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 "foreign countries" ...
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WSJ China's Troubled Transition
During his years in China, British businessman Neil Heywood cut a rather eccentric figure, cruising around Beijing in a silver Jaguar with “007” license plates and boasting implausibly about his connections to senior Communist Party officials. When he was found dead in a second-rate provincial hotel room in November 2011—of “excessive alcohol consumption,” according to local authorities—he was immediately cremated and seemingly just as quickly forgotten. Forgotten, that is, until Wall Street Journal reporter Jeremy Page began digging into the case. Using his wide network of local and foreign contacts, the Beijing correspondent discovered that this was much more than a sad case of expat overindulgence. It turned out that Mr. Heywood was in fact very close to the wife of Bo Xilai, a Communist Party rising star—and that he had told friends he feared she might do him harm. The investigation lifted the lid on the extravagant, and often lawless, private lives of the country's elite—a forbidden topic for Chinese media, and one rarely touched on by the foreign press. Mr. Page’s reports, devoured by China’s vast population of Internet users, sparked massive public debate and may even have altered the course of China’s once-a-decade leadership transition.
Tags: Bo Xilai; China; Communist Party; death
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Justice in the Shadows
Although immigration is one of America’s most divisive, visceral, and hotly debated issues, the public rarely gets a close look at the vast law enforcement network that every year detains more than 400,000 suspected illegal immigrants. Courts often operate inside prisons, far from view. Immigration officials play by rules that would not be permitted for the police or the FBI. Here is a system heavily shielded from public scrutiny. Reporting even routine activities is a challenge. Boston Globe reporters Maria Sacchetti and Milton J. Valencia, however, penetrated the wall of secrecy. Their three-part series, “Justice in the Shadows,” revealed a dysfunctional and largely unaccountable system that locks up people who pose little threat while releasing dangerous criminals back to US streets because their home countries won’t take them back. The results, Sacchetti and Valencia showed, at times can be deadly for Americans and foreigners alike. The reporting was anything but quick or easy. Sacchetti and Valencia filed more than 20 Freedom of Information Act requests to federal agencies that comprise the immigration system. Nearly all of them were partially or wholly denied, purportedly to protect the privacy of the immigrants. With the federal government blocking the way, Sacchetti and Valencia found other avenues to document what was happening inside this Byzantine system, investing a year to do so. The effort to shed light on the immigration system continues: The Globe has filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security to force the agency to reveal the names of more than 8,000 criminal foreigners released in the US because they couldn’t be deported.
Tags: security; Department of Homeland Security; illegal immigrants; FBI
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A Tampa Case of Stolen Valor
“A local man has been joining veteran’s organizations around the Tampa area”. He often comes dressed in a marine uniform, showing off his “Navy Cross”, which he was awarded while serving his country. It turns out that he never won the award, was never a part of the Marines, and never even served for the US Military. Further, he was charged with violating the “Stolen Valor Act” and forging government documents.
Tags: US Justice Department; Angel Ocasio; federal law; medal; nation; service; American Legion; Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW); decorations
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Overseas Donors
The Associated Press investigated whether any donors to presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain with foreign addresses were illegal foreign donors; whether the two campaigns were guarding against illegal foreign money by asking overseas donors for copies of their current U.S. passports as the Federal Election Commission instructs; and to what extent the two campaigns were failing to disclose basic information about donors such as their employers and occupations. The AP reviewed hundreds of thousands of donations from around the globe and found evidence that both campaigns took money first and asked questions later. The reporters found a smattering of illegal foreign donations to Obama as well as missing details in federal paperwork the law requires from Obama and McCain. During interviews with 123 donors in 11 countries, The AP found that Obama accepted illegal contributions from at least three foreigners. In one case, a Canadian noted with is donation that he was not an American; the Obama campaign accepted his money anyway, and the Canadian's note about his foreign citizenship actually appeared in Obama's campaign finance report. A donor in Australia admitted to the AP that he entered a phony passport number when making an Internet contribution to Obama. Just five donors, three for Obama and two for McCain, told the AP that the campaigns asked to see copies of their current U.S. passports.
