http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/ig/ en-us Thu, 9 May 2013 17:50:09 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3017500/posts In yesterdays hearings on Benghazi, Gregory Hicks told the House Oversight Committee that the State Department warned him about cooperating with investigators and retaliated against him for challenging the bogus talking points about a “spontaneous demonstration.” Mark Thompson further testified to being cut out of the loop after he insisted that FEST should be activated, and Eric Nordstrom dismissed the supposedly independent ARB effort as a whitewash aimed at protecting senior officials in the State Department. Those aren’t the only complaints coming from career professionals within the Obama administration. Politico reports that the Inspector General for the reconstruction of Afghanistan... Hot Air http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3017500/posts#comment Thu, 9 May 2013 17:50:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2960908/posts The Washington Post reports that “the CIA and other intelligence analysts have settled on what amounts to a hybrid view” of September 11, 2012, “suggesting that the Cairo protest sparked militants in Libya, who quickly mobilized an assault on U.S. facilities in Benghazi.”  What the Post doesn’t say is that the Cairo protest was itself an al Qaeda-infused, if not outright orchestrated, event.The “hybrid” explanation is a compromise, of sorts, between two competing narratives. The first suggested that a protest against an anti-Islam film in Benghazi led to a “spontaneous” assault on the US consulate there. We know that version... The Weekly Standard http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2960908/posts#comment Sun, 18 Nov 2012 19:36:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2939109/posts .S. Inspector General issues critical review of Wade Park-Brecksville VA facility merger By James F. McCarty, The Plain Dealer on October 01, 2012 at 5:42 PM, updated October 02, 2012 at 8:25 AM Email | Print Lisa DeJong, Plain Dealer fileFederal Veterans Affairs officials take a tour of the construction at the Louis Stokes Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Wade Park in 2010. CLEVELAND, Ohio — The U.S. Inspector General has issued a scathing review of the expanded Veterans Affairs Medical Center at Wade Park, contending the ill-conceived project will cost taxpayers nearly $500 million over 20 years. The 124-page... Cleveland Plain Dealer http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2939109/posts#comment Tue, 2 Oct 2012 16:15:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2933559/posts (CNSNews.com) - The report on Operation Fast and Furious released today by the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General says a member of the White House National Security staff declined to be interviewed for the inspector general's investigation and that the White House itself did not produce internal documents for the investigation because the White House said it was "beyond the purview" of the inspector general. The report said that gun traffickers purchased more than 2,000 weapons during Fast and Furious and that U.S. law enforcement officers eventually only recovered about 100 of these because "of a strategy jointly pursued... CNS News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2933559/posts#comment Wed, 19 Sep 2012 23:17:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/694760/posts FBI affidavit details Abdel-Rahman's jailhouse pipeline JUNE 3--Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman laughed at the ease with which his legal team improperly smuggled messages that allowed the Muslim extremist to continue directing terrorist operations while serving a life sentence in a Minnesota prison cell, according to a sealed FBI affidavit obtained by The Smoking Gun. Abdel-Rahman joked that "trained doves" were transporting messages to his disciples. "I really would like that they arrest those doves. I wish that one day I read, 'The FBI was able to arrest the doves that are contacting the Sheikh.'" The convicted terrorist then added, "as... The Smoking Gun http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/694760/posts#comment Wed, 5 Jun 2002 04:54:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2916204/posts Agency supervisors told employees to ignore red flagsThe IRS has paid out as much as $5.2 billion in fraudulent tax refunds to immigrants, and ignored employees who tried to warn agency higher-ups of its mistakes, according to a new audit released Wednesday by the agency’s inspector general. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said identity theft fraud could cost the government $21 billion over the next five years unless the IRS takes steps to crack down on the bogus use of Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) which are issued to immigrants — legal and illegal — in lieu of... The Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2916204/posts#comment Wed, 8 Aug 2012 21:09:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2910791/posts Congressman Trey Gowdy, South Carolina Republican, and Congressman Jason Chaffetz, Utah Republican, both met with newly appointed Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz last week, Rep. Gowdy told me on Wednesday, to discuss when the IG will release his report on the investigation into the now defunct ATF “Fast and Furious” gun walking operation. “He said weeks and not months,” said Rep. Gowdy referring to the timeline IG Horowitz gave him and Chaffetz as to when the IG's report on Fast and Furious will be released to Congress. Washington Times, by Kerry Picket http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2910791/posts#comment Thu, 26 Jul 2012 00:32:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2908467/posts Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner gets very angry at the suggestion that he conduct the bank bailouts in a transparent manner, according to Neil Barofsky, the former special inspector general for the Treasury Department. “Neil, I have been the most f–king transparent secretary of the Treasury in this country’s entire f–king history!” Geithner shouted at Barofsky in 2009, the former inspector general writes in his new book Bailout: An Inside Account of How Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street. Geithner’s anger stemmed from Barofsky saying, “Mr. Secretary, Washington Examiner http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2908467/posts#comment Fri, 20 Jul 2012 03:04:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2818616/posts Remember the Gerald Walpin affair? Republican