Podcasts about project on government oversight

Joe Spielberger is the policy counsel for the Effective and Accountable Government team at the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), where he advocates in Congress and the executive branch to strengthen whistleblower rights, protect a merit based civil service, and promote government ethics and transparency. We discuss how government can be transparent and accountable to us, the People.    All Americans need to be confident that federal employees are hired based on their qualifications and not because of their partisan political ideology. In retaliation to the whistleblower on Trump's phone call with Ukrainian president Zelensky, Trump signed Schedule F, an executive order that could have allowed a complete purge of the civil service of nonpartisan career civil servants. Because whistleblower retaliation is rampant, protecting whistleblowers and civil servants is one of the best ways to protect the public from harm. The Supreme Court does not have a binding code of ethics because the Supreme Court refuses to adopt one. However, Congress has clear and direct mechanisms to hold the Supreme Court accountable and can pass legislation that would implement a binding code of ethics.  Follow Joe on X:  https://x.com/jdspielberger    Follow Project on Government Oversight on X:  https://x.com/POGOwatchdog    Follow Mila on X:  https://x.com/milaatmos    Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/   Sponsor:  Thanks to Shopify for supporting Future Hindsight! Sign up for a $1/month trial at shopify.com/hopeful.   Love Future Hindsight? Take our Listener Survey!  http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=6tI0Zi1e78vq&ver=standard    Take the Democracy Group's Listener Survey! https://www.democracygroup.org/survey   Want to support the show and get it early?  https://patreon.com/futurehindsight    Check out the Future Hindsight website!  www.futurehindsight.com   Read the transcript here:   https://www.futurehindsight.com/episodes/protect-whistleblowers-joe-spielberger  Credits:  Host: Mila Atmos  Guest: Joe Spielberger Executive Producer: Mila Atmos Producer: Zack Travis

For the past few episodes, Maren has explored the reality of immigration detention, uplifting the conditions in Department of Homeland Security (DHS) centers where thousands are held under the presumption that they may be threats to national security. In the season finale of Bad Watchdog, we return to where we started, with the DHS's counterterrorism mission. Maren breaks down the current landscape of terrorism in the United States, where the most dangerous threat isn't posed by those who've crossed our borders illegally, but by homegrown, far-right, violent extremists. And, as Maren learns, domestic violent extremism isn't just a problem across the country — it's a problem in DHS's own ranks as well. Domestic terrorism experts Daryl Johnson and Alejandro Buetel walk Maren through the rise of far-right violent extremism in the U.S. and interrogate whether DHS is taking the threat seriously. Maren discusses both shortfalls and potential solutions for how DHS could address far-right violent extremism with the Brennan Center for Justice's Liberty's Spencer Reynolds. POGO Senior Investigator Nick Schwellenbach shares his investigation into just how many Oath Keepers are or were employed at DHS. And Maren connects with people who are working to make this broken system more humane, including activists Arely Westley and Berto Hernandez, Las Americas Director of Cross-Border Strategies Crystal Sandoval, former POGO Senior Researcher Freddy Martinez, and POGO Senior Paralegal Lance Sims. To report waste, fraud, or abuse in the federal government, please visit us at https://www.pogo.org/send-us-a-tip. If you enjoy Bad Watchdog, sign up for emails from the Project On Government Oversight to learn more about POGO's mission and work. Bad Watchdog is a member of the Airwave Media network and a part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

Content note: This episode discusses suicide and sexual violence. After a years-long legal fight from the Department of Homeland Security, a court order finally gave Nick and other investigators access to 33 reports detailing conditions in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities. The documents showed a disturbing pattern of abuse that extended far beyond the gates of Adelanto Detention Center, spreading throughout ICE detention facilities across the United States. In this episode, Maren gets into the conditions in ICE detention and raises the question: What needs to change for this broken system to be fixed? Maren breaks down the reports with POGO's Senior Investigator Nick Schwellenbach and former Senior Researcher Freddy Martinez. She talks with activists Berto Hernandez and Arely Westley about their experiences of the conditions in ICE detention, and she visits a Louisiana airport with LA-AID volunteer Sarah Jones to meet people who were recently released from ICE facilities. Finally, to untangle just how immigration policy became entwined with counterterrorism — and how we can fix it — Maren talks with POGO's Katherine Hawkins, the Brennan Center for Justice's Spencer Reynolds, and The Ohio State University Professor César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández. If you enjoy Bad Watchdog, sign up for emails from the Project On Government Oversight to learn more about POGO's mission and work. Bad Watchdog is a member of the Airwave Media network and a part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

