Pentagon emerges as puppeteer of favorable wartime coverage
A report by David Barstow of The New York Times reveals how the Pentagon has used a cadre of retired military officers to "generate favorable news coverage of the [Bush] administration’s wartime performance...Records and interviews show how the Bush administration has used its control over access and information in an effort to transform the analysts into a kind of media Trojan horse — an instrument intended to shape terrorism coverage from inside the major TV and radio networks." The Times successfully sued the Defense Department for over 8,000 pages of material that outlines the Pentagon's use of these analysts to "deliver administration 'themes and messages' to millions of Americans 'in the form of their own opinions.'" Many of the analysts have close ties to contractors operating in the war zone that are rarely disclosed in the context of their commentary.
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Declassified memo reveals claims to president's unfettered wartime power
Dan Eggen and Josh White of The Washington Post report on the recently declassified 2003 Justice Department memo that was responsible for creating the "legal foundation for the Defense Department's use of aggressive interrogation practices" in the run up to the war in Iraq. The memo suggested that presidential power was nearly unlimited during a time of war and should override laws forbidding torture. The Post provides links to pdfs of the 81-page memo (part 1 & 2).
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Thousands of foreigners illegally attending US flight schools
ABC News' Brian Ross, working with producers Vic Walter and Eric Longabardi, reports that, despite laws passed after 9/11, thousands of foreign students have been able to enroll in and obtain pilot's licenses from US flight schools. "Under the new laws, American flight schools are only supposed to provide pilot training to foreign students who have been given a background check by the TSA and have a specific type of visa." Former FAA inspector Brian McNease said that, in 2005 alone, he found over 8,000 students in the FAA database who obtained their pilot's license without ever receiving approval. As a result of this investigation, Congress has opened a probe into the failure of the TSA to enforce these laws.
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No-Fly Fiasco
Deborah Sherman of KUSA-Denver looked into U.S. government's No-Fly List and found thousands of innocent travelers who have trouble getting on airplanes nationwide because they're misidentified as terrorists. While people snagged by false matches are forced to arrive hours early at airports to be cleared, a new government report found terrorists on the list are still getting on airplanes. Sherman found that a new program to fix those problems, called Secure Flight, has cost taxpayers $200 million so far and may leave participating passengers vulnerable to identity theft.
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Blackwater leaves dirty trail
PBS' Bill Moyers Journal features Jeremy Scahill, author of a book about Blackwater, a private U.S.-based company that is one of the largest private security contractors in Iraq, where its assignments have included protecting individuals and guarding the U.S. embassy. Scahill's interview comes in the wake of Congressional hearings after the company's employees were implicated in the killing of 17 Iraqis. Scahill speaks on these topics, rebutting much of Blackwater founder Erik Prince's media blitz following the various investigations of that September incident.
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Collateral Damage - Human Rights and Military Aid after 9/11
The Center for Public Integrity has published "one of the most comprehensive resources on U.S. military aid and assistance in the post-9/11 era. 'Collateral Damage' couples the reporting of 10 of the world's leading investigative journalists on four continents with a powerful database combining U.S. military assistance, foreign lobbying expenditures, and human rights abuses into a single, easily accessible toolkit."
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Delays impeded implementation of air defense system prior to 9/11
Michael Fabey of Aerospace Daily and Defense Report writes that the inability of the Pentagon and Canadian defense officials to keep a lid on costs and schedules may have cost them the opportunity to modernize their radar-based air defense system in time to possibly thwart the terrorist from completing their 9/11 attacks.
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South Florida security questionable
A three-month WTVJ-Miami investigation raised questions about how well Wackenhut, one of the country's biggest security firms, is protecting the South Florida public and whether they're billing taxpayers millions of dollars for guards not even on the job. Investigative producer Scott Zamost and reporter Jeff Burnside tracked down former employees and supervisors, reviewed hundreds of documents and shot video on the Metrorail, which is protected by Wackenhut security, to show what the former guards say is a pattern of unmanned posts and overbilling taxpayers.
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FBI's terrorism mission leaves white-collar crime unpunished
A story by Paul Shukovsky, Tracy Johnson and Daniel Lathrop of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports on a profound shift in the FBI's mission. Due to a shift in focus to national security following 9/11, the FBI has failed to pursue thousands of white-collar crimes. "Five-and-a-half years later, the White House and the Justice Department have failed to replace at least 2,400 agents transferred to counterterrorism squads, leaving far fewer agents on the trial of identity thieves, con artists, hatemongers and other criminals." Lathrop built a database from the records the P-I collected for their investigation and "the newspaper was able for the first time to fully measure the dramatic decline in the number of cases and convictions resulting from the FBI moving resources to terrorism and walking away from areas of criminal enforcement. Copies of the analysis were given to federal officials in Seattle and in Washington, D.C., who did not dispute the newspaper's findings but wouldn't make database experts available to discuss the analysis."
