This project is a collaboration between the Center for Public Integrity and the Center for Investigative Reporting
Introduction
A Troubled History
By The Center for Public Integrity | Center for Investigative Reporting | February 16, 2010
Since the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, the federal government has mounted an unprecedented domestic effort to protect America from terrorist threats. Part of that effort involved a massive reorganization of government; in March 2003, some 22 federal agencies were combined into a new Cabinet-level entity called the Department of Homeland Security. But the initiative also involved new money — stacks of it. Read More
Emergency Communications
Homeland Security’s Billion-Dollar Bet on Better Communications
By Sarah Laskow | The Center for Public Integrity | February 16, 2010
Since the terrorist attacks on 9/11, the federal government has doled out billions of dollars for communications gear and related technology. The goal is to create "interoperability" that allows first responders from different disciplines and jurisdictions to communicate. But for years, results have failed to live up to expectations. Read More
Sprint’s Real Fantasy: Firefighters Achieving Interoperability
By Sarah Laskow | The Center for Public Integrity | April 10, 2009
In one of its new commercials, Sprint Nextel cheekily imagines how firefighters might use the company’s new walkie-talkies to run Congress. Riffing on the fantasy, Slate complains about the sort of laws this process might lead to. But for the Center, the commercial recalled a hard reality: Any gathering of firefighters from different jurisdictions, legislatively minded or not, likely wouldn’t be able to use their radios to communicate. Read More
Interoperability: A Priority for Homeland Security?
By Sarah Laskow | The Center for Public Integrity | February 16, 2010
Lawmakers and DHS officials have long pledged that interoperability was a top priority. But the federal government's interoperability initiatives have largely been under-funded, sparsely staffed, and buried in bureaucracy. Read More
Spending in California
Homeland Security Marked by Waste, Lack of Oversight
By G.W. Schulz | Center for Investigative Reporting | September 11, 2009
Records show that communities across California had difficulty managing millions in anti-terrorism grants handed out by Congress after Sept. 11. Paperwork went missing and purchasing rules weren't followed. Is the state ready for more in stimulus funds if preparedness cash proved so difficult? Read More
Fear and Fortune
By G.W. Schulz | Center for Investigative Reporting | September 11, 2009
When Mattman Specialty Vehicles suddenly shut its doors in 2006 at the height of demand for new homeland security equipment, customers, including local governments, were left with half-finished trucks or lost deposits. Read More
Fighting Domestic Terrorism
Assessing RNC Police Tactics, Part I
By G.W. Schulz | Center for Investigative Reporting | September 01, 2009
Intelligence-led policing played a starring role in 2008's Republican National Convention, and eight political activists stand accused of conspiracy today. But are new tactics for fighting domestic terrorism being used appropriately? Read More
Assessing RNC Police Tactics, Part II
By G.W. Schulz | Center for Investigative Reporting | September 02, 2009
In the second part of a two-part story, CIR looks at several of the cases flagged by intelligence-led policing during the 2008 Republican National convention. Read More
Fighting Crime with Computers in Minnesota
By G.W. Schulz | Center for Investigative Reporting | September 01, 2009
The state of Minnesota’s unique privacy laws predate even the federal Privacy Act of 1974. They’re designed to protect sensitive personal information like social security numbers belonging to citizens and contained in government databases. Privacy advocates worry that police are less concerned about protecting such data after Sept. 11. Read More
A Legacy of Spying
By G.W. Schulz | Center for Investigative Reporting | September 02, 2009
Civil libertarians worry that fusion centers, financed with hundreds of millions of dollars in homeland security grants, are a throw-back to ’60s-era domestic spying by local police and federal law enforcement. A former Minneapolis police chief knows all about that history. Read More
Are Things Any Different in Denver?
By G.W. Schulz | Center for Investigative Reporting | September 03, 2009
The state of Colorado had its own fusion center. But authorities there refused a public-records request for documents showing what role the center played in Denver’s preparations for the Democratic National Convention. Read More
Congressional Oversight
Is Congress Failing on Homeland Security Oversight?
By Sarah Laskow | The Center for Public Integrity | July 16, 2009
Tom Ridge, the Department of Homeland Security’s first secretary, testified before the 9/11 Commission on a May morning in 2004. Ridge spoke before a hall packed with emotional New Yorkers, about two miles from the site of the World Trade Center. His subject, however, was Washington. Read More
FEMA’s Emergency Grant Program Gets $100 Million, but Where’s Oversight?
By Sarah Laskow | The Center for Public Integrity | April 10, 2009
The Department of Homeland Security announced yesterday that it’s giving $100 million of stimulus funds to the Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program — an organization that supplements emergency social service groups. It seems like a pretty legitimate use of the funds: The homeless setting up tent cities in California sure could use emergency housing, and food banks have fielded increasing demand for months. But the EFSP, a grant program overseen by FEMA, is just a little bit short-staffed, according to a recent report by DHS’s Inspector General. Read More
WMD Commission Criticizes Homeland Security Oversight
By Sarah Laskow | The Center for Public Integrity | October 21, 2009
A progress report released today by a federal commission reiterates earlier warnings on the dangers inherent in Congress’s crazy-quilt oversight of homeland security. Read More
A Funding Bonanza Up North
Homeland Security Pays Dividends for Alaska
By G.W. Schulz | Center for Investigative Reporting | October 31, 2008
Sarah Palin promotes the self-reliance of her state, but she doesn’t mention the mobile command communications vehicle, bought with federal dollars to help keep her home town of 7,028 safe from terrorism. Thanks in part to an anti-terrorism bonanza, Alaska is one of the greatest per-capita beneficiaries of federal funding among the 50 states. Read More
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