The Department of Homeland Security is a very large, very powerful federal agency. It's also extremely secretive. Who monitors the agency and holds it accountable the actions it takes as part of its mission to protect the homeland? In this episode, Maren explains how hard it is just to access information about conditions in DHS detention facilities. She breaks down the ways agencies like DHS withhold information from the public — and how journalists and advocates fight back. And she explains how transparency has always been an issue at DHS, detailing how the post-9/11 push to create an agency dedicated to counterterrorism raised lawmakers' concerns about accountability, civil rights, and civil liberties at its founding.  POGO Senior Paralegal Lance Sims walks Maren through the five-year — and, at times, absurd — legal fight to get DHS to release reports documenting abuses and poor conditions in its detention centers. Former POGO Senior Researcher Freddy Martinez examines the larger pattern these reports revealed, and what that pattern indicated about systemic issues in DHS detention facilities. If you enjoy Bad Watchdog, sign up for emails from the Project On Government Oversight to learn more about POGO's mission and work. Bad Watchdog is a member of the Airwave Media network and a part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

This episode discusses suicide and recounts an incident in which a homophobic slur was used.  Maren follows the story of Berto Hernandez, who recounts their detainment at ICE's Adelanto Detention Center and the treatment and conditions they faced inside. But when people in detention are mistreated, where can they turn for help? Experts from the Department of Homeland Security's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) investigate complaints involving ICE's detention facilities, then file reports on their findings and recommendations. Maren breaks down POGO's investigation into three of these expert reports — and their disturbing findings regarding Adelanto's overuse of solitary confinement. Maren talks with Berto, who shares how the conditions in Adelanto affected them and how they grew determined to fight for their release. POGO Senior Investigator Nick Schwellenbach delves into his investigation into CRCL's reports, what those findings revealed about the problems at Adelanto, and the upcoming obstacles to get more reports out of the Department of Homeland Security. If you enjoy Bad Watchdog, sign up for emails from the Project On Government Oversight to learn more about POGO's mission and check out our website for our full Bad Watchdog archive. Bad Watchdog is a member of the Airwave Media network and a part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

Established in the wake of September 11, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was entrusted with protecting the U.S. from national security threats. Since then, much of the agency's focus has been on the southern border — with tens of thousands of people held in its detention centers on a daily basis. Host Maren Machles explores how this came to be and delves into what happens to people held in immigration detention centers with the presumption that they may be national security threats. And she asks the question: How does this relate to the way DHS addresses the most dangerous threat currently facing our nation — far-right violent extremism? To find out, Maren talks with Daryl Johnson, who recounts his work as the former lead analyst for domestic terrorism at DHS. She also speaks with Alejandro Beutel, a criminologist who focuses on domestic terrorism, and Berto Hernandez, who shares their story of being brought into the U.S. as a child and held in detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement years later. If you enjoy Bad Watchdog, sign up for emails from the Project On Government Oversight to learn more about POGO's mission and work. Bad Watchdog is a member of the Airwave Media network and a part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

Host Maren Machles learns more about people's experiences in ICE detention by talking with formerly detained activist Berto Hernandez and traveling to El Paso, Texas, to hear directly from people who were recently released from ICE facilities. She explores how immigration laws and one anti-terrorism law from the 1990s influenced the current political landscape and helped create the conditions that led to the mass detention of migrants. And she unpacks an exclusive POGO investigation that reveals ICE's dangerous overreliance on solitary confinement. To dig into what it's really like interacting with ICE, Maren talks with Berto Hernandez, Ouderwuil Esteban Marval Rivas, Joseph Olivas, and Diego Andres. She learns how activists are trying to help by meeting up with Las Americas Director of Cross Border Strategies Crystal Sandoval. Law professor César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, from The Ohio State University, breaks down how government policies altered today's political landscape, and POGO Senior Investigator Nick Schwellenbach outlines his investigation on solitary confinement in ICE detention.  If you enjoy Bad Watchdog, sign up for emails from the Project On Government Oversight to learn more about POGO's mission and work. Bad Watchdog is a member of the Airwave Media network and a part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

