth of the Savannah River. The reporter cites Pentagon's internal memos showing that the bomb has never been found, and that the military has recognized this as a potential threat. "There exists the possibility of accidental discovery of the uncovered weapon through dredging or construction in the probable impact area," states one of the memos. Other declassified documents, used in the story, reveal incidents with H-bombs accidentally dropped in foreign lands, which the Pentagon has covered up.
Tags: Air Force; radioactivity; uranium; plutonium; nuclear detonation; Palomares; Spain; Thule; Denmark; Defense Nuclear Agency; Pentagon; Foreign Military Claims Act
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A Good Thing Gone Bad (part 1 and 2)
Janet March was from a prominent Nashville family and married to a successful lawyer, Perry March. She was reported missing in the summer of 1996. Her husband emerged as the chief suspect in what investigators assumed was murder. No one was charged because there was no body, motive or murder weapon. The Scene was first to publish the police's theory about what happened to Janet March. Uncovering information missed by police, the paper also detailed the police's bungled investigation. The police had not interviewed key individuals like a crucial witness who was inside the March's house the day after Janet disappeared. Police failed to notice information Perry witheld, which would have made them suspicious.
Tags: None