RealClearInvestigations Articles

Topline: The U.S. Agency for International Development had noble intentions when it created the Afghan Civilian Assistance Program. It spent $52 million from 2007 to March 2011 to try and send food, clothing and more to the grieving families of civilians killed by the war in Afghanistan. Tragically, inspector general reports from 2009 and 2011 found that huge portions of the money were lost to waste, fraud and abuse. It would be worth over $76 million today. That’s according to the “Wastebook” reporting published by the late U.S. Senator Dr. Tom Coburn. For years, these...

In the run-up to the 2016 Democratic Party convention, FBI Director James Comey gained access to at least eight thumb drives containing large volumes of former Secretary Hillary Clinton’s sensitive State Department emails – as well as some from President Obama – that appeared to have been compromised by foreign hackers. Instead of investigating the explosive new batch of evidence revealed in recently declassified documents, Comey rushed ahead to close an investigation into whether Clinton improperly transmitted and received classified material from a private, unsecured...

Topline: “Three strikes and you’re out” is an excellent rule for baseball, but apparently not for Medicaid. The Maine health-care company Gateway Community Services LLC was found to have overbilled Medicaid by $1.7 million in three separate audits before the state finally cut off its funding. The business is now under investigation for potential fraud. Key facts: Gateway was founded in 2014 by Abdullahi Ali, a refugee from Somalia. The company specializes in “culturally aware services to refugees and immigrants to help them begin the process of healing and learning to...

Topline: Texas Southern University has no idea where most of its inventory is located, ignored safeguards meant to prevent overspending, and reported inaccurate information to the Texas Comptroller, according to a state audit released Dec. 31.  Key facts: University policy requires inventory to be physically counted every year, but a count has not happened since 2019, according to the audit. Auditors randomly selected 60 pieces of property owned by TSU, and university employees were unable to locate 50 of them.  Every piece of property must have a “custodian” responsible...

Topline: North Carolina’s state website claims that about 30% of the revenue from lottery tickets helps fund public schools. Yet despite record-breaking sales, that has not been true in years, according to a new state audit.  Just 16% of lottery revenue from fiscal year 2025 will go toward education, auditors claim. Key facts: North Carolina legalized lottery tickets in 2005 with a requirement that 35% of all revenue would be invested in public education. The money is used for school construction, college scholarships, teacher salaries and more. The requirement was changed to a...

RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week January 11 to January 17   Featured Investigation: To Combat Academic Fraud, Scholars Confront Hallowed Tradition In the fourth article of his series on academic fraud, Vince Bielski reports for RealClearInvestigations that a growing number of universities and researchers in Europe and the U.S. are challenging academia's hallowed "publish or perish" mandate, arguing it has corrupted scientific pursuit and eroded public trust in research.  Reformers at top institutions including Cambridge, Sorbonne, and UC Berkeley say the traditional...

Topline: A new federal audit revealed that “human errors” and “system issues” in Maryland’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program caused the state to improperly reimburse 212 recipients who claimed their benefits were stolen. Key facts: The 2023 federal budget authorized states to reimburse food stamp recipients for stolen benefits using funds from the Department of Agriculture. The system expired in December 2024 and has not been renewed. Maryland was the first state to have its reimbursement plan approved by the USDA, and is now the first state to have its...

Topline: What do most people look for in a potential partner? Maybe kindness, or a sense of humor? What about $1.9 million in federal funding? Taxpayers were forced to choose the third option when the National Institutes of Health sponsored a 2017 Columbia University study of “sexual hooking up” between partners who met online.  The funding — which would be worth $2.7 million today — arrived in installments from 2011 to 2013. That’s according to the “Wastebook” reporting published by the late U.S. Senator Dr. Tom Coburn. For years, these reports...

This is the fourth part of a series on the crisis in academic research and publishing. Read the first three parts here, here and here. By Vince Bielski The driving ethos of academia, “publish or perish,” is fighting for its life.  The requirement that scholars constantly publish or face academic ruin has been considered the primary engine of scientific discovery for decades. But a growing movement of universities and researchers is trying to banish the practice to the archives, saying it has perverted the pursuit of knowledge and eroded the public’s trust in...

Topline: The federal government often does not have enough time to ensure that oil and gas companies are properly reporting the royalties they owe from drilling on federal land, according to a Dec. 15 report from the Government Accountability Office. Key facts: The Department of the Interior had 23.7 million acres of federal land leased to drilling companies as of 2023, which must pay royalties of 12.5% to 18.8% on all gas and oil they sell using the land. From 2014 to 2024, energy companies promised to pay roughly $96 billion in royalties to the government, according to the GAO. The same...

