Over the weekend, the IRS scandal got even more bizarre. Various news organizations got a look at a still-unreleased report by the inspector general (IG) for tax administration at the Treasury Department. According to the report, IRS official Lois Lerner knew about the problem by June 2011; yet in March …
The State Department inspector general made news Thursday with the revelation that the office is looking into the report produced by the Benghazi Accountability Review Board (ARB) in December on the terrorist attack on a U.S. facility in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012. Most shocking is the allegation that …
The President has a right to nominate cabinet secretaries who share his political views. He does not have a right to appoint unqualified cabinet secretaries. The Senate should critically examine Thomas Perez’s nomination for Secretary of Labor. He has a record of selective law enforcement, questionable judgment, and bad management. …
The world’s second-largest reinsurer, Swiss Re, reports “that natural catastrophes and man-made disasters cost the insurance industry $77 billion in 2012.” The report noted this figure covered “more than 300 catastrophes and disasters caus[ing] the loss of 14,000 lives and $186 billion.” These disasters included many of the 112 events …
Should government agencies use the best information possible? For more than 80 years, the Labor Department has answered that question in the negative. The Davis–Bacon Act (DBA) of 1931 requires federal construction contractors to pay their workers at least the “prevailing wage” in their locality. The Act charges the Labor …
Federal requirements for monitoring jobs data associated with President Obama’s stimulus package are insufficient to ensure that that the information is accurate, according to a review of that data compiled by the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The IG released a report this week documenting widespread inaccuracies in …
Identity verification systems that allow employees of the U.S. Department of Labor to access secure information systems are woefully lacking in security measures, according to DOL’s Office of the Inspector General. A September 7 letter from DOL’s assistant inspector general for audit, obtained by Scribe through a Freedom of Information …
The Treasury Department’s top watchdog has opened an investigation into a popular grant program that helped finance a host of green energy projects, according to a recent SEC filing by one of the companies under investigation. SolarCity Corp. revealed in its initial public offer (IPO) filing that it has been subpoenaed by …
On the heels of staging a successful presidential forum, Univision, the largest Spanish-language network in the U.S., has uncovered more information on the failed Operation Fast and Furious. Fast and Furious resulted in nearly 2,000 high-powered weapons travelling across the border to be used by Mexican drug cartels that has …
The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) inspector general has come out with a report about Operation Fast and Furious, an ill-conceived gun-smuggling investigation to identify the cartel leaders behind a firearms trafficking network that resulted in more than 2,000 high-powered weapons ending up in the hands of dangerous thugs. Two of …