In the wake of 9/11, and in fear of another attack, members of Congress agreed to create a powerful new agency, the Department of Homeland Security. Now, more than 20 years later, the agency has exploded in size. It's doubled down on detaining immigrants — sometimes in horrifying conditions. This summer, the Project On Government Oversight's investigative podcast Bad Watchdog returns, with a new season focused on DHS. Host Maren Machles talks with people caught up in DHS detention, with advocates, investigators, and others sounding the alarm. Delving into POGO's investigations of the agency, she asks: How did we get to a point where every undocumented person is seen as a possible national security threat? And what does that viewpoint cost us all? If you enjoy Bad Watchdog, sign up for emails from the Project On Government Oversight to learn more about POGO's mission and work. Bad Watchdog is a member of the Airwave Media network and a part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

With the complaints about redacted documents leading to starting this new year with unsealing names in a Jeffrey Epstein case, Chelsea and I talk about the practice of redactions.A lot of sensitive information must be redacted for the public to access court filings without endangering innocent people. But, can people and entities with power go too far?Are we seeing a lot of excessive redactions to protect the guilty rather than the innocent?The Bible teaches about divine redactions for those who believe the gospel. The finally wicked, however, will face the greatest unsealing of information in history!Sources Cited:Cambridge Dictionary, s.v. "redact (n.)," accessed January, 7, 2013."What does redacted mean in law?" One Legal, August 11, 2023."Federal Court Redaction Rules, Legal Compliance," CaseGuard, February 19, 2021.Nick Schwellenbach and Sean Moulton, "The 'Most Abused' Freedom of Information Act Exemption Still Needs to Be Reined In," Project On Government Oversight, February 6, 2020."Classified or Coverup? The Effect of Redactions on Conspiracy Theory Beliefs," Cambridge University Press, August 1, 2016.Marc Caputo, "'What are they hiding?': Group sues Biden and National Archives over JFK assassination records," NBC, October 19, 2022.Scriptures Referenced:Numbers 32:23Psalm 51:9-10Colossians 2:14Ecclesiastes 12:14Matthew 12:36-37*** Castle Rock Women's Health is a pro-life and pro-women health care ministry. They need your help to serve the community. Please consider a monthly or one-time donation. ***We value your feedback!Have questions for Truthspresso? Contact us!

With the complaints about redacted documents leading to starting this new year with unsealing names in a Jeffrey Epstein case, Chelsea and I talk about the practice of redactions. A lot of sensitive information must be redacted for the public to access court filings without endangering innocent people. But, can people and entities with power go too far? Are we seeing a lot of excessive redactions to protect the guilty rather than the innocent? The Bible teaches about divine redactions for those who believe the gospel. The finally wicked, however, will face the greatest unsealing of information in history! Sources Cited: Cambridge Dictionary, s.v. "redact (n.)," accessed January, 7, 2013. "What does redacted mean in law?" One Legal, August 11, 2023. "Federal Court Redaction Rules, Legal Compliance," CaseGuard, February 19, 2021. Nick Schwellenbach and Sean Moulton, "The 'Most Abused' Freedom of Information Act Exemption Still Needs to Be Reined In," Project On Government Oversight, February 6, 2020. "Classified or Coverup? The Effect of Redactions on Conspiracy Theory Beliefs," Cambridge University Press, August 1, 2016. Marc Caputo, "'What are they hiding?': Group sues Biden and National Archives over JFK assassination records," NBC, October 19, 2022. Scriptures Referenced: Numbers 32:23 Psalm 51:9-10 Colossians 2:14 Ecclesiastes 12:14 Matthew 12:36-37 *** Castle Rock Women's Health is a pro-life and pro-women health care ministry. They need your help to serve the community. Please consider a monthly or one-time donation. *** We value your feedback! Have questions for Truthspresso? Contact us!