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Undercover agents sneak bomb past TSA screeners
Deborah Sherman of KUSA-Denver reports that "Checkpoint security screeners at Denver International Airport last month failed to find liquid explosives packed in carry-on luggage and also improvised explosive devices, or IED's, worn by undercover agents, sources told 9NEWS." The agents testing the TSA security were part of the "Red Team," a group of covert agents organized in 1988 by the Federal Aviation Administration. Since 2003, they have investigated security measures at 735 airports.
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CBS 2's Dave Savini to testify in Springfield on Friday
Dave Savini, the CBS 2 reporter who has investigated security loopholes at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, is scheduled to testify before the newly created State of Illinois Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Committee. The report resulted in calls from Congressman Mark Kirk and others for security changes at the airport including increased screenings of airport workers.
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Lax monitoring creates security issues at Chicago airport
Dave Savini of CBS 2 - Chicago investigates a breach of security at Chicago's O'Hare Airport. Insufficient tracking of employee ID badges at Chicago's O'Hare Airport have created a gaping hole in airport security. The badges enable employees of the airport to access high-security areas without being screened . A database obtained from Chicago's Department of Aviation revealed that 3,760 badges have gone missing since 2004.
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Washington's $8 Billion Shadow
Writing for Vanity Fair, Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele uncover the influence of SAIC, a "mega-contractor" in Washington, D.C. SAIC, unlike other contractors, is often called upon for expertise "—expertise about weapons, about homeland security, about surveillance, about computer systems, about 'information dominance' and 'information warfare.'" Despite the fact that SAIC employs 44,000 people and was paid $8 billion by the US government last year, there is a shroud of secrecy around the company and its operations. Barlett and Steele shed light on the scope of SAIC's influence, the culture of the company and how its "biggest projects have turned out to be colossal failures."
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Lax security leaves airports and community vulnerable
Investigative Reporter Jeremy Rogalski and the 11 Investigates team discovered that local general aviation airports in the Houston area have almost no security funding or regulation. As a result, the team was easily able to walk onto unattended small and medium-size jets. One expert described the planes as "flying weapon(s)" because they could be used to crash into any of Houston's many toxic chemical storage containers.
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Dodging Doomsday
Sam Roe of The Chicago Tribune exposes the story of America's efforts to recover uranium that the U.S. government distributed to other nations in its Cold War-era "Atoms for Peace" program. The enriched uranium, suitable for making bombs, still circulates in politically unstable countries. "Today, roughly 40 tons of the material remains out of U.S. control--enough to make more than 1,400 nuclear weapons," Roe reports. He gained exclusive access to archives and interviews with an Argonne National Laboratory scientist who led the recovery efforts for decades. The stories also draw on congressional testimony, previously classified records, research papers and reports, and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
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TRAC data suggests shortcomings in FBI's dealing with international terrorism
Data from the Justice Department indicates that federal prosecutors appear to have big doubts about the FBI's criminal enforcement activities when it comes to fighting international terrorism. According to a TRAC report, federal prosecutors so far in FY 2006 have rejected 87% of the FBI's referrals on international terrorism. The report also shows that despite across-the-board staffing increases in the last few years, FBI investigations of all kinds have consistently resulted in fewer federal prosecutions. And detailed graphs and tables reveal how FBI staffing and enforcement priorities have been constantly changing since 1986.
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Issues of border security
Reporters from the Arizona Daily Star have put together an extensive investigation into the issues surrounding US-Mexico border security. Their multimedia investigations looks into the issues of why sealing off our borders will not work. "The Star sent a six-member reporting team on a three-week trek from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico this summer to investigate whether the border can be sealed, and what the effects would be."
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US flight schools admitting foreign nationals without proper clearance
Brian Ross and Eric Longabardi report for ABC News that foreign student pilots are still finding their way into American flight schools despite strict regulations set in place following 9/11. "Under the program, no foreign national can receive flight training in the United States without approval from the Transportation Security Administration." But the policy is reported to be "conflicting and ambiguous" thus compromising the program meant to bolster national security. "The TSA says is revising its vetting process and has begun a series of flight school inspections "to ensure that flight training providers" are aware of the rules."
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Homeland Security spending post-9/11
In light of the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the U.S., several papers have run stories based on the data tracking how homeland security money has been spent in the last 5 years. Some of these include:

• "9/11 cash beefs up region" The Cincinnati Enquirer
• "Post-9/11 funds often used for routine items" Portland Press-Herald
• "Stingy with security funds" Hartford Courant
• "Following Homeland Security money" The Bergen Record

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"The Long Shadow of 9/11"
The Las Vegas Review-Journal is running a series entitled "The Long Shadow of 9/11" in which they've localized the big-picture security issues facing the nation. The stories include an examination of how local police have poured vast resources into anti-terrorism policing; how the FBI has sent national security letters to casino-hotels to access guest information; and how Nevada and Utah have had among the most cases per capita in the nation categorized as terrorism-related.
