The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) Blog

Tips for Whistleblowers Working with the Media

Earlier this week I attended a panel at the National Whistleblower Assembly entitled “How to Work Effectively with the Media.”

Members of the panel included: Barry Nolan, an Emmy Award-winning television journalist and commentator; Christopher Scholl, an investigative producer for CBS News; and Nick Schwellenbach, a former POGO-naut and current staff writer at the Center for Public Integrity.

Here are 8 tips and tricks, distilled from the panelists’ remarks, for whistleblowers working with the media.

Is "Resolving" DCAA Findings the Same Thing As Listening to Them?

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) isn't the only agency that struggles to ensure that it's oversight officials have the independence they need to effectively root out waste, fraud, and misconduct. When not blogging obsessively about the Deepwater Horizon disaster (I've been told recently to "get your head out of the oil for a moment"), POGO (and the Government Accountability Office, and the Department of Defense Inspector General, and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, just to name a few) has also been concerned about the independence of auditors at the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA).

Most recently, Robert Brodsky at Government Executive reports that Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA)—admittedly, citing an OpEd written by POGO—has also raised concerns about whether DCAA is providing reliable financial audits for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

But in addition to the concerns we raised in a letter to the Senate and an OpEd in the Federal Times, POGO recently obtained a memo that may only increase concerns about DCAA's ability to independently oversee contractors. DCAA Director Patrick Fitzgerald writes to his co-workers:

Senate Moves to Lift Veil of Secrecy from Contractor Integrity Database

Last night, the Senate approved by unanimous consent an amendment sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) to the 2010 Supplemental Appropriations Act to require the General Services Administration (GSA) to publicly disclose data contained in the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS). FAPIIS, the government’s new contractor integrity performance database, is currently accessible only to a handful of government officials and the contractors who are listed in it.

The amendment would require GSA to post all FAPIIS data—except “past performance reviews”—on a publicly available website. So, even though contractor past performance information reported in the government’s Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS) database will still be off-limits to the public, this amendment would open up a valuable cache of data detailing the civil, criminal and administrative misconduct histories of thousands of contractors and grantees who receive hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funds every year.

POGO is glad to see that the Senate has been charging ahead recently with various open government measures designed to improve FAPIIS and make its data available to a wider audience.

-- Neil Gordon

A Victory for Oversight: House Passes Eshoo Amendment

Late yesterday, the House passed an amendment allowing the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to audit the intelligence community.

This is a great victory for government oversight. POGO thanks Representative Anna Eshoo (D-CA) for her leadership on this issue, and also thanks the other co-sponsors—Howard Berman (D-CA), Rush Holt (D-WV), Mike Thompson (D-CA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), and John Tierney (D-MS)—for stepping up to the plate and supporting this important amendment. POGO also thanks House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for supporting and speaking in favor of the bill.

Read Rep. Eshoo's statement on the vote.

-- Bryan Rahija

Morning Smoke: Everything You'd Want to Know about the Oil Spill Hearings

Oil Spill Hearing Updates by David Hammer [Times-Picayune] (also nicely summarized at emptywheel)

BP Decisions Set Stage for Disaster by Ben Casselman and Russell Gold [Wall Street Journal]

BP wants Houston judge with oil ties to hear spill cases by Scott Hiaasen and Curtis Morgan [Miami Herald]

SEC's pitiful Pequot war by Colin Barr [Street Swap]

Treasury’s Five-Point Wish List for Financial Overhaul by David Wessel [Real Time Economics]

Ethics office asks for investigation of lobby firm PMA Group's clients by Carol D. Leonnig [Washington Post]

DoD Investigating Nine Cases of "Terrorism-Related Acts" by US Military and Contractors? by Jeremy Scahill [The Nation]

Nalco’s Chief Lobbies Congress on Gulf Oil Dispersant by Jim Snyder [Bloomberg]

Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act (WSARA) 2009 Progress Report [Center for Strategic and International Studies]

Will Wall Street Go Free? by William Cohan [The New York Times]

Warren Buffett to testify under FCIC subpoena after resisting commission's request by Carol Loomis [Fortune]

How Much Will the Oil Spill Cost? by Annie Lowrey [The Washington Independent]

POGO Urges House to Support GAO Audits of Intel Community

POGO is urging Congress to vote in favor of an amendment that would enhance oversight of the intelligence community.

The amendment, sponsored by Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Howard Berman (D-CA), Rush Holt (D-WV), Mike Thompson (D-CA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), and John Tierney (D-MS), would require the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to comply with Government Accountability Office (GAO) audits.