With the complaints about redacted documents leading to starting this new year with unsealing names in a Jeffrey Epstein case, Chelsea and I talk about the practice of redactions.A lot of sensitive information must be redacted for the public to access court filings without endangering innocent people. But, can people and entities with power go too far?Are we seeing a lot of excessive redactions to protect the guilty rather than the innocent?The Bible teaches about divine redactions for those who believe the gospel. The finally wicked, however, will face the greatest unsealing of information in history!Sources Cited:Cambridge Dictionary, s.v. "redact (n.)," accessed January, 7, 2013."What does redacted mean in law?" One Legal, August 11, 2023."Federal Court Redaction Rules, Legal Compliance," CaseGuard, February 19, 2021.Nick Schwellenbach and Sean Moulton, "The 'Most Abused' Freedom of Information Act Exemption Still Needs to Be Reined In," Project On Government Oversight, February 6, 2020."Classified or Coverup? The Effect of Redactions on Conspiracy Theory Beliefs," Cambridge University Press, August 1, 2016.Marc Caputo, "'What are they hiding?': Group sues Biden and National Archives over JFK assassination records," NBC, October 19, 2022.Scriptures Referenced:Numbers 32:23Psalm 51:9-10Colossians 2:14Ecclesiastes 12:14Matthew 12:36-37*** Castle Rock Women's Health is a pro-life and pro-women health care ministry. They need your help to serve the community. Please consider a monthly or one-time donation. ***We value your feedback!Have questions for Truthspresso? Contact us!

A 2015 membership roll for the Oath Keepers, a violent, anti-government extremist group, included hundreds of current or former employees of the Department of Homeland Security. That's according to a leaked document reviewed by the Project On Government Oversight. Since the creation of the document, members of the Oath Keepers, including its founder Steward Rhodes, have been convicted of seditious conspiracy and other offenses related to the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. Any connection between this extremist group and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is obviously disturbing — especially considering the department's role in fighting domestic terrorism. And this list may just be the tip of the proverbial iceberg. An internal study found that “significant gaps” have impeded the department's ability to “respond to potential threats related to domestic violent extremism within DHS.” On this episode of The Continuous Action, Virginia Heffernan and Walt Shaub sound the alarm. POGO senior investigator Nick Schwellenbach joins them to share the findings of his investigation into the troubling ties between extremists and the government agencies responsible for protecting the public. For transcript and show notes, visit pogo.org/podcasts/the-continuous-action Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Continuous Action will return for a second season in the spring of 2023. In the meantime, check out the Project On Government Oversight's newest podcast, Bad Watchdog.Bad Watchdog is about what happens when the watchdog tasked with overseeing the most powerful law enforcement agency in the country doesn't do its job. In a six-part series, host Maren Machles and investigative reporters from the Project On Government Oversight uncover a shocking pattern of misconduct at the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, which resulted in a failure to investigate some of the most troubling events in recent history. Listen to Bad Watchdog wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more at pogo.org/podcasts/bad-watchdog Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How did a peaceful transfer of power devolve into the first breach of the U.S. Capitol in over two centuries? Deleted Secret Service text messages may hold important answers about what happened on January 6, 2021, but Homeland Security watchdog Joseph Cuffari failed to inform Congress for months they were missing. What's more, Cuffari refused a request to help recover the text messages, and he halted an internal Secret Service investigation into their deletion. Government watchdogs, called inspectors general, are supposed to hold powerful actors accountable. When they don't do their jobs, the impacts can be disastrous. Investigators at the Project On Government Oversight examine Cuffari's initial response to the missing Secret Service text messages and explore his abrupt change of course after a former White House aide gave shocking testimony about then-President Trump's actions on January 6th.For transcript and show notes, visit pogo.org/podcasts/bad-watchdog Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Government watchdogs don't normally make the evening news. But when Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari failed to alert Congress for months that Secret Service agents deleted text messages after January 6, he was thrust into the national spotlight. And it turns out there was a lot more that he was covering up. In a new six-part podcast, investigators from the Project On Government Oversight explore what happens when a man appointed to protect the people from fraud and abuse decides instead to protect the very agency he should be investigating. This is Bad Watchdog. For transcript and show notes, visit pogo.org/podcasts/bad-watchdog Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Maybe they should call it Schedule Z. It keeps coming up like a Zombie. The idea that a certain level of career civil servant should be more easily dismissible. It was proposed by the Trump administration, rescinded by the Biden administration, and now Congress is debating killing it legislatively. With more on the case for the ban, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with Joe Spielberget, the policy counsel at the Project on Government Oversight (POGO).

