2008-07-24T19:11:19Z tag:blog.washingtonpost.com,2008:/washingtonpostinvestigations//360 Copyright (c) 2008, WashingtonPost.Newsweek Interactive 2008-07-24T19:11:19Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-07-24:/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/07/house_ways_and_means_committee.html

Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) has reversed course on two ethics investigations filed against him, telling the House committee he chairs that he wants to be fully vetted. The House Ways and Means Committee chairman acknowledged yesterday that he hoped his personal entreaties to foundations and corporations would bring in donations to an academic center that bears his name, The Post's Christopher Lee reports. In a letter to the House ethics committee, Rangel confirmed that...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Derek Kravitz 2008-07-23T22:16:24Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-07-23:/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/07/contractors_influence_in_war_z.html

More than 300 audits have been performed on contracts in Iraq since the start of the war in 2003 and of the $450 billion that has been obligated to support operations in Iraq, roughly $78 billion has been awarded through 103,000 contracts, Defense Department officials told a Senate committee today. The Defense Department does not track the total number of contractors it employs, but the tally is substantial. For example, there are more than 163,000...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Derek Kravitz 2008-07-23T16:29:56Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-07-23:/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/07/judge_orders_release_of_docume.html

A federal judge in New York has ruled that sealed grand jury testimony from the 1951 indictment of alleged Soviet spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg must be released, the latest twist in a decades-long quest to find out if the suspected spies were innocent. The National Security Archive joined with the Rosenberg family, scholars and historians to petition for the release of all grand jury records related to the indictment, conviction and execution of the...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Derek Kravitz 2008-07-22T22:14:49Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-07-22:/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/07/wachovias_staggering_losses_re.html

The nation's fourth largest bank, Wachovia Corp., reported that it had lost $8.9 billion in the second quarter due to soaring bad mortgage debt, leading the bank to cut its dividend and slash 6,350 jobs in response to mortgage-related losses -- a testament to the bad loans the company made during the housing boom, The Post's Frank Ahrens reports. Wachovia tapped former Treasury under secretary Robert K. Steel, a former key architect of the Bush...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Derek Kravitz 2008-07-22T16:18:16Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-07-22:/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/07/armed_services_chief_says_air.html

The head of the Senate Armed Services Committee said today that new Air Force leaders must fix the problems at the beleaguered service, which has been under fire for mishandling some of its nuclear responsibilities, The Associated Press reports. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said he acknowledges it's "a very, very difficult time" for the service while speaking at the opening of a confirmation hearing for two men nominated to take the place of Air Force...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Derek Kravitz 2008-07-21T21:55:47Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-07-21:/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/07/a_slew_of_expensive_equipment.html

"Washington Watchdogs," a periodic feature of the Post's Investigations blog, looks at the findings of the federal government's official investigators. Millions of dollars in equipment purchased by the Indian Health Service, including all-terrain vehicles and tractors, laptop computers and digital cameras, have been lost or stolen, according to a report released today by the Government Accountability Office. The Rockville, Md.-based Indian Health Service, which employs about 15,500 people and receives about $3.2 billion in...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Derek Kravitz 2008-07-21T18:56:19Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-07-21:/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/07/hamdan_trial_brings_us_policy.html

Salim Ahmed Hamdan, the former driver for Osama bin Laden, pleaded not guilty today in the first U.S. war crimes trial since World War II. The 37-year-old Yemeni, entered his plea through his lawyer at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, The Associated Press reports. If convicted on charges of conspiracy and supporting terrorism, Hamdan could be sentenced to life in prison. His lawyers say he was merely a paid chauffeur and mechanic...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Derek Kravitz 2008-07-18T19:32:39Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-07-18:/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/07/resignation_of_special_counsel.html

The resignation of the second-in-command at the government's top whistle-blower office -- and his accusation that his boss, U.S. Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch, put "political agendas and personal vendettas" ahead of the agency's mission and independence -- is the latest shake-up in a office that has been under scrutiny for years. James Byrne's resignation as deputy to Bloch is effective Saturday, The Associated Press reports. Bloch is under federal investigation, accused of destroying evidence...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Derek Kravitz 2008-07-18T17:27:56Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-07-18:/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/07/the_air_forces_use_of.html

An Air Force document specified that the capsule's seats are to swivel such that "the longitudinal axis of the seat is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the aircraft" regardless of where the capsules are facing. (Special to The Washington Post). The Air Force's use of more than $16 million in counter-terrorism funds for "comfort capsules" on military planes has prompted an internal debate over whether taxpayer money should be used for luxury Defense...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Derek Kravitz 2008-07-18T15:49:12Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-07-18:/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/07/the_posts_picks_for_top_invest.html

In what will become a regular feature of Post Investigations, our editors have combed through the in-depth and investigative reports from news outlets across the nation and selected three notable projects of the week. Get the complete list (in no particular order) after the jump....Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Derek Kravitz 2008-07-17T22:57:31Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-07-17:/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/07/report_small_business_agency_h.html

Companies collected millions of dollars in government small-business contracts by claiming to have main offices in poor neighborhoods that were actually empty duplexes, part-time offices and other ineligible locations, according to a government report released today. The Government Accountability Office report examined the $8 billion HUBZone program, which is designed to award federal contracts to small businesses in economically disadvantaged areas. The report said government workers with the program use an outdated map from August...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Derek Kravitz 2008-07-17T16:18:47Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-07-17:/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/07/an_internal_fight_between_form.html

An internal fight between former Attorney General John D. Ashcroft and the White House over who would lead the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel in early 2003 set off a quick turn of events, ultimately leading to a critical attack on the Bush administration's interrogation methods by its "compromise" pick. President Bush's chief of staff, Andrew H. Card Jr., dismissed the five candidates put forward by Ashcroft, all Republican lawyers with impeccable credentials, sources...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Derek Kravitz 2008-07-16T21:03:38Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-07-16:/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/07/state_and_local_agencies_have.html

"Washington Watchdogs," a periodic feature of the Post's Investigations blog, looks at the findings of the federal government's official investigators. State and local agencies have made strides in cleaning up decades of water pollution in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, but those tasked with turning around the bay are still struggling to address a new set of threats, according to a government report released today. Investigators with the Environmental Protection Agency's inspector general found and...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Derek Kravitz 2008-07-16T15:16:37Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-07-16:/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/07/porkbarrel_spending_attempts_a.html

Despite pledges from congressional leaders to halt the rising number of pork-barrel spending projects tucked into massive spending bills, the earmark process is alive and kicking, according to the House's spending bills for 2009 and databases created by Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan federal budget watchdog. The earmarks in the House version of the labor, health and human services appropriations bill for the 2009 fiscal year jumped to $618.8 million from $277.9 million compared...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Derek Kravitz 2008-07-16T01:28:57Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-07-15:/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/07/los_alamos_site_still_not.html

"Washington Watchdogs," a periodic feature of the Post's Investigations blog, looks at the findings of the federal government's official investigators. (Updated to include a statement from Los Alamos National Laboratory) Security lapses at one of the nation's three nuclear weapons testing labs, the storied Los Alamos National Laboratory in the New Mexico desert, have continued despite frequent and sometimes heated calls for improvements by congressional leaders, according to a Government Accountability Office report released...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Derek Kravitz