The GAO would provide the in-depth, careful analysis Congress needs to conduct effective oversight of the intelligence community. As argued in a letter sent this afternoon to the House of Representatives:

GAO reports play an essential role in effective congressional oversight of the intelligence community. And yet, the Obama administration and the intelligence community repeatedly have moved to block GAO reports to Congress, including by issuing a veto threat to the Intelligence Authorization bill that would have restored GAO's role in oversight. Cutting off critical oversight tools does not make us safer, but rather puts our nation at risk by limiting the information Congress needs in order to assess national security threats, civil liberties violations, misuse of taxpayer dollars, gaps in information sharing, and problematic management issues.

We noted in March that statutorily, the intel community already falls within the GAO's purview, but that since the 1960's, it has successfully resisted investigations into its activities and operations. Steve Aftergood has more background here.

-- Bryan Rahija

See also:

• White House Threatens Veto Over GAO Role in Intel Oversight
• Congress Fighting for Its Ability to Conduct Oversight of Intel Community

What Sort of Guidance Came from the MMS Solicitor's Office?

POGO has just submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Minerals Management Service (MMS), seeking information about guidance provided by the MMS Solicitor's Office.

From our official request:

Please provide, for a period of January 1998 to May 20, 2010 any final depositions, including policy letters, decisions, agreements, judgments, opinions, compliance or enforcement actions, findings, e-mails, or other similar records regarding safety inspections, production inspections, and royalty collections issued for the Minerals Management Service.

Guidance from the solicitor's office plays an important role in MMS activities. As questions emerge about how the agency enforced safety regulations and collected oil and gas royalty payments, POGO is hoping to shed light on the agency's decision-making process. 

As always, we welcome any suggestions as to other kinds of information we should request. Feel free to leave us a comment below or drop us a line.

-- Bryan Rahija

Photo: timbodon

MMS Director Fired

According to AP sources, Minerals Management Service (MMS) Director Liz Birnbaum has been fired. 

As a recent article in the New York Times hinted, this move may not have been entirely unforeseen:

When Ms. Birnbaum testified in Congressional hearings last week, her boss, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, lavished praise on others who testified while largely ignoring her. And a day later, when he announced a plan to revamp the agency, it was one that would eliminate her job.

-- Bryan Rahija

(H/t Gregg Carlstrom)

UPDATE: Wanted to make sure to highlight a thoughtful reader comment below:

A NYT article on Birnbaum, published before her resignation, noted that she was selected for the MMS Director position despite the fact that she lacked experience with oil and gas issues. The NYT article noted that Interior upper management (Secretary's Office, presumably), when asked, explained that they thought this was a plus, even though they knew of the many, many problems at MMS. In short, Birnbaum entered the position with a rather large learning curve problem and this apparently was intentional. Now who is really to blame for that? Maybe her leaving is a good thing, but Interior really needs to take a close look at career, including "C" and SES, management. Anyone with a "learning curve" would have been captive to the information these crats provided and these people, in turn, are used to managing in an industry-friendly way.

Morning Smoke: Deepwater Horizon Oversight Hearing: Act II

Full Committee Oversight Hearing on "Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Strategy and Implications of the Deepwater Horizon Rig Explosion" (Part 2 of a 7-part series—witnesses include former Minerals Management Service Director turned President of the National Oceans Industries Association)

White House cool to derivatives ban by Carrie Budoff Brown [Politico]

Gates, Congress & Obama: Mutually Assured Debacle by Winslow Wheeler [Huffington Post]

Obama to extend drilling moratorium by Mike Allen [Politico]

BP Used Riskier Method to Seal Oil Well Before Blast by Ian Urbina [New York Times]

Hearings: BP representative overruled drillers, insisted on displacing mud with seawater by David Hammer [Times-Picayune]

Gates stares down Congress over Air Force funding by Josh Rogin [The Cable]

Contracting Commission to DOJ: Stop Stonewalling by Daniel Schulman [Mother Jones]

Fed Is Confident of AIG Payback, but Skeptics Remain by Michael Crittenden and Serena Ng [The Wall Street Journal]

SPECIAL REPORT-Civil fine in Gulf spill could be $4,300 barrel by Joshua Schneyer [Reuters]

Military adds acquisition staff to help as Afghan security forces grow by Kate Brannen [Federal Times]

Dispute over oversight powers stalls intel policy bill by Chris Strohm [CongressDaily]

SEC proposes central database for all trading data by Zachary A. Goldfarb [The Washington Post]

Auto Dealers Spend Big to Stay Out of Financial Reform by Joe Eaton [PaperTrail]

Notes from Today's House Natural Resources Committee Hearing on Deepwater Disaster

The House Committee on Natural Resources today held the first of seven oversight hearings on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion. Here are some loosely sorted (but otherwise unadulterated) tweets from POGO's coverage of the marathon hearing on Twitter. See below for a complete cast of characters.

