Watchdog Archives - The Virginia Star

DHS Watchdog Says Border Patrol Did Not ‘Thoroughly’ Plan for Risks in CBP One Program

August 23, 2024 Just the News

Some of the issues the investigation found included the functionality of the application, the sufficiency of the program’s language translations, and the “equity of appointment distribution.” This meant users experienced frequent crashes of the system, error messages, and language barriers.

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of the Inspector General on Wednesday revealed that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) did not adequately prepare for the risks that came with its latest immigration program.

Check’s Not In Mail: Postal Service Re-Organization Failed to Stem Billions in Losses

July 8, 2024 Just the News

The U.S. Postal Service has now accumulated a whopping $98 billion in losses since it went into the red in 2007 and its much-ballyhooed reorganization has failed to reverse the trend as expected, according to a sobering new report from the iconic mail agency’s watchdog.

The Postal Service inspector general reports that the mail service recorded losses of $950 million in 2022 and $6.5 billion in 2023, in the first two years after implementing its decade-long Delivering for America (DFA) reorganization plan.

Judge Orders True the Vote Leaders Jailed for Contempt of Court

November 1, 2022October 31, 2022 Just the News

A U.S. district judge on Monday ordered that two leaders of a conservative election integrity watchdog organization be detained for a day following their failure to comply with a court mandate to hand over evidence as part of their legal battle with Konnech, a Michigan-based firm that provides poll watcher management software to election offices.

After holding both in contempt in a Thursday hearing, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt ordered that Gregg Phillips and Catherine Englebrecht comply with the court order to name an unidentified individual whom they say was present at a 2021 meeting during which they purportedly received evidence to substantiate their claims against Konnech.

NIH-Funded Clinical Trials Failed to Comply with Federal Reporting Rule, Watchdog

August 17, 2022August 16, 2022 Virginia Star Staff

The National Institutes of Health failed to insure that all clinical trials funded by the agency and required to be reported in 2019 and 2020 met federal requirements, according to an inspector general report released Tuesday.

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General reviewed a total of 72 such trials from that period and found results were never submitted in 25, late in 12 and on time in 35.

Special Counsel Durham Says Just Learning About Justice Watchdog Horowitz, Sussmann’s 2017 Meeting

January 30, 2022January 30, 2022 Admin

Special counsel John Durham and his legal team say they’re just learning about a March 2017 meeting between Justice Department watchdog Michael Horowitz and former Hillary Clinton campaign Michael Sussmann – indicted last year for allegedly lying to the FBI while pushing now-discredited claims about the Trump Organization.

Durham’s team said Tuesday in a court filing they learned only a week ago about the meeting between Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz and Sussmann, who made the claims in 2016 about communications between a Russia bank and the Trump organization.

“The OIG had not previously informed the Special Counsel’s Office of this meeting with the defendant,” the filing by Durham’s legal team states.

‘Hard to Know Where Pandemic Relief Money Went,’ Admits Federal Spending Watchdog

October 25, 2021 Admin

Woman in mask in the dark looking at computer screen

This week’s Golden Horseshoe goes to a broad sweep of federal agencies for a systemic lack of transparency that is hampering efforts to monitor many billions of dollars in COVID-19 relief spending, according to a report by the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee.

The PRAC was established in 2020 by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to “promote transparency and conduct and support oversight” of more than $5 trillion in pandemic relief funds.

In a report released Wednesday, the watchdog details its difficulty in determining how funds are being spent due to federal agencies’ poor reporting on the government spending website, USAspending.gov.

Watchdog Demands Inspector General Investigation into Tracy Stone-Manning’s Allegedly False Statements About Eco-Terrorism Case

October 13, 2021 Admin

A government watchdog group demanded that the Department of the Interior Inspector General launch an investigation into whether President Joe Biden’s Senate-confirmed Bureau of Land Management director nominee violated the False Statement Act with statements she made to Congress about her involvement in a 1989 eco-terrorism case during her confirmation process.