Tags: Barack Obama; John McCain; campaign finance; illegal donations; foreign donations; campaign regulation; 2008 presidential election
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Collateral Damage: Human Rights and U.S. Military Aid After 9/11
This project investigated the impact of foreign lobbying and terrorism on U.S. post-9/11 military training and aid programs. Controversial U.S. allies such as Pakistan received billions of dollars in additional, new military aid to fight the global war on terror. Additionally, foreign governments spent millions lobbying the White House and the Pentagon, taking advantage of the chaotic policymaking environment to ask for their own military aid. The investigation revealed that the change in priorities often came at the cost of human rights and fiscal accountability.
Tags: human rights; foreign countries; international relations; war on terror; military expenses
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Investigative Report: Foreign Labor
While investigating "the system that allows companies to bring skilled foreign workers into the country on both a temporary and permanent basis," a pattern is documented of "out-of-state companies slipping through loopholes in U.S. law, allowing them to ignore protections set up to shelter American workers from unfair competition." The story also details possible national-security risks that can come from abuse of the foreign-worker system.
Tags: Immigration; foreign workers
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The No-Fly List
CBS News reported that the No-Fly List, compiled after 9/11 to "prevent an Islamic terrorist who's associated with al-Queda from getting on a plane" is "incomplete, inaccurate, outdated, and a source of aggravation to thousands of innocent Americans." The version available to airport screeners is "sanitized of the most sensitive information", because "intelligence agencies that supply the names don't want them circulated to airport employees in foreign countries for fear that they could end up in the hands of terrorists." Before 9/11 the list had 16 names on it; after 9/11, the list grew to include 44 thousand names, not including an additional 75 thousand names on the additional security screening list. Now there's another list: names of people who have shouldn't be on the first list. You have to apply to get on that list. The list airport screeners see has no birth dates or physical descriptions. For the past three years, the TSA has spent about 144 million dollars to develop a program called Secure Flight-- it hasn't been implemented yet.
Tags: Department of Homeland Security; anti-war activists; Iraq; No-Fly List; wiretaps; FBI; Excel; heads-of-state; Transportation Security Administration; TSA; data dump; National Security News Service; Joe Trento; NSA; Zaccarias Moussaoui; FBI Terrorist's Screening Center; Donna Bucella; Dawud Salahuddin; David Belfield; Kip Hawley; Cathy Berrick; General Accounting Office; Secure Flight
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Preying on Parents
A California-based international adoption firm is found to be defrauding prospective parents, taking advantage of "legal loopholes and government neglect." The story involves bribes and kickbacks to foreign government officials, the use of internet fraud on prospective parents, and "the withholding of vital medical information about orphans to misstate their health." In some cases, the children adopted through the agency had such severe medical conditions or other issues, and were institutionalized or sent home to their native countries. Meanwhile, "the company ignored complaints and pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees."
Tags: Adoption; former Soviet Union; child adoption; fraud; Internet adoption agency; orphans; medical problems
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Blood Money: Wasted Billions, Lost Lives, and Corporate Greed in Iraq
The US has spent more money on rebuilding Iraq than it has ever spent on any foreign country, yet it has failed to rebuild it. "The book chronicles poor planning, massive corruption by both Iraqi and American officials, a complete lack of accountability and the rise of the private security industry."
Tags: Iraq; money; rebuilding; Halliburton; Bush administration
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The Untouchable Narco-State: Guatemala's military defies the DEA
This investigation shows the extent of the role that the Guatemalan military plays in the country's drug trafficking industry. The author found that the military is highly involved in the drug trade, and that pressure from the US Drug Enforcement Administration is not enough to curtail their involvement.
Tags: FOIA; corruption; drugs; narcotics; DEA; cocaine; foreign relations; Guatemala; military corruption