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Student data from financial aid forms shared with FBI
Jonathan D. Glater of The New York Times reports that, as part of post-9/11 counterterrorism efforts, that Federal Education Department shared personal information obtained on student loan applications with the FBI. "Under the program, called Project Strikeback, the Education Department received names from the F.B.I. and checked them against its student aid database, forwarding information...Neither agency would say whether any investigations resulted." This story was broken by Laura McGann, a graduate student at the Medill School of Journalism "as part of a reporting project that focused on national security and civil liberties."
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Sept. 11 - Five years later
The Washington Post has launched a series examining how government agencies have responded to 9/11 in the past five years. Stories include coverage of a failed $170 million contract to rebuild the FBI's internal case file system, and how training at the FBI Academy fails to adequately keep pace with its new focus on terrorism.
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Air Marshals Warn System Failures Threaten Security
In a coordinated series that broadcast in Denver, Atlanta, Las Vegas and Dallas, investigative reporter Tony Kovaleski of 7NEWS in Denver spoke to 17 Air Marshals from those four cities who believe current policies jepordize national security. Don Strange, a former director of the Air Marshal Service's Atlanta office, addressed his concerns in memos to Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff wherein he claimed current policies "unnecessarily enganger the lives of federal air marshals and the flying public." In addition, the marshals interviewed assert that innocent people are being placed on watch lists simply to meet expected monthly quotas which are tied to employment incentives.
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$1 million grant issued to study restrictions on public records
Richard Willing of USA Today reports that "The federal government will pay a Texas law school $1 million. . .to produce a national "model statute" that state legislatures and Congress could adopt to ensure that potentially dangerous information 'stays out of the hands of the bad guys.'" The grant was included in this year's budget for the Defense Department by Congress, and will be administered by the Air Force Research Laboratory.
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Airport screeners' ID and uniforms go missing
Brian Collister, Stephen Kline and Mandi Johnston of WOAI-San Antonio analyzed records, obtained through FOIA, from the Transportation Security Administration and found that "more than 1,400 TSA employee ID badges and uniform items have been reported lost or stolen since 2003. " Noting that terrorists have used stolen badges and uniforms to pull off attacks overseas, the Department of Homeland Security issued several warnings to local, state and federal agencies to guard uniforms and badges in the past few years. But the investigation showed that the airport screeners, intended to keep you safe from terrorists, are actually making it easier for terrorists to strike again. See the full story as it was broadcast (approx. five minutes).
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Spy agency collects data about Americans' phone calls
Leslie Cauley of the USA Today found the "National Security Agency had been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth." Cauley's sources say the agency uses the call data to "analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity" but that it does not listen in on phone calls. The three carriers are the nation's largest telecommunications companies, providing local, long-distance and wireless phone service, and Internet access. "Only Qwest has refused to help the NSA, the sources said. According to multiple sources, Qwest declined to participate because it was uneasy about the legal implications of handing over customer information to the government without warrants."
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Police use homeland security grants to keep tabs
David E. Kaplan of U.S. News & World Report identified nearly a dozen cases in which city and county police, in the name of homeland security, have surveilled or harassed animal-rights and antiwar protesters, union activists, and even library patrons surfing the Web. The inquiry found federal officials have funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into state and local police intelligence operations. Guidelines for protecting privacy and civil liberties have lagged far behind the federal money. After four years of doling out homeland security grants to police departments, federal officials released guidelines for the conduct of local intelligence operations only last year; the standards are voluntary and are being implemented slowly. The problems evoke memories of the now-discredited Red Squads that wreaked havoc against the civil rights and antiwar movements in the 1960s and early '70s.
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Agency's spy satellite technology loses relevance
Michael Fabey of the DefenseNews looks into the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office's fading imaging- and signals-intelligence program that reportedly has an annual budget of about $7 billion. "A satellite communications technology called spot beaming might help the NRO regain some of its fading signals-intelligence relevance, but imagery's place as an intel centerpiece may have gone with the Cold War. " The investigation found that images, which were useful when counting Soviet tanks or measuring the size of an East German air base, aren't much help against small terrorist cells. And people have learned to hide from orbital cameras by going indoors or underground when the satellites pass overhead. These drawbacks will not be overcome by the NRO's Future Imagery Architecture, a dozen-satellite constellation intended to provide photos of unprecedented resolution in visible and infrared spectra. The $25 billion-plus program, now set to launch around 2013, has been beset by delays and cost overruns.
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U.S. planes have no defense against shoulder-fired missiles
Brian Ross, Jill Rackmill and Eric Longabardi report for ABC News that "experts say that shoulder-to-air missiles can be bought for only a few thousand dollars on the black market. But U.S. commercial aircraft still have no defense system against these portable missiles." Last November last year, an American Airlines pilot taking off from Los Angeles International Airport reported that a rocket might have been fired at his plane. "The federal government still has no definitive plan to protect U.S. commercial aircraft, even though two companies have developed systems that they affirm will defeat the missiles."
