Sep 24, 2010
Your Input Needed: How to Evaluate Open Government?
POGO, as part of an effort spearheaded by the folks at OpenTheGovernment.org, will soon be helping evaluate the openness of agencies in the executive branch.
But before that process begins, we want to make sure to have input from the public.
The evaluation will be divided into three parts:
Please take a look at the proposal for the framework of the evaluation and leave a comment to let us know your thoughts. The current deadline for submitting feedback is October 4.
You can find more information about the creation of this evaluation here.
Earlier this year, POGO evaluated the Open Government Plans of the Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Energy (DOE), Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB).
-- Bryan Rahija
See also
- The Magna Carta for Government Transparency?
- 13 Best Practices for Open Government Webpages
- Results of Independent Audit of Agency Open Government Plans
- Agencies Show Progress with Updates to Open Government Plans
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September 24, 2010 in Open Government | Permalink | Tell us what you think--leave a comment! (0) | TrackBack (0)
Morning Smoke: This Year in Iraq and Afghanistan: Contractor Deaths > Military Deaths
This Year, Contractor Deaths Exceed Military Ones in Iraq and Afghanistan by T. Christian Miller [ProPublica]
Oil and Gas Pipeline Disasters Fail to Spur Bill Bolstering Oversight by Elana Schor [Greenwire]
Former Marine Corps sniper and security contractor Shane Schmidt dies at 33 by Emma Brown [The Washington Post]
4 senators urge Obama to fire Afghanistan watchdog by Richard Lardner [Associated Press]
Academic Study Confirms Passing Through 'Revolving Door' Pays Off [OpenSecrets Blog]
Volcker Spares No One in Broad Critique by Damian Paletta [Real Time Economics]
TARP Watchdog Bulks Up by Deborah Solomon [Washington Wire]
FBI to Help SEC Monitor Financial Fraud Tips by Andrew Ramonas [Main Justice]
Hidden Under Tax-Exempt Cloak, Political Dollars Flow by Mike McIntire [The New York Times]
Massey managers sue to block disaster interviews by Ken Ward Jr. [The Charleston Gazette]
FDA Restricts Avandia, Europe Suspends The Drug by Ed Silverman [Pharmalot]
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September 24, 2010 in Miscellaneous | Permalink | Tell us what you think--leave a comment! (0) | TrackBack (0)
Sep 23, 2010
Video Highlights from Senate Hearing on SEC's Investigation of Stanford Ponzi Scheme
The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs held an important oversight hearing yesterday to discuss an Office of Inspector General (OIG) report on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) stunning failures from its investigation of R. Allen Stanford’s $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme.
We commend the Committee for demanding answers to the breakdowns in the SEC’s investigation, particularly at the Ft. Worth Regional Office. The OIG’s investigation revealed that Ft. Worth examiners began flagging Stanford’s operations as a possible Ponzi scheme as early as 1997, and conducted four examinations confirming that Stanford was in violation of federal securities laws. But the Ft. Worth enforcement team largely ignored the examiners’ findings, and the SEC didn’t bring charges against Stanford until 2009 after the agency’s failures from the Madoff investigation were exposed. The OIG reported that the enforcement team was slow to investigate Stanford in part because of the Ft. Worth office’s preference for “quick hit” cases, an issue that received a great deal of attention at yesterday’s hearing.
But these were hardly the only problems exposed by the SEC’s failed investigation of Stanford. Over the past few months, we’ve been highlighting a separate OIG report on recent allegations of whistleblower retaliation at the Ft. Worth office. The OIG’s investigation found that Ft. Worth officials retaliated against a veteran examiner and her deputy for blowing the whistle on a new initiative that would have required the exam team to focus on stats over substance.
The SEC initially tried to block the release of the OIG’s report in its entirety. But a story by Zach Goldfarb at The Washington Post described the controversy that erupted when Ft. Worth officials announced the new “quick hit” exam program, and revealed that one of the whistleblowers was the same examiner who had tried for years to get the Ft. Worth enforcement team to crack down on Stanford.