Former President Donald Trump's Schedule F executive order is long-rescinded, but its supporters continue to bring up its ghost in the guise of accountability for bad federal employees. While the House-passed Preventing a Patronage System Act  and a similar, though stalled, Senate plan both would work against similar policies, the threat of a patronage-style civil service system remains. Joe Spielberger is policy counsel at the Project On Government Oversight and the author of an op-ed in the Hill headlined  “Congress must protect the nation from a politicized civil service.” He joined the podcast to discuss his op-ed and the future of Schedule F-style policy.   *** Follow GovExec on Twitter! https://twitter.com/govexec

So who's watching the watchdogs? - Inspectors general occasionally fail in the exercise of good conduct or exemplary leadership. When they do, there is a special committee of the Council of Inspectors General that is supposed to take action. Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with someone -- Joanna Derman, policy analyst at the Project on Government Oversight --who argues that the committee, known as the Integrity Committee, has fallen short of is responsibilities.

The prices of spare parts have long been a bugaboo for the military. Now the Senate version of the 2023 defense authorization bill (NDAA) contains something called a Progress-Payment Incentive Pilot program. For how it works and what the benefits would be, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with Julia Gledhill, a defense analyst with the Project on Government Oversight or POGO.

The prices of spare parts have long been a bugaboo for the military. Now the Senate version of the 2023 defense authorization bill (NDAA) contains something called a Progress-Payment Incentive Pilot program. For how it works and what the benefits would be, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with Julia Gledhill, a defense analyst with the Project on Government Oversight or POGO.

Federal inspectors general are a vital conduits to let Congress and the rest of us know when agencies or public officials have taken a wrong turn. But their work is quite a bit less useful when no one can read it. The House has included several measures intended to increase I-G transparency in its versions of the 2023 appropriations bills, many of them at the urging of the Project on Government Oversight. Joanna Derman is a policy analyst at POGO. She talked with Federal News Network's Jared Serbu about some of those recommendations.

Some $339 million, set aside for small business, went to some of the largest defense contractors, in a single year. That's according to the Project on Government Oversight. POGO reviewed spending patterns of the Defense Logistics Agency, under its Special Operational Equipment Tailored Logistics Support program. The Federal Drive got details from POGO's senior investigator, Nick Schwellenbach.

We now know, with ever-mounting evidence, that pandemic relief spending resulted in hundreds of billions of dollars in wasted spending. The same could happen with infrastructure spending unless agencies tighten up their oversight. That's the view of Project on Government Oversight senior policy analyst Sean Moulton.

