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Robert O'Harrow Jr.


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February 2005: Journalist and author of No Place to Hide: Behind the Scenes of Our Emerging Surveillance Society.

http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,66433,00.html

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RoleNameTypeLast Updated
Employee/Freelancer/Contractor (past or present) Washington Post Source May 25, 2010

Articles and Resources

40 Articles and Resources. Go to:  [Next 20]

Date Fairness.com Resource Read it at:
May 25, 2010 Rep. James Moran's investments illustrate Congress's leeway in trading

QUOTE: Long-standing congressional ethics rules allow almost any kind of trading and investment, subject in general to the judgment of individual lawmakers. Those rules also allow spouses to have jobs in areas that touch on a lawmaker's activity or investments. Moreover, lawmakers are not required to abstain from voting or divest themselves of stock when most potential conflicts arise.

 Washington Post
Aug 07, 2009 A $191 Million Question: How a relationship between an Army official and a private contractor led to allegations of collusion and impropriety

QUOTE: Reforms a decade ago, intended to make the system [procurement system] more efficient and entrepreneurial, had unintended consequences: insufficient oversight, conflicts of interest, unprecedented outsourcing and an endlessly revolving door that leads government officials into the offices of contractors.

 Washington Post
Dec 29, 2008 The Beautiful Machine: Greed on Wall Street and blindness in Washington certainly helped cause the financial system's crash. But a deeper explanation begins 20 years ago [...] Part 1 of 3

QUOTE: Over the past two decades, their enterprise, AIG Financial Products, evolved into an indispensable aid to such investment banks as Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch, as well as governments, municipalities and corporations around the world....the story of Financial Products is not about math and financial formulas. It is a parable about people who thought they could outwit competitors and market forces alike, and who behaved as though they were uniquely positioned to sidestep the disasters that had destroyed so many financial dreams before them.

 Washington Post
May 01, 2008 Doan Ends Her Stormy Tenure as GSA Chief: Resignation Comes at White House's Behest

QUOTE: General Services Administration chief Lurita Alexis Doan has resigned as head of the government's premier contracting agency at the request of the White House, ending a tumultuous tenure in which she was accused of trying to award work to a friend and misusing her authority for political ends.

 Washington Post
Apr 02, 2008 Centers Tap Into Personal Databases: State Groups Were Formed After 9/11

QUOTE: But a document that lists resources used by the fusion centers shows how a dozen of the organizations in the northeastern United States rely far more on access to commercial and government databases than had previously been disclosed. Those details have come to light at a time of debate about domestic intelligence efforts...and whether the government has enough protections in place to prevent abuses.

 Washington Post
Mar 06, 2008 National Dragnet Is a Click Away: Authorities to Gain Fast and Expansive Access to Records

QUOTE: The expanding police systems illustrate the prominent roles that private companies play in homeland security and counterterrorism efforts. They also underscore how the use of new data -- and data surveillance -- technology to fight crime and terrorism is evolving faster than the public's understanding or the laws intended to check government power and protect civil liberties, authorities said.

 Washington Post
Aug 16, 2007 Review of Radiation Detectors Questioned

QUOTE: The Government Accountability Office has questioned the department's testing of the detection equipment, spurring Congress to delay funding last year pending further review and certification of the department's test results this fall.

 Washington Post
Jul 20, 2007 Radiation Detector Program Delayed: DHS May Have Misled Congress, GAO Audit Finds

QUOTE: [Michael Chertoff] said [new radiation monitors] would improve radiation scans at borders and ports, while sharply reducing the number of false alarms .... But the department's Domestic Nuclear Detection Office did not know whether the detectors would work effectively, according to documents and interviews.

 Washington Post
Jun 28, 2007 Fingerprinting Effort Criticized: No Funding Requested for '08

QUOTE: Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, questioned whether the [Department of Homeland Security] will meet its goal of having a system in place by yearend to collect the fingerprints. He said the department has not requested any money for the system for fiscal 2008.