A few weeks later, Darren Barbee at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram revealed that the SEC was ignoring the OIG’s recommendations for disciplinary action against the officials who had retaliated against the Ft. Worth whistleblowers. Barbee also reported that one of those officials, Ft. Worth Regional Director Rose Romero, appears to have given misleading testimony at a previous Senate Banking Committee hearing when asked about the SEC’s history of investigating Stanford. As we pointed out earlier this week, Romero was one of the witnesses at yesterday’s hearing.
Needless to say, we were very pleased to see Members of the Committee raise questions yesterday about the whistleblower retaliation issue, the SEC’s redacting and withholding of OIG reports, and Romero’s previous testimony. Here are just a few highlights:
- Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., asked SEC Inspector General David Kotz about the Post story on whistleblower retaliation at the Ft. Worth office, and requested more information on the ongoing conflicts between the enforcement and examination divisions:
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September 23, 2010 in Financial Oversight, Whistleblower Protection | Permalink | Tell us what you think--leave a comment! (0) | TrackBack (0)
SEC Secrecy Repeal Sent to Obama
The House voted today to repeal Section 929I of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which had provided the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with sweeping new powers to hide its records from public scrutiny. The House’s passage of S. 3717 comes just one day after the Senate voted unanimously to strike the troubling secrecy measure, and is the first legislative correction to the new financial regulatory overhaul law.
See POGO’s press alert for our statement on today’s vote.
Section 929I would have given the SEC the blanket authority to block the release of records in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, and to withhold records in response to subpoenas filed by third-party civil litigants, even if such records were needed to expose corruption or incompetence at the agency. S. 3717 repeals these overly broad and unnecessary secrecy measures, and clarifies that an existing FOIA exemption, Exemption 8, will protect against the release of confidential information contained in the records of any entity that falls under the SEC’s regulatory authority.
Last month, POGO and other groups called on Congress to remove the broad and troubling secrecy measures in Section 929I. At a subsequent hearing before the House Financial Services Committee, POGO Director of Public Policy Angela Canterbury urged Congress to repeal Section 929I rather than allowing the SEC to issue its own internal guidance implementing the provision as it saw fit.
Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle responded immediately once it became clear that Section 929I had gone too far in allowing the SEC to withhold information. Several bills were introduced in the House to repeal Section 929I, including bills introduced by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., and Ranking Member Darrell Issa, R-Calif., both of whom testified at the Financial Services Committee hearing last week. On the Senate side, S. 3717 was introduced by Senators Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, John Cornyn, R-Tex., and Ted Kaufman, D-Del., all of whom have been longtime champions of open government.
In a statement on the passage of the House bill, Senator Leahy remarked that "this new law will ensure that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) remains an effective tool to provide public access to information about the stability of our financial markets."
But while Congress has acted quickly to reverse the blanket secrecy measure sought by the SEC, more must be done to ensure the agency is following President Obama’s order to operate with a presumption in favor of disclosure.
POGO called on Congress to make the SEC more open and accountable moving forward. In her testimony last week, Canterbury highlighted a recent Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit which found that the SEC has one of the worst FOIA release rates of any agency in the federal government. She recommended follow-up audits by the OIG to ensure that the SEC is fully implementing its recommendations for complying with FOIA and the Obama Administration’s guidance on transparency and disclosure. She also urged Congress to review the SEC’s use of the existing FOIA exemptions, especially Exemption 8, which will be expanded with the enactment of S. 3717.
In addition, Canterbury raised concerns about the SEC’s practice of heavily redacting and withholding OIG reports, an issue that was also raised in yesterday’s Senate Banking Committee hearing on the failures of the SEC’s investigation into the Stanford Ponzi scheme.