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Classified satellite-related contracts on the rise
Michael Fabey of Defense News analyzed 3 million contract and modification records from 2000 through 2004 to show that U.S. agencies made more than 2,100 deals worth $1.2 billion for satellite telecommunications and related work. "U.S. federal agencies issued about 35,000 contracts and related modifications for general space-related work, worth about $40.2 billion, the analysis showed." Space work could include software, equipment or other components for any type of space work, including but not limited to satellites. The records showed that about 800 of the satellite-related contracts were for programs listed as "classified or non-discernible." The total number of all federal government contracts and associated modifications for classified programs show an increase from about 281,000 in 2001 to about 446,000 in 2003, an increase mirrored by space and satellite work.
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U.S. secretly monitoring radiation levels at Muslim sites in D.C. area
David E. Kaplan of U.S. News & World Report finds the U.S. government has been monitoring more than 100 "Muslim sites in the Washington, D.C., area, including mosques, homes, businesses, and warehouses, plus similar sites in at least five other cities" since 9/11 in search of a terrorist nuclear bomb. As part of the top-secret program, investigators went "on to the property under surveillance, although no search warrants or court orders were ever obtained, according to those with knowledge of the program."
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Disaster planning focused on terror threats
In a Web exclusive report, Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball of Newsweek report that state emergency management directors have complained FEMA has concentrated too much on preparing for terror threats and not enough on natural disasters. "Internal Homeland Security documents obtained by Newsweek lend support to the state directors' complaints. Out of 15 'all hazards' disaster-planning scenarios approved by DHS and the White House Homeland Security Council last May, only three involved natural disasters, one document shows." (Note: For more stories looking at what went wrong in the Katrina disaster, please see IRE's Katrina resources page.)
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Sept. 11 loans go to many unaffected by terror
Frank Bass and Dirk Lammers of The Associated Press examined nearly $5 billion in loans granted by the Small Business Administration as Sept. 11 recovery aid, and found that many went to businesses "that didn't need terror relief — or even know they were getting it." The SBA said it first learned of the problems from AP. "The records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act also show that many other loan recipients who made cases they were injured by Sept. 11 were far removed from the direct devastation of New York City and Washington, like a South Dakota country radio station, a Virgin Islands perfume shop and a Utah dog boutique."
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Politics plague state's safety aid program
Rick Hepp of The (Newark) Star-Ledger analyzed state and federal spending on homeland security in New Jersey, finding that politics can make a big difference: Somerset County towns in the past three years "have received more than $2.7 million in federal Homeland Security grants designed for 'first responders,' but only $235,000 from New Jersey." The state money was controlled by the governor's office, often as a way to "reward Democratic Party loyalists. That was not a good equation for Republican-dominated Somerset County, which got 1 percent of the state grants between 2002 and 2005."
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Weapon seizures increase at airports
Lee Davidson of The Deseret Morning News used the federal Freedom of Information Act to obtain data on weapon seizures at airports, finding that "daily for the past three years, passengers at U.S. airports surrendered an average of 14,000 potential weapons. That is enough to arm every passenger on 33 filled-to-capacity Boeing 747 jumbo jets - every day." Smaller airports have a higher rate of weapons being turned over, even though most prohibited items are collected at larger facilities. The haul includes nearly 5 million knives and more than 1,000 guns.
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Human smuggling networks linked to terrorist groups
Pauline Arrillaga and Olga R. Rodriguez of the Associated Press reviewed court records from Mexico and the United States as part of an investigation into "the many pipelines in Central and South America, Mexico and Canada that have illegally channeled thousands of people into the United States from so-called 'special-interest' countries - those identified by the U.S. government as sponsors or supporters of terrorism." Individuals affiliated with Hezbollah and the Tamil Tigers were among those who attempted to or were able to cross the border into America. "Even when caught, illegal immigrants from those countries and other nations are sometimes released while awaiting deportation hearings, then miss those court dates, according to the AP's investigation, which also documented deep concerns about security threats along the lightly patrolled, 4,000-mile U.S.-Canada border."
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Private contractors pour $2.5 billion into city
L.A. Lorek of the San Antonio Express-News used federal contracts data to examine the largest military contractors in San Antonio. Lorek found the Pentagon's reliance on private companies has let to a boom for local businesses who "provide everything from oil and food to aircraft parts and weapons research." In 2003, the top 20 contractors received $2.5 billion worth of contracts, making San Antonio the second-largest military contracting city in Texas. That money went toward making canteen covers, ammunition vests, aluminum cots; meals ready to eat; developing software, building and maintaining aircraft. (Editor's Note: The Federal Procurement Data System is available to journalists from IRE and NICAR.)
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State homeland security problems uncovered
Bert Dalmer of The Des Moines Register reports on an analysis done by the Register using Iowa's critical-asset list. The list "has played a key part in determining how the state divides homeland-security money among Iowa's counties." They found that some "dams and schools on the list have been found not to exist." Historic buildings were left off, while "the state liquor warehouse in Ankeny, Living History Farms in Urbandale and the Danish Windmill Museum in Elk Horn" were put on the list.