 Washington Post
Jun 28, 2007 Costs Skyrocket As DHS Runs Up No-Bid Contracts: $2 Million Security Project Balloons to $124 Million

QUOTE: The arrangements...illustrate a transformation in the way the federal government often gets its work done: by relying on private, sometimes costly consultants to fill staffing shortfalls in federal agencies… Such inter-agency arrangements offer flexibility to government agencies. But audits have found they can lead to diminished oversight and accountability.

 Washington Post
Jun 12, 2007 Bush Is Asked to Discipline GSA Chief in Hatch Act Inquiry

QUOTE: After allegedly asking political appointees how they could “help our candidates,” General Services Administration chief Lurita Alexis Doan is facing possible disciplinary actions from President Bush for using her position for political purposes—in this case, to see how the agency could use its facilities to benefit the Republican Party.

 Washington Post
Jun 07, 2007 Navy, GSA Say Contract Led to Waste, Maybe Fraud

QUOTE: An effort to buy floating barriers to protect the nation's fleet from attacks several years ago led to millions of dollars in waste and may have involved criminal fraud by a government employee and contractor...

 Washington Post
May 24, 2007 Rules Skirted, Millions Wasted on Navy Boat Barriers

QUOTE: auditors concluded that NCIS hired companies that did little or no significant work on the boat barriers yet collected millions of dollars in fees.

 Washington Post
May 24, 2007 GSA Chief Violated Hatch Act, Special Counsel's Report Alleges

QUOTE: The U.S. Office of Special Counsel has found that General Services Administration chief Lurita Alexis Doan violated the federal Hatch Act when she allegedly asked GSA political appointees during a January briefing how they could "help our candidates" win the next election...

 Washington Post
May 23, 2007 Changes Spurred Buying, Abuses: Taxpayers Overcharged Millions in Sun Deal, Auditor Says

QUOTE: [Renewing the contract with Sun Microsystems] meant the government's leading contracting agency would be able to continue collecting millions of dollars in what are called industrial funding fees from Sun under rules that permit the GSA to take a percentage of every sale made to the government. It also meant that taxpayers would pay millions more than necessary, according to congressional investigators.

 Washington Post
Mar 30, 2007 Panel Asks Rove for Information on '08 Election Presentation

QUOTE: Jennings's 28-page presentation included 2006 election results and listed the names of Democratic candidates considered beatable and Republican lawmakers thought to need help. At a hearing Wednesday about the GSA, Waxman said the presentation and follow-up remarks allegedly made by agency chief Lurita Alexis Doan may have violated the Hatch Act, a law that restricts federal agencies and employees from using their positions for political purposes.

 Washington Post
Dec 25, 2006 Interior, Pentagon Faulted In Audits: Effort to Speed Defense Contracts Wasted Millions

QUOTE: The Defense Department paid two procurement operations at the Department of the Interior to arrange for Pentagon purchases totaling $1.7 billion that resulted in excessive fees and tens of millions of dollars in waste...."routinely violated rules designed to protect U.S. Government interests,"...

 Washington Post
Dec 02, 2006 GSA Chief Seeks to Cut Budget For Audits: Contract Oversight Would Be Reduced

QUOTE: The new chief of the U.S. General Services Administration is trying to limit the ability of the agency's inspector general to audit contracts for fraud or waste and has said oversight efforts are intimidating the workforce...

 Washington Post
Apr 05, 2006 Agencies Not Protecting Privacy Rights, GAO Says

QUOTE: Government agencies that use private information services for law enforcement, counterterrorism and other investigations often do not follow federal rules to protect Americans' privacy...

 Washington Post
Dec 25, 2005 The Quest for Hometown Security: Rogers's Sway Over Spending Benefits 'Silicon Holler' in Kentucky

QUOTE: Rogers is now tapping a new source of money for his district. As chairman of the House Appropriations homeland security subcommittee, he has encouraged contractors to move into his district and announced millions of dollars in anti-terrorism research at Kentucky colleges and universities. He has taken credit for $206 million in homeland-security-related funding for the state....But the Lexington Herald-Leader, one of the state's largest newspapers, has called him the "Prince of Pork."

 Washington Post

40 Articles and Resources. Go to:  [Next 20]