-- Michael Smallberg
See also:
- Senate Unanimously Approves Repeal of SEC Secrecy Provision
- U.S. Chamber of Commerce Selling SEC Secrecy
- Senate Judiciary Committee Unanimously Approves Legislation to Strike SECrecy Measure
- Court Rejects Fed's Latest Attempt to Keep Bailout Records Secret
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September 23, 2010 in Financial Oversight, Open Government | Permalink | Tell us what you think--leave a comment! (1) | TrackBack (0)
POGO and Senators: Time to Remove SIGAR
POGO today echoed a bi-partisan group of Senators in calling on President Obama to remove Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) Arnold Fields.
We did not make this request lightly. Removing an IG is a serious action that should only be taken in extreme circumstances. But as we documented in our press release, this is one of those circumstances.
The most recent blow to the office was the discovery that SIGAR awarded a sole-source contract to Joseph Schmitz, PLLC to independently monitor SIGAR's efforts to reform its investigative division. We'll discuss the contract in detail on the blog tomorrow, but in the meantime, you can read more about it here.
-- Jake Wiens
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September 23, 2010 in Watching the Watchdogs | Permalink | Tell us what you think--leave a comment! (0) | TrackBack (0)
POGO Testifies on Treasury's Use of Private Contractors in Bailout Programs
POGO’s Scott Amey testified yesterday before the Congressional Oversight Panel on the Treasury Department’s use of private of contractors in its bailout programs.
For those who missed it, you can find live updates from the hearing on POGO’s Twitter feed. A video of the hearing is also available on the Panel’s website.
Shortly after the passage of legislation in 2008 that created the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), Treasury began turning to private financial institutions, law firms, accounting firms, consulting firms, and other entities to assist with the implementation of its bailout programs. According to its latest monthly Congressional report, Treasury has now entered into over 100 transactions with various contractors and financial agents to procure nearly $450 million worth of services.
The 2008 TARP legislation authorized Treasury to waive certain Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provisions requiring full and open competition in the awarding of contracts, since Treasury had to rapidly implement the bailout programs in response to the financial crisis. This potential lack of competition raised concerns that the government would not be getting the best quality goods and services at the best price. POGO and others have also raised concerns about the potential for conflicts of interest resulting from Treasury awarding contracts to firms that perform similar services for their private clients.
In his testimony before the Panel, Scott described many of the big-picture problems in government contracting, such as inadequate competition, deficient accountability, lack of transparency, and risky contracting vehicles.
He also offered some analysis on Treasury’s use of its bailout contracting authority. Overall, Treasury has done a good job of being transparent about its TARP policies, procedures, and contracts, converting risky contract types, promoting competition, and utilizing small businesses. However, there are additional steps Treasury could take to safeguard the interests of taxpayers, such as improving its rule to mitigate conflicts of interest for private firms working on the TARP programs.
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September 23, 2010 in Congressional Oversight, Contract Oversight, Financial Oversight, Open Government | Permalink | Tell us what you think--leave a comment! (0) | TrackBack (0)
Morning Smoke: Senate Approves Bill to Deep Six SEC Secrecy Provision
Senate Repeals Part of Financial Overhaul by Jessica Holzer [The Wall Street Journal]
Why did warnings about murders by soldiers in Afghanistan go unheeded? [The Washington Post]
Feds may prosecute former SEC official involved in Stanford case by Dave Michaels [Dallas Morning News]
Treasury's TARP leader Allison resigns by Ryan Holeywell [BailoutSleuth]
DoD: Civilian contractors in Kuwait didn't have proper clearances by Charley Keyes [CNN]
IG nominee may expand reviews of CIA covert operations [Federal Times]
Merit Systems Protection Board weighs national security powers against employee rights by Joe Davidson [The Washington Post]
House Passes Bill To Ban Execs For Healthcare Fraud by Ed Silverman [Pharmalot]
Interior rebuffs inquiry on stalled oil spill bill by Ben Geman [The Hill]
Still wondering how much an F-35 costs? by Stephen Trimble [The DEW Line]
Regulators, Oil Firms Still in Uneasy Alliance by Siobhan Hughes [The Wall Street Journal]
Federal Cops to Gulf Journos: Don't Dig, It's Illegal [SEJ]
Corrupt Democracy: an interview with John Githongo by Elizabeth Dickinson [Foreign Policy]
Federal Judge Chides SEC in Mark Cuban's Document Dispute by Mike Scarcella [The Blog of Legal Times]
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September 23, 2010 in Miscellaneous | Permalink | Tell us what you think--leave a comment! (0) | TrackBack (0)
Sep 22, 2010
New Podcast: Downblending and the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex in Plain English
Looking for an overview of our latest report on the U.S. nuclear weapons complex in audio form? Look no further than our latest podcast, in which POGO investigators Ingrid Drake and Peter Stockton break down how the U.S. can improve national security, save taxpayer dollars, and generate revenue—up to $23 billion—for the Treasury.
