CIR: All New Content

As America waged a war on terror, other priorities slipped behind

Reporter Ben Greenberg talks to the hosts of The Takeaway, a national online news program, about a 2007 federal initiative to investigate and solve "cold case" murders from the civil rights era, and why so few cases are being pursued.

This August DIRTY BUSINESS joined the debate over coal-fired electricity in Kansas. We held two screenings timed to coincide with a public comment and hearing process opened by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) about expansion of the Holcomb Station power plant in the western part of the state.

As it poises for further immigration initiatives, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is struggling with festering internal divisions between political appointees and career officials over how to enforce laws and handle detainees facing deportation.

ICE officials have repeatedly said this summer that the agency is on track to meet its stated goal to remove 400,000 immigrants this year.

A veteran customs employee who pleaded guilty to drug trafficking, human smuggling and bribery charges was sentenced today to 20 years in prison by a federal judge in El Paso.

How the BBC brought a classic journalism exercise into the 21st century

Ranking member of critical oversight committee wants deeper review

Your favorite cruise-line elixir is also behind a terrorism-response exercise

Average time each case takes also greater than any year since 1998

There's now an elite location for every possible menace the country faces

Immigration official responds to criticisms of leaked memo

Devices allow police to monitor the location of criminal and innocent drivers

Justice Department findings challenged

Immigration agency turns to public for input on proposed policy

Guess what AZ did on another homeland security issue – surveillance

Advocates seek new system to determine mental competence, appoint attorney

Federal agency highlights reforms and transparency, raises eyebrows

Statement comes as Detroit ousts its own assault rifle-toting top cop

Some companies 'don't understand' need for police to comply with guidelines

A bill aimed at preventing corruption among border agents goes before full Senate

Not Anna Chapman, and not suspect Anna Fermanova. Meet Robin Sage

But cost still outranked by WWII when adjusted for inflation

An ad aimed at gaining Midwestern support for US climate change legislation backfired in Brazil.

This time the list includes a metal detector and card-access system

Report finds asbestos industry mimicked tobacco: create doubt, contest litigation, delay regulation.

Two-month total greater than any such period in the agency's history

Union says agent targeted for being Asian

Congress is losing faith in an expensive plan to defeat biological threats

A bewildering 108 committees have some say over DHS operations

Hollman Morris cannot pursue a year as a Nieman fellow at Harvard University.

Two experts say we're needlessly rejecting aid from allies on the oil spill

It’s intern season at California Watch and the Center for Investigative Reporting. We’ve been fortunate to have interns year-round.

Local officials dismiss claim that the funds amount to free money

DHS says taxpayers better protected, but trouble with spending continues

Chat live today with California Watch senior reporter Lance Williams.

Chauncey Bailey Project reports on new revelations surrounding the case

Can Congress reform the oil industry in an election year? and more...

Rare measure would limit unfettered spending assailed by critics as pork

Red tape still in the way of funds, lawmaker says

New report from The Nation suggests they didn't cross into Iran.

Georgia didn't put up money to check the immigration status of workers

Demand for help greater than what appears in the news

Website part of a larger push by police to collect suspicious activity reports

Winner gets an evacuation route, not houses on Park Place

As the fast-motion oil catastrophe unfolds in the Gulf, check out some great reporting from a new media consortium.

Other local intel posts probing teen crime and missing persons cases

Today, California Watch unveiled a website called Politics Verbatim, which allows citizens to track everything candidates publicly say in the California governor race.

Texas guard accused of groping women; Idaho facility called 'gladiator school'

Killing of a 7-year-old calls attention to cultural shift in law enforcement

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will realign its duties to promote criminal investigations over immigrant deportation, officials have announced. CIR's Andrew Becker reports on ICE's makeover in the Washington Post.

Phoenix, El Paso and San Diego posting low rates of violence

NYC leaders still argue Washington isn't doing enough to fund security

A tax scandal has been rocking the global carbon markets. Ironically, it is emanating from Copenhagen, which six months ago hosted the world's largest climate summit.

Corrupt Border Patrol agent sentenced to six years, another officer arrested

Pollution reduction targets in the American Power Act, drafted by the Senate in May, are nearly identical to those in a companion bill in the House.