Sen. Charles Grassley does. Walpin was the inspector general of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the organization that runs the AmeriCorps service program. In June 2009, Walpin received a call from Norman Eisen, who was then the Special Counsel to the President for Ethics and Government Reform. Eisen told Walpin he had an hour to either resign or be fired. Eisen's call appeared to violate the 2008 Inspectors General Reform Act, which is designed to protect inspectors general from political interference. The Act requires the president to give Congress 30 days'... washington examiner http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2818616/posts#comment Sat, 10 Dec 2011 15:09:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2761936/posts In a remarkable development, the beleaguered Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) actually awarded the employee who botched the investigation of the largest Ponzi scheme in history with a cash bonus for a great job performance. It marks the latest of many scandals for the famously inept federal agency charged with policing the nation’s financial industry. An SEC Inspector General probe discovered that the agency rewarded an incompetent investigator who missed Bernie Madoff’s illegal, $50 billion Ponzi scheme with a cash bonus for good work. Released this week, the IG report doesn’t name the SEC investigator but confirms that he (or... Judicial Watch http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2761936/posts#comment Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:55:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2752379/posts Operation Fast and Furious — and other alleged “gunwalker” programs — only ended when whistleblowers came forward from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) after a firefight in Rio Rico, Arizona, left Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry dead.NPR – yes, NPR – is now reporting that the Department of Justice inspector general is launching an investigation into whether or not the DOJ illegally retaliated against one of the agents that revealed the gunwalking plot: The Justice Department’s inspector general has opened an investigation into possible retaliation against a whistleblowing agent at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,... Pajamas Media http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2752379/posts#comment Fri, 22 Jul 2011 16:13:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2719876/posts An Interview with Gerald Walpin First, a full disclosure: Gerald Walpin is a friend whom I greatly admire and respect. On August 3, 2006, President George W. Bush nominated him as Inspector General (IG) of the Corporation for National and Community Services (CNCS), an office charged with conducting independent audits and investigations of the CNCS and its service programs which include AmeriCorps, Volunteeers in Service of America (VISTA) and Senior Corps. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 2006 and sworn into office in January 2007. On June 11, 2009, President Obama, only five months into his... familysecuritymatters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2719876/posts#comment Sat, 14 May 2011 16:58:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2708113/posts Jama'a al-Islamiya leader Omar Abdel Rahman, who is being held in a prison in North Carolina, US, in a 15-minute telephone conversation with his wife Aisha said “the Egyptian revolution achieved the impossible.” His son Mohamed said an officer from the prison called Abdel Rahman’s home on the landline first to make sure that his wife was there, and that her voice matched the registered "voiceprint." He added that a recorded message from the prison’s phone said the line would be cut immediately if any person other than Aisha talked on the phone. He also said that his father was... Al Masry Al Young Youm English Edition http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2708113/posts#comment Thu, 21 Apr 2011 01:29:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2624741/posts The White House rewrote crucial sections of an Interior Department report to suggest an independent group of scientists and engineers supported a six-month ban on offshore oil drilling, the Interior inspector general says in a new report. In the wee hours of the morning of May 27, a staff member to White House energy adviser Carol Browner sent two edited versions of the department report’s executive summary back to Interior. The language had been changed to insinuate the seven-member panel of outside experts – who reviewed a draft of various safety recommendations – endorsed the moratorium, according to the IG... Politico http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2624741/posts#comment Wed, 10 Nov 2010 13:21:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2617753/posts Neil Barofsky is a lifelong Democrat who was appointed by George Bush to be the Special Inspector General of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP). He has done superlative work over the last two years in uncovering vast waste of taxpayer dollars. He also has started looking into whether the car closings ordered by the Obama administration were influenced not by efficiency or economy but whether dealers were chosen to be saved based on their minority status. His latest report - buried by much of the media - was highly critical of how the Treasury was using suspect methodology... American Thinker http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2617753/posts#comment Sat, 30 Oct 2010 17:26:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2553604/posts NOTE The following text is a quote: www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/statement-nsc-spokesman-mike-hammer-council-inspectors-general-integrity-and-effici Home • Briefing Room • Statements & Releases The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release July 15, 2010 Statement by NSC Spokesman Mike Hammer on the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency Evaluation of the IG's Operations in Afghanistan A joint team at NSC and OMB received a preliminary briefing today from the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), which is a statutory body of IG’s. At the request of the NSC and in coordination with the Department of Defense and the Department... Whitehouse.gov http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2553604/posts#comment Fri, 16 Jul 2010 07:44:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2497493/posts A new report released yesterday (.pdf) by Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) warns that Obama administration efforts to bailout