We're also collecting questions from listeners for an upcoming podcast. What do you want to know about POGO, or the world of government oversight in general? Leave your questions in the comments section below, or send to info@pogo.org and we'll do our best to answer.
-- Bryan Rahija
See also:
- U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex: How the Country Can Profit and Become More Secure by Getting Rid of Its Surplus Weapons-Grade Uranium
- Expert Agrees: Over 300 Metric Tons of Highly Enriched Uranium is Surplus to U.S. Needs
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September 22, 2010 in Nuclear Security | Permalink | Tell us what you think--leave a comment! (1) | TrackBack (0)
Senate Approves Bill to Undo SEC Secrecy Provision
The Senate yesterday approved S. 3717, a bill to scrap the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) newfound secrecy privileges.
The bill—approved unanimously—would strike language from a section in this year's mammoth financial regulatory reform bill that provided the SEC with overly broad exemptions to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA).
Find a statement by POGO Executive Director Danielle Brian and additional analysis here.
-- Bryan Rahija
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September 22, 2010 in Financial Oversight, Open Government | Permalink | Tell us what you think--leave a comment! (0) | TrackBack (0)
Kerr-McGee Fined Nearly $23 Million in Penalties for Underpaying Royalties
After almost seven years of fighting, former Minerals Management Service (MMS) auditor Bobby Maxwell has won his false claims suit against Kerr-McGee Oil and Gas.
As an auditor, Maxwell raised concerns about Kerr-McGee's gross underpayments of royalties owed to taxpayers—his estimate at the time was over $10 million—only to be rebuffed and retaliated against by his supervisors. He lost his job after making his allegations public and is now retired in Tennessee.
To learn more about Bobby Maxwell's courage, check out PBS NOW's excellent story, and our oil resource page for a better understanding of the cozy relationships between the Department of the Interior and industry that he had to fight in order to prevail.
Then-Congressman Rahm Emanuel's 2007 statement on behalf of Mr. Maxwell makes a compelling case for the need to protect patriotic whistleblowers:
I regret that Mr. Maxwell had to lose his job to expose the greed of this company and the failures at MMS, but his story is a positive one. Both he and the federal government will benefit from his diligence and service. Kerr-McGee will have to pay significant penalties as a result of underpayment and false statements in their royalty reports. Additionally, Mr. Maxwell is not alone-three other auditors from MMS have filed whistleblowing cases against companies that the Interior Department blocked them from investigating.
Madam Speaker, Mr. Maxwell and these other dedicated public servants deserve our recognition and gratitude. They have stood up and declared that the public's trust and money both deserve our attention, respect, and protection. I ask my colleagues to join me in thanking Mr. Maxwell and congratulating him on a job well done. Let us follow his example by continuing to put accountability ahead.
-- Mandy Smithberger
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September 22, 2010 in Oil spill / MMS, Watching the Watchdogs, Whistleblower Protection | Permalink | Tell us what you think--leave a comment! (0) | TrackBack (0)