Salazar Says:

• Salazar: Whatever oil industry wanted, that's what they got #MMStake #bphearing #oilspill [link]


• Salazar: Reprehensible for companies to pay the way for MMS employees #MMStake, all predate this admin #bphearing [link]


• Salazar: Have confirmation BP will not hide behind $75 million cap, but no mention of royalties #oilspill #bphearing [link]
  
  
• RT @suzyji Salazar being pressed to say how many "bad apples" still working for MMS. Deputy now says all are on administrative leave #BPhearing [link]


• Salazar: Eliminated Royalty-In-Kind because needed to make that organizational improvement #BPhearing #oilspill #MMStake [link]


• RT @suzyji Salazar, in a poss preview of new oil regulations, says it is inappropriate to turn around drilling approvals in 30 days #BPhearing [link]


• Salazar says ending MMS as industry candy store #MMStake #bphearing #oilspill [link]


• RT @suzyji Salazar: BP has 80 people working on investigation into spill #BPhearing [link]


• Salazar - it's part of the culture of MMS, previous admin to let industry run the show, working to change so arms length #MMStake #bphearing [link]


• Salazar - will ask for more inspection capability #bphearing #oilspill #MMStake [link]
  Salazar: have taken appropriate personnel actions, terminated, referred for prosecution, zero-tolerance #MMStake #bphearing [link]

Morning Smoke: House Committee Kicks Off Seven-Part Oversight Hearing Series on Oil Rig Disaster

Hearing: On the outer continental shelf oil and gas strategy and implications of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion [House Natural Resources Committee], webcast feed starts at 10 am here, check POGO's twitter feed for live tweets

Frank Targets Requirement to Spin Off Operations by Damian Paletta and Victoria McGrane [The Wall Street Journal]

Four Ways to a Better Finance Bill by David Leonhardt [The New York Times]

U.S. to Toughen Drill Rules by Jonathan Weisman and Jeffrey Ball [The Wall Street Journal]

New evidence on the multiplier by Tyler Cowen [Marginal Revolution]

BP Cites Crucial 'Mistake' by Stephen Power [The Wall Street Journal]

First F136 Death Blow Near? by Colin Clark [DoD Buzz]

Memo: Key Questions Arising from Inquiry into the Deepwater Horizon Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill [House Energy and Commerce Committee]

Oil companies have a rich history of U.S. subsidies by Kim Geiger and Tom Hamburger [Los Angeles Times]

Transocean Can’t Cap Spill Liability Using Old Law, Lawyers Say by Laurel Brubaker Calkins and Margaret Cronin Fisk [Bloomberg]

Report finds interagency contracts rife with inefficiencies by Robert Brodsky [Government Executive]

Wall Street Rules May Fall Short of Glass-Steagall by Robert Schmidt and Jesse Westbrook [Bloomberg]

North Slope crude spills from Alaska pipeline [CNN] (related: Oil Ganache: The MMS Alaska Office's "Drill Baby Drill" Cake)

MMS Inspector and ConocoPhillips Employee Discuss Bribes over Email

Another gem from the report on the Minerals Management Service (MMS) released this morning by the Department of the Interior inspector general:

We showed this former MMS inspector an e-mail dated April 6, 2006, in which he told an employee with Conoco Phillips, that he had accepted gifts from certain “good friends” in the oil and gas industry. The e-mail chain began with the inspector sending the Conoco Phillips employee an e-mail with the subject line, “Civil Penalty Case recaps – 1st quarter 2006.” He stated, “These are the fines that we assessed to different companies for breaking the rules.” The Conoco Phillips employee responded, “[E]ver get bribed for some of that?” He replied, “They try all the time.” The Conoco Phillips employee responded back, “[E]ver take em?” the inspector said, “I accept ‘gifts’ from certain people. But we have VERY strict ethic standards as you could imagine.” The Conoco Phillips employee replied, “[C]ertain people, meaning women?” the inspector said, “No. meaning good friends that I wouldn’t write up anyway.”

-- Bryan Rahija