homeowners through the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) are ineffective and will not stem the sweeping tide of foreclosures. The $75 billion HAMP program was created with a promise to bailout 3 to 4 million homeowners in foreclosure, paying lenders to modify troubled mortgages. Foreclosures reached 2.8 million in 2009 and are on track to exceed that total with over 932,000 foreclosures filed in the first three months of 2010, the report found. human events http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2497493/posts#comment Wed, 21 Apr 2010 15:21:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414128/posts Violating its own guarantee of unprecedented transparency, the White House is blocking an investigation into the controversial firing of an inspector general who exposed one of President Obama’s political supporters—a California mayor—for misusing federal funds. First Lady Michelle Obama was reportedly behind the contentious June dismissal of AmeriCorps Inspector General Gerald Walpin and congressional investigators want to interview the aide (Jackie Norris) who may have given the order. At the time Norris was the First Lady’s chief of staff but the White House counsel’s office has blocked investigators from interviewing her, according to a national news report. Norris is currently... Judicial watch http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414128/posts#comment Thu, 24 Dec 2009 00:08:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409761/posts Complete with a raft of documents and exhibits, fired AmeriCorps Inspector General Gerald Walpin on Wednesday filed a motion for summary judgment in his lawsuit demanding reinstatement to his job -- his own motion not even waiting for the judge to rule on the Obama administration's motion to dismiss the case without hearing or trial. A close perusal of his motion, affidavits, and exhibits suggests to me, for the first time, that this case has potential to reach the Supreme Court regardless of how the lower court rules.... Thus we get a glimpse of the tangled web of interests and... The Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409761/posts#comment Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:43:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2394301/posts Even as congressional investigators demolish White House explanations for its firing last summer of a key inspector general, new documents show that an entire second area of misleading administration statements has gone largely unexplored. Each new revelation in the case suggests that Gerald Walpin, the fired IG for the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), ought to be reinstated to his job. We'll get to that second area of dispute in a few moments; it's a doozy. First, though, because this is all rather confusing, a review of the particulars is in order. ~snip~ Yet just two days after... The Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2394301/posts#comment Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:56:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393926/posts Oversight: After an unjust firing and campaign of character assassination, the former AmeriCorps inspector general has been cleared of acting improperly. Now where does he go to get his job and reputation back? On June 10, Gerald Walpin was fired with one hour's notice as the watchdog of AmeriCorps in violation of a federal law requiring Congress to be given a heads-up 30 days in advance. He then fell victim to a campaign of character assassination. When pressed for a reason for the sudden and improper dismissal of a federal watchdog, the White House responded with a letter to Sens.... Investors.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393926/posts#comment Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:54:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2392526/posts Just hours after Sen. Charles Grassley and Rep. Darrell Issa released a report Friday on their investigation into the abrupt firing of AmeriCorps inspector general Gerald Walpin, the Obama White House gave the lawmakers a trove of new, previously-withheld documents on the affair. It was a twist on the now-familiar White House late-Friday release of bad news; this time, the new evidence was put out not only at the start of a weekend but also hours too late for inclusion in the report. Washington Examiner http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2392526/posts#comment Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:46:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2388275/posts A federal appeals court has ordered a civil rights lawyer convicted in a terrorism case that originated in Minnesota to begin serving her prison sentence. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan today also upheld Lynne Stewart's conviction, which was based in part on illegally aiding her client, Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, during a visit with him at the federal prison in Rochester, Minn., in May 2000. She was convicted of smuggling messages between Abdel-Rahman and a terrorist group. Stewart was sentenced to a little more than two years in prison. StarTribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2388275/posts#comment Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:37:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2357411/posts Well before Gerald Walpin was fired as the inspector general of AmeriCorps, government documents show that he and the agency’s management did not get along, to say the least. Documents obtained by CNSNews.com through a Freedom of Information Act request, including e-mails, letters and memos, demonstrate a confrontational relationship between the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the agency that runs AmeriCorps, and its inspector general, whose ouster in June prompted questions from Congress. A corporation board member wanted to “let the record reflect” what he says was Walpin’s confusion at a Mar. 20 board meeting, the member’s notes... CNSNews.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2357411/posts#comment Thu, 8 Oct 2009 10:38:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2345136/posts "The Justice Department's inspector general has agreed to investigate whether ACORN has applied for or received any DOJ grant money, in the wake of bipartisan criticism of the community activist group's operation. And seven other inspectors general are being asked by two congressional members to take a look at their funding mechanisms." Fox News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2345136/posts#comment Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:27:26 GMT