In the shadows of the World Cup stadium in Johannesburg, correspondent Christopher Werth visits innercity neighborhoods where the challenges to provide decent housing for hundreds of thousands of South Africans are coming sharply into focus. Read his article in Newsweek. Watch part one, a multimedia report from Cape Town.

Check out the word cloud Elevated Risk built from the speech's text

Major investments in New York and elsewhere endured numerous problems

Today California Watch announces another new hire.

As soccer stars and fans converge in South Africa for the World Cup, Christopher Werth travels into the Cape Town slums to investigate reports that people are being displaced to make way for the games. Werth reports for CIR in this web exclusive video. Read his Newsweek article. Watch his multimedia report from Johannesburg.

TSA, other countries lining up since attempted Xmas day attack

A flourishing and unregulated industry of pot delivery services is circumventing bans on storefront dispensaries.

Watchers complain the technology stores your location in outsized databases

Robert Rosenthal talks about California Watch's new hires.

Readiness dollars used to buy sectional couch, La-Z-Boys and more

Special tactics teams are amassing military-style gear with fed grants

Parking and meter attendants here also being trained to watch for trouble

Auditors found neglected equipment and taxpayers billed for cheaper devices

The Obama administration's recent surprise decision to suspend new work on a multibillion-dollar high-tech border control system raises further questions about the government's use of computer networks and sensors in an effort to seal the border with Mexico.

Explosive truffles, metal in the floor and heavy hard drives among the tales

Special board designed to protect Americans remains empty

Proposed budget would shutter facility responsible for hazardous events

Bipartisan amendment calling for more openness doomed by procedural move

Arizona pol wants 3,500 additional agents, but costs and corruption a factor

Lawmakers blame governor for shorting them, but records tell a different story

CIR was featured in CJR, and in Spanish, German and Japanese publications.

Bureaucrat sent to prison last year for embezzling tens of thousands

'Non-intrusive' technology would measure heart rate, number of blinks

CIR and FRONTLINE/World track the emerging market in forest carbon offsets. In this FRONTLINE/World segment (broadcast May 11) CIR senior correspondent Mark Schapiro and producer Andres Cediel travel deep into the Atlantic Forest and the Amazon, where they discover what life is like on the other end of an offset deal.

Local police created bogus group, fought over use of informants

Amendment in unrelated bill would lead to 700 miles of double-layer fencing

In our ongoing effort to make our website more interactive and engaging, we rolled out a few subtle changes.

Spurred by our exposé of KLA prison camps, former commander Sabit Geci was detained.

Report says feds don't always know who's applying for what

Becker speaks on KALW about his Washington Post story on immigration issues

Former customs inspector to plead guilty to corruption charges

Residents in Texas capital worry police will collect intel on innocent people

I returned to a place I saw liberated in 2001. Now the Taliban are back, and the only thing that has improved is the cell-phone reception.

Join Center for Investigative Reporting Executive Director Robert Rosenthal for a live video chat this Thursday, May 6 at 11 a.m.

Hundreds of documents available describing federal preparedness grants

Nearing the end of the road, our diarist reflects on the unlikely sanctuary she found in a blighted land.

The nation has committed billions of dollars to improving homeland security since 2001, including large sums awarded to states in preparedness grants. In this CIR web exclusive map, reporter G.W. Schulz reports how authorities in each state have managed, or mismanaged, anti-terrorism funds from the federal government. Also, download source documents tracking funds for each state.

Our correspondent visits two Afghan villages hardened by centuries of hatred -- and separated by only a short stretch of road.

Police intelligence leader promises civil liberties are respected

Visiting the pediatrics center at an Afghan city hospital, in a country where only three out of four children live to be five.

Legislators are pushing the Homeland Security Department for better cooperation and to improve information sharing on anti-corruption efforts.

Exploring the idea of networked surveillance that 'feels' your every move

Refugees from a place that no longer exists, these Afghan settlers live in a slapped-together collection of tents on land that belongs to their ancestral enemy.

Private employees at TSA helped decide whether payments were reasonable