The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "defense contractor" ...
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Crime Inc: Counterfeit Goods
The story gives viewers a rare look at the production and sale of counterfeit goods. Viewers hear the story of a company whose brand was copied as well as that of a defense contractor who made counterfeit defense parts used in Iraq.
Tags: counterfeit; raid; fake handbag; fake shoes; fake jewelry; designer; underground industry
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Behind the Media Contractors' Veil
The investigation examined media services contracts awarded by the military and Defense Department and found ways in which they are being used improperly.
Tags: miscellaneous foreign contractors; Defense Department; military contractor; Afghanistan; media service contracts
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Sabotaging the System
This story includes the “first confirmed account of a successful cyber attack against an electric utility company, resulting in major blackouts that lasted for days”. The electric grid not only supplies electricity but also keeps water, telephones, trains, and air traffic control up and running. Also in the U.S., government agencies, defense contractors, and banks are hacked everyday by foreign spy agencies.
Tags: National Intelligence; Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); cyber security; Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); computers; technology
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Four Stars for Hire
Retired senior officers are been hired by the US military as senior mentors. These mentors counsel current commanders and run war games. Further, the mentors are being paid at rates much higher than the active-duty officers. Also, they are not just working for the military; many are employed by defense contractors. So these mentors are not only being paid large sums by the US government, they are also receiving income from the defense firms.
Tags: Retired senior officers; Military; Mentors; Commanders; Defense contractors; Financial; Marines; Pentagon; Wages; Generals; Admirals; US government
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How the US Funds the Taliban
This investigation uncovered Taliban insurgents reaping millions of dollars in Department of Defense contracts. "These contracts have become an immense boon for the Taliban, as security firms found that paying off the insurgents was the only way to get supplies through hostile territory to US troops." This has become a large part of the Taliban's income.
Tags: Department of Defense; US military; logistics; Afghanistan; contracts; NCL Holdings; contractor; government; security official
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Feasting on the Spoils
A biographical look at former U.S. Congressman Randy “Duke†Cunningham, one of the most corrupt members of Congress this nation has ever seen. Cunningham pleaded guilty to accepting more than $2.4 million in bribes that came from defense contractors in exchange for political favors.
Tags: Defense Appropriations; House Intelligence Committee; Navy; CIA;
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Series on Kyle "Dusty" Foggo
A former CIA Director hand-picked Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, a mid-level bureaucrat, to be the CIA's number three man, the Executive Director. Foggo misused his influence to favor his friends, including a leading conspirator in a federal bribery case.
Tags: bribe; Central Intelligence Agency; Porter Gross; Brent Wilkes; defense contractor; Randy Cunningham
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Blackwater: Inside America's Private Army
This series focuses on Blackwater USA, one of the most visible players in the private military industry. Tens of thousands of private military soldiers are on the ground in Iraq, armed and engaging in combat, but they are not subject to military justice or chain of command. This situation raises questions about oversight, standards, coordination and accountability. Blackwater's presence in Iraq escalated the war in 2004, when four of its contractors were killed and strung up from a bridge in Fallujah. Now, Blackwater is seeking out new markets, offering itself as an army for hire to police the world's trouble spots.
Tags: war; military; military-industrial complex; army; soldiers; Iraq; contractors; government contracts; diplomacy; federal government; defense; government documents; special forces
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The Man Who Sold the War
The author investigated the company, Rendon Group, and its involvement in selling the Iraq war to Americans. The story focuses on a secretive Washington defense contractor and executive of the Rendon Group, John Rendon.
Tags: war; Iraq; defense; Rendon Group; John Rendon; defense contractor; weapons of mass destruction; Washington; Pentagon; Iraqi National Congress; Judith Miller
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The Lockheed Martin Shooting
The murder of six employees at Lockheed Martin's aircraft assembly plant in Meridian, Mississippi, was characterized by the county sheriff and Lockheed spokespeople as a typical act of tragic workplace violence. A Primetime Live investigation revealed the racial motivation of the crime and found that Lockheed Martin had known about the murderer's history of making racial threats in the workplace. The investigation also revealed that Lockheed Martin plants across the country had numerous incidents of racially charged threats and hate speech at work among employees. Court records of the Mississippi murders were sealed, but Dateline interviewed plant employees in order to reconstruct the crime.
Tags: murder; Lockheed Martin; defense contractors; hate crimes; racism; white supremacist