Tracy Stone-Manning was confirmed to lead the agency along a party-line vote on Sept. 30 amid strong opposition from Republicans who accused her of lying to the Senate Energy Committee about her involvement in an eco-terrorism case. Stone-Manning testified in federal court in 1993 that she sent an anonymous, threatening letter to the Forest Service in 1989 on behalf of her former roommate and friend which warned that a local forest in Idaho had been sabotaged with tree spikes to make the trees unsafe to log.

Ethics Watchdog Wants Probe of Possible Improper Gift to Senate Panel Chasing Trump-Russia Hoax

October 12, 2021October 11, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

A watchdog group is calling for a Senate ethics investigation into a Democratic staffer for the Armed Services Committee regarding the Russia collusion hoax.

Empower Oversight sent a letter of complaint to the Senate Select Committee on Ethics requesting an investigation into Thomas Kirk McConnell, a staffer on the Armed Services Committee, for asking for and receiving professional services from former FBI analyst Dan Jones and his nonprofit, The Democracy Integrity Project (TDIP), in the Russia collusion investigation, which were performed at no cost to the committee.

TDIP, rather than just providing information to the Armed Services Committee, “appears to have obtained the nonpublic data used for its analysis from the Committee itself,” to use for its final report, the letter reads.

Internet Watchdog Says Ex-Intelligence Community Officials Are Echoing Big Tech Talking Points

September 20, 2021September 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

A warning by former national security officials about the dangers of regulating technology companies is in lockstep with arguments made by Big Tech chief executives, according to a report from an internet watchdog group.

A group of former intelligence community officials sent a letter Wednesday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy arguing against the passage of a series of antitrust bills advanced in the House Judiciary Committee in June. The warnings echo talking points made by groups lobbying for the tech industry and major tech firms themselves, according to a report by the Internet Accountability Project, a nonprofit conservative advocacy group focused on issues related to Big Tech.

The intelligence community officials argued the bills would make the U.S. less competitive with China and could even compromise America’s national security.

Reporters Challenged ‘Natural Causes’ Ruling in Death of Capitol Police Officer Sicknick: Watchdog

August 16, 2021August 15, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Members of the media pressured officials when Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick’s autopsy contravened the popular narrative that he essentially was beaten to death during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, according to records obtained by Judicial Watch.

Journalists challenged the Washington, D.C. medical examiner’s office regarding its finding that Sicknick in fact died of natural causes, according to those records.

The watchdog organization acquired the records via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, a spokesperson confirmed. The records include emails from journalists asking about the autopsy report that was released some three months after Officer Sicknick died.

Senior FBI Official Took Free Gifts from Media While Trump-Russia Probe Was Underway, Watchdog Says

July 21, 2021July 20, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

The Office of Inspector General for the Department of Justice released the findings Tuesday of an investigation that found a former senior FBI official violated agency policy by having numerous unauthorized contacts with the media.

The investigation found that the official, who has not been named and has since retired from the agency, “had numerous contacts with members of the media between January and November 2016 in violation of FBI policy,” as well as accepted unauthorized gifts from media members, according to the report.

The senior official had unofficial contact with media officials during the opening months of the Trump-Russia investigation. That investigation by the FBI started in the months leading up to and after the Nov. 2016 presidential election. However, the report does not mention that this official was part of the investigation.

GOP Senator Demands Watchdog Investigate Energy Secretary’s Involvement with Electric Car Company

May 4, 2021May 3, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Republican Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso asked the Department of Energy’s watchdog to investigate Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s continued involvement with an electric car company.

Sen. John Barrasso, the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, wrote a letter of concern to Department of Energy Inspector General Teri Donaldson Tuesday, warning of the potential conflict of interest. Barrasso said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm continues to own millions of dollars worth of stock in Proterra, a company that has a direct stake in her department’s work.

“Proterra, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of electric buses, batteries, and charging stations — and has been described as such by officials within the Biden Administration,” Barrasso wrote.