The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) Blog

Quote of the Day: Does Harvard Have a Website?

By PAUL THACKER

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is getting blasted for not requiring universities to publicly post the outside income their researchers get from corporate America. Why hide the ball?

According to NIH official Sally Rockey, making the posting of this information to a website optional "allows the institution maximum flexibility to decide which is the least burdensome way to achieve this."

Of course, some reporters aren't buying it, especially since this is the transparency administration. So they're hanging Rockey out to dry.

Bloomberg highlighted this flub by Rockey, who apparently doesn’t know how universities deal with the internets and its series of tubes.

"Some organizations may not have a website,” Rockey said.

Paul Thacker is a POGO Investigator.

Follow @POGOBlog

Quote of the Day: Between the Seat Cushions of a Joint Strike Fighter

"We joke that the money we spend on rotorcraft is coins between the seat cushions in the JSF program."

-- Eric Braganca, a recently retired lieutenant colonel who spent most of his career flying MH-53 helicopters for the Air Force Special Operations Command, on the relative costs of developing fixed-wing planes like the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) and rotorcraft (a category that includes helicopters and the V-22 Osprey, the tiltrotor helicopter-airplane hybrid).

Bryan Rahija edits POGO's blog.

Quote of the Day: On Perverse Incentives in Defense Acquisition

By Nick Schwellenbach

From the written testimony of John Young—former Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics—who testified at yesterday's Senate subcommittee hearing on defense acquisition:

The military promotions system will reward a requirements officer who pushes for more requirements and punish a military acquisition program manager who resists making costly changes to a program. Similarly, civil servants who want successful careers are cautious about hard issues.

Nick Schwellenbach is POGO's Director of Investigations.

Quote of the Day: One Definition of High-Value Government Data

By Bryan Rahija

ProPublica's Jennifer LaFleur on the kind of data that the government should be releasing:

Information on anything that's inspected, spent, enforced, or licensed. That's what I want, and that's what the public wants.

LaFleur made the comment as part of a panel discussion on the road ahead for open government.

Bryan Rahija edits POGO's blog.

Quote of the Day: Secretary of Defense Robert Gates

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on the way forward:

I am purposefully challenging institutional conventions to make a broader strategic point on what the nation and security environment will require of our military. However, I am concerned that part of my message regarding future capabilities and the nature of future conflict is being misunderstood in some quarters.

Image: West Point Public Affairs