Government Oversight
Our system of checks and balances must be maintained in order for the federal government to function effectively. Yet POGO has observed that Congress and the various agencies in charge of overseeing Executive Branch misconduct have been weakened in recent years. POGO seeks to improve oversight throughout the federal government so that officials can be held accountable when they abuse taxpayer dollars and betray the public’s trust. Click on the program areas below to learn more.
Bailout Oversight
POGO is worried about the continued lack of openness concerning the government's response to the current economic crisis. POGO takes no position on the merits of the various actions over recent months to address the crisis. However, Congress needs to act now to ensure that the ongoing expenditures of billions--even trillions--of the taxpayers' funds are subjected to extraordinary scrutiny.
Congressional Oversight
POGO has witnessed a notable decline in congressional oversight over the past few decades. Many congressional staffers are not taking full advantage of their office’s authority to investigate and oversee the Executive Branch. Without proper oversight, the public has little assurance that the government is being held open, honest, and accountable. POGO has launched an initiative to improve congressional oversight on both sides of the aisle by educating staffers about the nuts and bolts of congressional oversight and encouraging rigorous professional standards.
Election Integrity
In 1998, POGO completed a report which showed that $1.45 million in campaign contributions were unaccounted for, improperly listed, or otherwise missing within the Federal Election Commission’s (FEC) databases. The enormous discrepancies between the amount of money the PACs (Political Action Committee) reported giving and the amount of money the House and Senate candidates reported receiving demonstrated that the FEC was not fulfilling its mission of timely and accurate disclosure.
Executive Privilege
Executive Branch officials have increasingly articulated an expansive and overreaching interpretation of the doctrine of Executive Privilege. In recent years, for instance, there has been an alarming increase in the use of presidential signing statements, which enable the president to ignore portions of legislation signed by Congress. Officials have also invoked Executive Privilege as a means of avoiding congressional oversight. POGO is concerned that the improper invocation of Executive Privilege disrupts the system of checks and balances and heightens the public’s mistrust in its elected officials.
Inspector General Investigations
Inspectors General (IGs) have the critical job of rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government. However, POGO has found that some IG offices are overly dependent on the agency they're supposed to be overseeing, while others are not held accountable for abuses with their own office. POGO seeks to improve the independence and accountability of the IG offices so that they can do a better job of ensuring that federal agencies are functioning efficiently and effectively.
Congressional Oversight and State Secrets Privilege: Richard Barlow Case Study
Working as a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) counter-proliferation intelligence officer in the 1980s, Richard Barlow learned that top U.S. officials were allowing Pakistan to manufacture and possess nuclear weapons, and that the A.Q. Khan nuclear network was violating U.S. laws. He also discovered that top officials were hiding these activities from Congress. Because he merely suggested that Congress should know the truth, he became the target of one of the most vicious retaliatory smear campaigns in recent history, which ended his career as a government employee, ruined his marriage, and caused irreparable damage to his life.