In Episode 5 of The Continuous Action, hosts Walt Shaub and Virginia Heffernan sound a dire warning about the largest law enforcement agency in the country, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). While most people think of the agency as having limited reach, two-thirds of Americans live within CBP jurisdiction. It's also one of the country's least transparent — and least accountable — law enforcement agencies. This episode's guests explain how this highly militarized agency came to prioritize stopping border crossings over protecting human life. They explore the culture of impunity for CBP agents that has led to tragic consequences for civilians they encounter, often far from the eyes of supervisors and witnesses. And, as always, they come with recommendations for action. Vicki Gaubeca, director of the Southern Borders Community Coalition, and Nick Schwellenbach, senior investigator for POGO, help us understand the problem from both outside and within the agency. And Sarah Turberville, director of The Constitution Project at POGO, shares a powerful oversight agenda for reining in this rogue agency. The Continuous Action is sponsored by The Project On Government Oversight. Stay tuned on the latest from POGO: pogo.org/subscribeFor show notes, visit: pogo.org/series-collections/the-continuous-action/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hosts Walt Shaub and Virginia Heffernan investigate the ways presidential power has expanded at the expense of checks and balances. What systems exist to rein in a would-be authoritarian president, and how are they faring in these turbulent times?  The hosts talk to historian Matt Dallek, who explains the expansion of presidential power and the dangers of relying on norms and traditions alone to rein in executive power. As Dallek notes, some theorists have flooded the zone with talk of a nearly omnipotent leader who resembles a king more than a president. But law professor Jed Shugerman joins Virginia and Walt to offer listeners a differing view of the executive: that of a faithful servant who is limited by the responsibility to take care in carrying out the laws enacted by Congress. With the nation at a crossroads in the struggle between democracy and a burgeoning authoritarian movement, questions about the president's power have never seemed more urgent. The episode's third guest, POGO's own Liz Hempowicz, wraps up the show by telling our hosts about pending legislation that could add new, crucial checks on a president's power. The Continuous Action is sponsored by The Project On Government Oversight. Stay tuned on the latest from POGO: pogo.org/subscribe For show notes, visit: pogo.org/series-collections/the-continuous-action/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This bonus episode features our full interview with Maya Wang, the senior China researcher for Human Rights Watch. As Maya explains, a comprehensive, multi-layered surveillance system blankets much of China with one primary goal: to ensure that the Chinese communist party can rule forever. We included an excerpt of this interview in Episode 3, “The Eyes On Your Face.” But the rest of Wang's harrowing account of this surveillance system was too compelling to leave on the cutting room floor. Join us for a deeper dive into China's surveillance state. The Continuous Action is sponsored by The Project On Government Oversight. Stay tuned on the latest from POGO: pogo.org/subscribe For show notes, visit: pogo.org/series-collections/the-continuous-action/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In Episode 3, hosts Walt Shaub and Virginia Heffernan grapple with government surveillance, focusing in particular on facial recognition technology and the ways that the government could — and already does — abuse this pervasive technology. Facial recognition expert Jake Laperruque describes the arms race between technology companies developing new software to be used by law enforcement on one side, and lawmakers and privacy advocates working to regulate this fast-developing technology on the other. Framing privacy as a human rights issue, Laperruque reminds us of the abuses of the post-9/11 era, when the government carried out indiscriminate surveillance of Muslim communities. In our next interview, we step back and look more broadly at how targeted surveillance of all types can harm vulnerable populations, a problem that technology like facial recognition software exacerbates. Law professor and former prosecutor Paul Butler explains how the Supreme Court has unleashed the forces of control on minority populations. Finally, Maya Wang, the senior China researcher for Human Rights Watch, paints a picture of the future we must avoid. As always, the show concludes with ideas about the actions listeners can take to help address these wrongs. This episode features some good news, as the hosts break down a recent victory by privacy advocates that forced the IRS to back off a plan that would have force some Americans to use problematic facial ID tech to access their tax records.The Continuous Action is sponsored by The Project On Government Oversight. Stay tuned on the latest from POGO: pogo.org/subscribeFor show notes, visit: pogo.org/series-collections/the-continuous-action/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In Episode 2, hosts Walt Shaub and Virginia Heffernan explore a troubling truth: the government lies, particularly when it comes to war. The government has repeatedly misled the American people to justify starting or staying in a military conflict, leaving whistleblowers and watchdogs the dangerous task of exposing the truth. Military expert Mandy Smithberger recounts how manipulation of intelligence information sent us to war in the Middle East, and activist Ben Cohen talks about the need for consequences when government officials lie us into war. The cohosts speak with John Sopko, special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, about the systemic pressures that led officials to exaggerate success and conceal failures, and he talks about the vital role whistleblowers play. The episode also features reflections from Ron Ridenhour, who exposed the My Lai massacre and combatted a massive government coverup. His words drive home just how crucial whistleblowers are — and how hard it is for them to tell the truth. Finally, Walt explains what we can do to better encourage whistleblowers to come forward and protect them from retaliation. The Continuous Action is sponsored by The Project On Government Oversight. Stay tuned on the latest from POGO: pogo.org/subscribe For show notes, visit: pogo.org/series-collections/the-continuous-action/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The F-35 has become synonymous with all of the problems the 21st century Pentagon deals with. For fiscal 2023, the topline budget calls for buying only 61 new copies instead of the 94 originally planned for. The stealth aircraft continues to have problems with performance and sustainability. Here with some new problems, long-time critic and fellow at the Project on Government Oversight, Dan Grazier.