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Anti-terrorism spending problems plague state
Greg Barrett of The (Baltimore) Sun reviewed thousands of pages detailing homeland security spending in Maryland, finding that while most of the $161 million since 2002 has gone to assist first responders, "Maryland is so flush with anti-terrorism grant funds and spending authority is so broad that the state has struggled, at times, to manage the money." In one case, the state used more than $17,000 to conduct an exercise in which veterinarians "rescued" a llama and walking horse "injured" in a fake attack.
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Former security chief spent thousands on state issued gas card
Eric Eyre and Scott Finn of The Charleston Gazette continue their investigation of Neal Sharp, West Virginia's former homeland security chief, reporting that "Sharp purchased gasoline with his state credit card at least 30 times on days he wasn't working." In all, Sharp charged $6,764 to his state-issued credit card between July 2003 and March 2005. "On a single day in October 2004, he purchased 38 gallons of gas during three stops at service stations in Charleston and Beckley. Another day later that month, he bought 24 gallons of gas during two stops near his home in Poca."
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Security chief's use of plane, helicopter questioned
Eric Eyre and Scott Finn of the Charleston Gazette obtained flight records showing that West Virginia homeland security chief Neal Sharp "flew on the state plane or helicopter to attend meetings, scout disaster training sites and inspect emergency equipment" nineteen times in 19 months and chartered five additional private flights, prompting a state investigation. "All told, Sharp's agency was charged for 26 trips on state aircraft and chartered planes. The flights cost more than $60,000."
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Potential terrorism targets find lax security efforts
David Kocieniewski of The New York Times uses public records to investigate the homeland security threat, specifically along a two-mile stretch, deemed the most vulnerable by terrorism experts. The investigation looked into "... a chemical plant that processes chlorine gas, so close to Manhattan that the Empire State Building seems to rise up behind its storage tanks." A reporter and photographer for The Times spent five minutes snapping photos in front of the plant without being questioned. "... New Jersey officials have spent more than $350 million in state tax money on counterterrorism, building an apparatus that is run by seasoned law enforcement experts and is generally well regarded.
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Courtroom security lax for employees, officers
Laure Quinlivan in WCPO-Cincinnati investigated courthouse security and found lax security in which employees enter through side doors and avoid metal detectors. Thousands of others, including county employees, lawyers and law enforcement officers, get in just by flashing their identification to the deputy on duty. The station estimated up to 10,000 people can bypass the metal detector. In addition, one elevator that was supposed to stop on the first floor so occupants could go through a metal detector did not stop, allowing the elevator's users to go directly into a courtroom without passing through security.
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Security firm tipped off prior to airport inspections
Lance Williams of the San Francisco Chronicle used federal and court records to investigate a claim by a former employee of the firm, that the company was tipped off prior to security decoy tests. The tips allegedly helped the firm secure a 90 percent success rate with the tests. "That success rate helped the Chicago firm keep a federal contract that paid out $72 million last year under terms of an experimental airport security program enacted by Congress after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, federal records show."
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Rail safety in question
Scott Dodd, Bruce Henderson and Heather Vogell of The Charlotte Observer examine railroad safety, finding that "in the Charlotte region, nearly 800,000 people live within a mile of a major rail line," an increase of 90,000 in the past 10 years. "Yet emergency planners don't know how much hazardous material passes daily through uptown Charlotte and the region's small towns. Federal, state and local agencies told the Observer they don't keep track, and the railroads won't provide that information for security reasons." Nearly 400 schools are located within a mile of train routes, and thus within the evacuation zone for accidents involving chemical materials.
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Pentagon unit conducts intelligence missions
Barton Gellman of The Washington Post reports the Pentagon "has created a new espionage arm and is reinterpreting U.S. law to give Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld broad authority over clandestine operations abroad," according to interviews and documents." The Strategic Support Branch "deploys small teams of case officers, linguists, interrogators and technical specialists alongside newly empowered special operations forces." The move lets the Defense Department conduct activities that have long been the province of the CIA.
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Lack of background checks give firearm licenses to felons
An investigation into hunting liscenses by the investigative team for KSTP-St. Paul/Minneapolis has uncovered that 150 violent felons with a lifetime ban on owning a gun were issued firearm licenses. Comparing data from the Department of Natural Resources and a list of violent felons obtained from the Department of Corrections they discovered the dangerous contradiction that "one branch of government says violent felons can't touch a gun and another one sends them off into the woods to shoot deer." The investigators found the only background check performed when buying a license only checks for owed back child support.
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Private information part of anti-terror initiatives
National security effort depends on personal data Robert O'Harrow Jr. and the Center for Investigative Reporting led an investigation into the post-9/11 marriage of private data services and government anti-terror initiatives. The project,"No Place to Hide" shows how the government depends on "burgeoning private reservoirs of information about almost every aspect of our lives to protect homeland security and fight the war on terror." The multimedia project includes a Web site, book, radio documentary and a piece on ABC News.