Topline: A Dec. 18 report from the California State Auditor claims that Mendocino County is “vulnerable to waste, fraud, and abuse” after spending thousands of dollars on steakhouse dinners, unapproved donations and more. The annual dinners are a trademark of local District Attorney C. David Eyster, who earned $211,484 from taxpayers in 2024, according to Open the Books’ payroll records. Key facts: Law enforcement agencies can earn revenue by seizing property from convicted criminals, such as stolen cash or cars used to transport illegal drugs. California law requires local...

Topline: The federal government is unable to verify that $5.8 billion in rental assistance paid to more than 204,000 recipients in 2024 was not fraudulent, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s latest annual report. Key facts: HUD spent $15.2 billion on project-based rental assistance in 2024, which pays local housing authorities or private businesses and nonprofits to build affordable housing. That included $4.3 billion in “questionable payments” to nearly 113,000 groups that may have been ineligible for funding, according to the financial report...

RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week January 4 to January 10   Featured Investigation: One Fell Swoop: Lawsuit Eyes Death Blow to Racial Preferences While the Supreme Court ruled against affirmative action in 2023, Ben Weingarten reports for RealClearInvestigations that a new legal challenge aims to build on that and other rulings to completely eliminate race-based preferences embedded across federal contracting and grant programs. Although the Supreme Court barred racial preferences in college admissions in SFFA v. Harvard, similar race-based frameworks persist throughout the...

Topline: Hello? Is anyone there? Not at California’s Employment Development Department, where the state spent $4.6 million on 6,285 unused cell phones. The devices belong to employees who run the state’s unemployment insurance program, but they were out of use for four months to four years, according to a December report from the state auditor. Key facts: California first provided cell phones to its unemployment insurance administrators in December 2020, when 7,224 devices were purchased for employees working from home because of Covid-19. Waste of the Day 1.9.26 Open the...

Topline: In 2006, Congress’ guidelines for Homeland Security’s grant program for firefighters mostly ignored the most obvious function of a fire department: putting out fires. Only 5% of the funding was set aside for “fire prevention and injury prevention programs.” The remaining 95% was used to fund fire-related purchases like puppet shows, clown shows, gym equipment and more, according to the Washington Times. Nearly 5,000 fire-related organizations received a total of $485 million in funding in 2006. The Washington Times’ reporting focused only on the first...

Opponents of affirmative action hoped that the Supreme Court had delivered a death blow to the controversial policy in 2023 when Chief Justice John Roberts declared for the court’s majority that “Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.” But as sweeping as that pronouncement was, it came in a ruling in the landmark SFFA v. Harvard case, solely barring the use of racial preferences in college admissions. The practices that the court deemed illegal on campus have persisted elsewhere, including in programs across the federal government. SBA...

Topline: Americans have already turned the calendar to 2026, but it will take years to pay back the debt incurred by the federal initiatives listed in Sen. Rand Paul’s 11th annual “Festivus” report. The report spotlighted $1.6 trillion of what the Kentucky Republican views as wasteful government spending from 2025, such as money for drunk ferrets and Los Angeles’ “bear/cub subculture.” The dollar total includes $1.2 trillion spent on interest on the national debt and 27 questionable programs that cost $420 billion.  Key facts: The National Science...

Topline: The nonprofit New Opportunities, Inc. used $2.8 million in taxpayer funds meant for low-income families’ heating bills on its own operating expenses, according to the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management. In a Dec. 22 letter obtained by CT Insider, CT Mirror and more, OPM Secretary Joshua Wojcik claims New Opportunities admitted to “impermissibly” using grant funds "to provide fiscal support for other organizational operations." Key facts: New Opportunities was founded in 1964 and now helps administer Connecticut’s federally funded Energy Assistance...

Topline: There is no “reasonable assurance” that Department of Energy loans are being approved impartially and without conflicts of interest, according to a Dec. 18 audit from the agency’s inspector general. Key facts: The Loan Programs Office lends money to companies working on innovative clean energy and transportation technologies that are too risky to get a loan from a bank. As of September 2024, it had 219 federal workers and over 300 contractors managing more than $385 billion appropriated during President Joe Biden’s administration, according to the audit. The...