In the inaugural episode of The Continuous Action, former Office of Government Ethics Director Walt Shaub and journalist Virginia Heffernan begin exploring the issues confronting democracy by examining the wave of voter suppression efforts crashing across the states. They interview Janai Nelson, president and director-counsel of the NAACP's Legal Defense and Educational Fund, about the fight for voting rights. They also speak with Supreme Court expert Dahlia Lithwick about the judiciary's role in ripening the conditions for voter suppression. Their message: The fight for voting rights is urgent and requires the public to act – right now. The Continuous Action is sponsored by The Project On Government Oversight. Stay tuned on the latest from POGO: pogo.org/subscribe For episode show notes, visit pogo.org/series-collections/the-continuous-action/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Whistleblowers across the government have gotten increasingly more support and protection over the years. Except for those in the secretive intelligence community. They have no independent enforcement mechanisms for the protections they do have. Joining the Federal Drive with how things are about to change, the policy counsel at the Project on Government Oversight, Melissa Wasser.

They say an army travels on its stomach. It also travels on spare parts. And in that regard, the Defense Department has a problem. The inspector general has found that one spare parts supplier, a company called TransDigm, received payments that resulted in nearly $21 million in excess profits. For more, the Federal Drive turned to the general counsel at the Project on Government Oversight, Scott Amey.

What happens when an agency inspector general appears to whitewash charges of sexual misconduct by a senior manager? In the case of the Securities and Exchange Commission, complaints from inside the SEC eventually resulted in an investigation by the IG from another agency. The Project on Government Oversight got hold of that report and the lurid events it uncovered. Joining the Federal Drive with more, POGO senior journalist Adam Zagorin.

A live audience interviews Walter Shaub, former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics and a current leader at the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), on corruption, ethics, and transparency in government. Find more (including how to join us live) at PM101.live

Anna Meier is a PhD candidate at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she is also a Law & Society graduate fellow with the University of Wisconsin Law School. She studies how governments construct the concept of "terrorism" and formulate national security policy in response. Her research has received support from the Jean Monnet European Union Center of Excellence at UW–Madison and the Wisconsin Project on International Relations, and is published or forthcoming in International Studies Quarterly, The Oxford Handbook of Behavioral Political Science, Lawfare, Political Violence at a Glance, and The Washington Post. Anna is also an activist with the Teaching Assistants' Association, UW–Madison's graduate labor union, and has worked on issues of equity and justice in the academy at the local and national levels. Prior to grad school, Anna worked in Washington, DC for the START Consortium and the Project On Government Oversight. She holds a master's degree in political science from UW–Madison and bachelor's degrees in international relations and modern languages from Knox College.