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Tighter border security leads to more drug busts
Katie N. Johannes of The Bellingham Herald used federal data to report that increased spending on border security since 9/11 has had one side effect for Whatcom County's border with Canada: more smuggled marijuana has been seized outside official ports of entry. "The amount of marijuana seized is down from 7.7 tons in 2003, but still is double what was seized in the years just prior to 9/11. The numbers dropped significantly at the ports of entry in Whatcom County, from 11,590 pounds in 2003 to 4,777 for all but December of 2004. Conversely, Border Patrol agents - who monitor the lands between official ports of entry - seized more than 6,200 pounds of marijuana in the first 11 months of 2004 - up from 3,744 pounds in all of 2003."
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FEMA payouts questioned in several states
Sally Kestin and Megan O'Matz of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel continue their investigation into the Federal Emergency Management Agency with a story showing that reports of possible fraud are coming from several states. Officials from Mobile, Ala., to Detroit say the federal government has pumped millions of dollars into their communities, even after officials told FEMA their communities had no significant damage from storms. Members of Congress have called for a Government Accountability Office investigation into FEMA spending as a result of the series of stories, which began in October with an examination of what is now $29.2 million in aid sent to Miami-Dade County following Hurricane Frances, which hit 100 miles to the north of the county.
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Charity has links to global terror group
Mark Morris of The Kansas City Star, working with Jaimi Dowdell and Aaron Kessler, used documents from the Treasury Department and other agencies to compile a list of organizations and individuals connected to a Columbia, Mo., charity that federal officials allege is "part of the Islamic African Relief Agency, a global charity whose officers had raised at least $5 million for terrorists." The reporters used social network analysis software to produce a visual representation of the network. "The analysis showed that IARA officials allegedly performed services or favors for bin Laden and his organizations. Other times, IARA was alleged to have teamed with bin Laden to support other terrorists." The story includes a graphic representation of the IARA connections around the world. (Warning: Large PDF)
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Fire department ignore safety concerns
A four-month investigation by WTVJ-Miami found that the largest fire department in South Florida ignored serious safety warnings in the months before a firefighter recruit died during a training exercise. Investigative producer Scott Zamost and reporter Michael Williams obtained hundreds of e-mails and other documents, and conducted exclusive interviews with those who were at the accident, including the lead instructor, a captain in the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department. The captain told WTVJ that he warned the former fire chief that someone could die because of how recruits were being trained. A "Miami-Dade County report concluded the burn was too advanced, that the fire training was incomplete, included no safety plan and failed to meet nine national safety guidelines."
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U.S. borders growing more porous
Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele of Time investigate U.S. border security, finding that "the U.S.'s borders, rather than becoming more secure since 9/11, have grown even more porous. And the trend has accelerated in the past year. It's fair to estimate, based on a Time investigation, that the number of illegal aliens flooding into the U.S. this year will total 3 million — enough to fill 22,000 Boeing 737-700 airliners, or 60 flights every day for a year."
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Tenn. slow to use Homeland Security money
Nancy Amons of WSMV-Nashville reviewed documents from Tennessee's Office of Homeland Security, finding that "about a quarter of the money Congress appropriated for first responder grants in 2002 and 2003 has been converted into equipment or training for Tennessee officers, firefighters and medics. None of the 2004 grant money &mash; 42 million dollars &mash; has been touched." State and local officials blamed bureaucratic red tape for the delays in spending the money.
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Distribution of homeland security money flawed
The Oakland Tribune, the Los Angeles Daily News and smaller sister newspapers are publishing localized versions of "Missing the Mark: A Flawed Plan to Protect the Homeland." The four-part series looks at where homeland security money is being allocated. Thh investigation finds that California "replicated a widely criticized federal funding formula that steers millions to isolated rural areas and leaves target-rich communities high and dry." The Daily News says "Three years later, California's public safety agencies are certainly better equipped — but not necessarily for terrorism, a newspaper investigation found after reviewing more than 2,500 homeland security documents and conducting dozens of interviews." The Oakland Tribune explains "Congress set up the federal grant program to distribute 40 percent of the grant money equally among states, without regard to risk."
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Lack of collaboration doomed reform efforts
David E. Kaplan of U.S. News & World Report writes about why U.S. intelligence agencies have been "stubbornly, and successfully, resistant to change." The review also reveals efforts several years ago to reform the intelligence community and why that effort failed. "Individual spy agencies resembled not so much modern corporations as feudal fiefdoms."
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Links to terrorism weak in Iowa cases
Bert Dalmer of The Des Moines Register used Department of Justice data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse to show that of the 35 terrorism cases in Iowa since 9/11, "most defendants had questionable links to violent extremism. Those defendants who could be identified by the newspaper were, in most cases, charged with fraud or theft and served just a few months in jail." The number of anti-terror prosecutions surprised one judge who had heard at least six of the cases: "If there have been terrorism-related arrests in Iowa, I haven't heard about them," he said. Among those charged were five Mexicans who stole baby formula and sold it to an Arab man.
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TSA in crisis attributed to lax security, low morale
Cheryl Phillips, Steve Miletich and Ken Armstrong of The Seattle Times have a three-part series on security at the nation's airports, finding that "lax security and low morale seep through the federal agency responsible" for protecting air travelers. "Management memos, as well as firsthand accounts of more than 100 screeners and supervisors interviewed by The Times, depict an agency in crisis." Documents reveal that Transportation Security Administration employees face inhospitable working conditions as well. The paper described its methodology and the resistance of the TSA to the reporting.
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Homeland Security spends $5 billion in first year
Thomas Hargrove of Scripps Howard News Service analyzed federal contract data for the Department of Homeland Security, finding that the agency spent at least $5 billion during its first year of existence. " The nation's newest and third-largest federal department signed at least 18,505 contracts for an astonishing array of goods and services, ranging from almost $800 million on airport bomb-detection devices to $14.8 million on hotel rooms." The largest category of spending was at least $792 million for "chemical-detection and automated alarm systems," according to the report. Scripps Howard obtained the data through IRE and NICAR.
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Conditions at Gitmo detailed; prisoners identified
Scott Higham, Joe Stephens and Margot Williams of The Washington Post tracked the development of the prison at Guantanamo Bay naval base and its detainees, compiling "the largest public list of detainee names, encompassing 370 out of the 745 or so men detained at the camp since January 2002." Saudi Arabian nationals make up the largest contingent among identified prisoners held at Gitmo. The report describes some of the interrogation techniques used at the base, which had shrunk in size before the 2001 terrorist attacks but now costs about $118 million a year to run. The full list of names compiled by Williams, the Post's research editor, includes an explanation of how it was compiled.
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Anti-terrorism money goes to rural areas
Bert Dalmer of The Des Moines Register analyzed federal anti-terrorism spending in Iowa to find that "Iowa's five largest counties — Polk, Linn, Scott, Black Hawk and Johnson — are home to 33 percent of the state's population. But those five counties combined will receive 15 percent of the federal grant money. Polk County, with 13 percent of Iowa's people, will get 4 percent of the state's total." Some officials complain that the allocation gives too much to rural counties and the state government, while short-changing more populated areas. "Pocahontas County, which ranks 86th in population, is using $20,000 in grant money to purchase eight helmets, shields and body armor designed to withstand sniper bullets and shrapnel. But Des Moines police will have to forgo purchasing 35 such helmets because there is not enough money."
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IRE awards three medals
An astonishing story of brutal war crimes by The (Toledo, Ohio) Blade and a book on the American tax system by David Cay Johnston took top honors in the 2003 IRE Awards. In addition, the Freedom of Information Award went to a team from the (Sioux Falls, S.D.) Argus Leader for exposing a massive secret pardons program rife with questions and conflicts for the governor.
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Airport screeners take thousands of banned items
J.M. Kalil of the Las Vegas Review-Journal used federal aviation security records to show that air travelers still try to bring prohibited items onto planes in Las Vegas. "Federal screeners at McCarran International Airport confiscated nearly 4,500 'deadly or dangerous weapons' at security checkpoints in the 18-month period ending Oct. 3." The banned items included guns, box cutters and explosives. The paper found that scissors were the most common item taken by federal screeners — more than 77,000 pairs since April 2002. While other states sell confiscated material, Nevada either gives them away or junks them.
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Reports reveal problems with new cockpit doors
Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Richard O'Reilly of the Los Angeles Times collected public records on incidents involving the new reinforced airplane cockpits installed after 9/11. "Publicly available documents show there have been at least 35 reported incidents involving problems with the operation of the doors since August 2002," including an episode in which a 12-pound panel from a door struck a pilot on the head, rendering him incapable of continuing his cross-country flight. The Times examined data from NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System database, available from IRE and NICAR.
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Extensiveness of administration's secrecy documented
In a five-month investigation, Christopher H. Schmitt and Edward T. Pound of U.S. News & World Report, find that "the [Bush] administration's efforts to shield the actions of, and the information obtained by, the executive branch are far more extensive than has been previously documented." The report made use of federal reports, regulations, Web sites, legislation, interviews, information from public interest groups and the responses to more than 200 FOIA requests. They note that this administration "has quietly but efficiently dropped a shroud of secrecy across many critical operations of the federal government — cloaking its own affairs from scrutiny and removing from the public domain important information on health, safety, and environmental matters."
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Money intended to protect against terrorism used for other purposes
Jo Becker, Sarah Cohen and Spencer S. Hsu of The Washington Post find that much of the $324 million earmarked to protect the Washington, D.C., area against terrorism "remains unspent or is funding projects with questionable connections to homeland security." The Post found some of the money used for a jobs program, to buy leather jackets for police and to assess environmental problems. Officials say they received little guidance on how the money should be spent. (Note: Similar stories could be done around the country using data from the Federal Assistance Awards Data System, the Consolidated Federal Funds Report and the Federal Procurement Data System, all available from IRE and NICAR.)