Anjali Katta and Alina Utrata talk about the Big Tech issues a Biden Administration will inherit, from the FTC and DOJ anti-monopoly cases against Facebook and Google to the DoD's cloud computing contract JEDI. They also discuss links between many Biden Administration officials and the tech industry. To sign up for the email newsletter of the Anti-Dystopians, click here.CORRECTION: When talking about the Microsoft antitrust case, Alina meant to say "Netscape" instead of "Netflix." Articles and books mentioned in this podcast.The American Prospect's big feature on “How Biden's Foreign Policy Team Got Rich” focusing on Secretary of State nominee Antony Blinken and Michele Flournoy. More on WestExec strategic consultants (including ODNI nominee Avril Haines and potential CIA nominee David Cohen) by Politico and the Revolving Door project. Plus some progressives wrote an article arguing against Michele Flournoy for Secretary of Defense in the Project On Government Oversight .Director of National Intelligence nominee Avril Haines' link to Palantir, along with reporting about NYPD and NHS contracts with Palantir.Fantastic ProPublica reporting on the JEDI cloud computing contract and links between DoD and Amazon. Plus an excellent Carnegie Endowment for International Peace report on Cloud Computing security, and a report by Rishi Sunak on how critical undersea cable networks are incredibly insecure.The extraordinary amounts of money Uber &co spent to avoid giving benefits and protections to drivers, and how Jake Sullivan ended up (sort of) working for Uber. Plus Cory Doctorow on Saudi investment in Uber, and Vox on how Silicon Valley is awash with money from Saudi Arabia and China.The FTC/AG suits against Facebook and their Mark Zuckerberg email quotes might explain why Google employees have been instructed not to talk about antitrust in their emails, or ever.Public Citizen's investigation into FTC's revolving door problem with Big Tech, plus the FTC officials who work at Facebook now. And, of course, all the Facebook folks on the Biden transition team. Biden's new coronavirus czar Jeffrey Zients (who was acting director of Office of Management and Budget and a former Facebook Board member) Wikipedia page mysteriously deleted that he “fell in love with the culture at Bain & Co” after joining the Biden campaign. Finally, the Biden agency review teams has lots of tech players, Kamala Harris's campaigns' links to big tech and Chiara Cordelli's new book The Privatized State on how government contracting/outsourcing is not good for us. Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4148-nowhere-landLicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Federal inspectors general are finishing up the testing of their agencies' compliance with the Data Act. It's one of three audits required under the 2014 law. But the Council of Inspectors General changed the audit methodology between the current exercise and the one they did two years ago. Some say that could lead to skewed results though. One of them is Sean Moulton, senior policy analyst at the Project on Government Oversight. He joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin to explain why.

A recent Government Accountability Office report pointed out 32 cases of federal contractors using shell companies to hide work being done by foreign companies. It's an old problem and with some recommendations for how to get past it, Project on Government Oversight investigator Neil Gordon joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

The Army is using other transaction authority to purchase prototypes of tactical vehicles that would be dropped from helicopters. Soldiers would then climb aboard and head to battle. That is a repeat of many old mistakes, according to Mark Thompson. The national security analyst for the Project on Government Oversight joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin for more discussion.

The Pentagon's F-35 program office recently announced an agreement with Lockheed Martin for the next batch of nearly 500 of the hi-tech planes. The unit price will be under $80 million — a record low. But Dan Grazier argues the real cost of that next batch is quite a bit higher. He is military fellow at the Center for Defense Information at the Project on Government Oversight, and he joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to talk more.

The impeachment case has brought forward many questions about whistleblowers, inspectors general, relations with Congress and independence. A few days back a group of former intelligence community IGs posted a letter at the Project on Government Oversight to Congress expressing the IGs' support for the whistleblower process. Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko caught up with one of the signatories, former National Reconnaissance Office inspector general Eric Feldman.

Consolidating federal agency ethics operations under one office can be a good way to ensure consistency and efficiency. But when the Interior Department did so, it put the ethics office inside the legal office. Liz Hempowicz argues that could work against the public interest in federal ethics. She is director of public policy at the Project on Government Oversight, and she joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin for more explanation.

Yesterday was the deadline for federal agencies to send the Office of Management and Budget a list of the federal advisory committees they're proposing to do away with – the mandate to reduce committees came in an executive order President Trump signed earlier this year. Sean Moulton, senior policy analyst at the Project on Government Oversight, says the actions are a step backward. He joined Federal Drive to discuss.

The Office of Legal Counsel within the Justice Department has quietly exerted opinions on laws that Congress may never have had in mind. That's what the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) said it found after an extensive Freedom of Information Act request. POGO investigator Daniel Van Schooten joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to share more details.

Facial recognition algorithms have become so good that the technology has found its way into a large number of applications, including surveillance. The Project on Government Oversight has been following the privacy issues associated with facial recognition. POGO's Senior Counsel Jake Laperruque joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to discuss with what the organization thinks ought to concern federal officials.