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Crackdown on terrorism, civil liberties in conflict
In a four-day series of stories, the Sacramento Bee looks at "how the crackdown on terrorism has come into conflict with the civil liberties that set America apart." Staff writers Sam Stanton and Emily Bazar, with photographer Paul Kitagaki Jr., look at the effect on libraries, mosques, activists and everyday people when the government exercises its "broad new investigative powers in an effort to flush out and neutralize terrorist threats." The series also looks at other times in the country's history in which constitutional rights fell by the wayside to "to quell resistance and protect the government."
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Criminal cases against Arabs in Detroit triple since 9/11
John Bebow of The Detroit News tracked federal terrorism cases in the Detroit area since 9/11, finding that "federal prosecutors in Detroit have tripled the number of criminal cases brought against Arabs and Muslims in the past two years while dozens of people have been labeled as terror suspects. But the government has so far proven terror connections against only three of 155 terror suspects considered for prosecution." The paper used Justice Department to identify 34 people of Arab descent who have been charged with lesser crimes but who are targets of anti-terror probes.
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Cyber terrorists could exploit security lapses and wreak havoc
Ed Meyer of the Akron Beacon Journal reports on flaws in the computer system that controls the nation's electrical grid. It finds that the flaws leave it open to cyber terrorists. An expert quoted in the story says "security was not the highest priority" when the system was designed. He also told the paper that "A relatively small number of computer vendors devised the system, using training procedures that are virtually the same in the United States as in countries suspected of harboring terrorists."
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Depleted uranium goes undetected during journey
To test security measures, ABC News' Brian Ross carried a suitcase containing 15 pounds of depleted uranium across Europe and then shipped it to New York. The shipment went undiscovered during its "secret 25-day, seven-country journey," despite inspections using X-ray scanning machines and radiation detectors.
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Federal spending for security brings money to Dayton area
Jim DeBrosse and Ken McCall at the Dayton Daily News used government contracts data (available from IRE and NICAR) to track money flowing into the region as a result of post-Sept. 11 spending. "Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, LexisNexis and other Dayton-area centers of innovation are among those being recruited across the nation to develop high-tech strategies for securing the homefront."
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Seattle airport operates with fewer federal screeners
Cheryl Phillips and Chris Maag of The Seattle Times investigated the security situation at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, finding that the safety of passengers "relies on overworked employees at understaffed checkpoints," according to documents and interviews. The paper spoke with 45 federal screeners and managers about conditions at the airport and described an inexperienced force charged with too many duties. "Federal guidelines call for at least four screeners to operate each lane, and those standards are usually followed. But more than a dozen screeners and supervisors said lanes regularly operate with three, sometimes two, screeners."
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More execs get access to corporate jets
Gary Strauss of USA Today reports that security concerns and new compensation packages propelled dozens of new deals last year allowing the corporate jet to become a bauble for CEOs, swelling the ranks of executives given virtually unlimited personal access." The paper analyzed information from public filings to find 140 CEOs who racked up company-paid flights worth at least $50,000 in 2002, a significant increase from 2001. "Because the perks are taxable fringe benefits, many companies covered CEOs' flight-related taxes, too."
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Iran's nuclear program advancing toward bomb-building
Iran is likely to become the world's next nuclear power and "in the late stages of developing the capacity to build a nuclear bomb," according to a three-month investigation by the Los Angeles Times. Douglas Frantz writes that "the country has been engaged in a pattern of clandestine activity that has concealed weapons work from international inspectors. Technology and scientists from Russia, China, North Korea and Pakistan have propelled Iran's nuclear program much closer to producing a bomb than Iraq ever was." Among the findings: "So many North Koreans are working on nuclear and missile projects in Iran that a resort on the Caspian coast is set aside for their exclusive use."
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Nearly third of nation's bridges deficient
Jonathan D. Salant of the Associated Press analyzed federal transportation data to find that 28 percent of highway bridges are considered deficient by federal standards. "The number of bridges considered deficient - they need repairs, cannot adequately handle traffic loads or do not meet safety standards - declined 18 percent from 1992 to 2002, from 199,090 to 163,010." The numbers range from state to state, with the District of Columbia standing out as the worst; 67 percent of DC's bridges are sub-standard.
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Investigation reveals U.S. tactics in war on terror
David E. Kaplan of U.S. News & World Report has a lengthy piece retracing the war on terrorism after 9/11, explaining that agents have "hacked into foreign banks, used secret prisons overseas, and spent over $20 million bankrolling friendly Muslim intelligence services. They have assassinated al Qaeda leaders, spirited prisoners to nations with brutal human-rights records, and amassed files equal to a thousand encyclopedias." Although Kaplan's review found that officials believe remaining al Qaeda operatives number about 180, the organization "has one more 9/11 in them," according to an FBI veteran.
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FBI turned down chance to buy biological weapons
Joby Warrick and John Mintz of The Washington Post have a startling tale of biological weapons from South Africa. In the first of a two-part series, the paper details how a former South African government scientist offered a deadly bacteria sample to the FBI, seeking in return American citizenship and as much as $5 million. The FBI turned him down and others fear that the privately held germs could fall into the wrong hands.
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