Bad Watchdog
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© Project On Government Oversight
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In this award-winning investigative podcast, host Maren Machles explores how accountability failures in Washington D.C. impact the lives of people all over the country, and she showcases the investigators, experts, and activists who work to keep our government working for the people. In the second season, Maren and POGO’s investigative reporters take a look at the Department of Homeland Security. They trace how an agency established to protect the nation from security threats has doubled down on detaining migrants, sometimes in horrifying conditions, while failing to address the more immediate security threat caused by far-right extremism — even within the agency’s own ranks. In the first season, Maren focused on the department’s Office of Inspector General, revealing a shocking pattern of misconduct that resulted in a failure to investigate some of the most troubling events in recent history. In 2024, Bad Watchdog was a silver medalist at the New York Festivals Radio Awards and a nominee for the Ambie Awards' Best Politics or Opinion Podcast. For more, visit pogo.org/podcasts/bad-watchdogBad Watchdog is a member of the Airwave Media network and a part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what’s broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.
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17 Episodes
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Government watchdogs don’t normally make the evening news. But when Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari failed to alert Congress for months that Secret Service agents deleted text messages after January 6, he was thrust into the national spotlight. And it turns out there was a lot more that he was covering up. In a new six-part podcast, investigators from the Project On Government Oversight explore what happens when a man appointed to protect the people from fraud and abuse decides instead to protect the very agency he should be investigating. This is Bad Watchdog. For transcript and show notes, visit pogo.org/podcasts/bad-watchdog Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
How did a peaceful transfer of power devolve into the first breach of the U.S. Capitol in over two centuries? Deleted Secret Service text messages may hold important answers about what happened on January 6, 2021, but Homeland Security watchdog Joseph Cuffari failed to inform Congress for months they were missing. What’s more, Cuffari refused a request to help recover the text messages, and he halted an internal Secret Service investigation into their deletion. Government watchdogs, called inspectors general, are supposed to hold powerful actors accountable. When they don’t do their jobs, the impacts can be disastrous. Investigators at the Project On Government Oversight examine Cuffari’s initial response to the missing Secret Service text messages and explore his abrupt change of course after a former White House aide gave shocking testimony about then-President Trump’s actions on January 6th.For transcript and show notes, visit pogo.org/podcasts/bad-watchdog Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A troubling pattern of ignoring serious misconduct at the Department of Homeland Security begins to emerge. Despite widespread condemnation of law enforcement’s use of tear gas on Black Lives Matter protesters gathered in Lafayette Square in Washington, Homeland Security watchdog Joseph Cuffari declined to investigate the incident. Investigative reporters Nick Schwellenbach and Adam Zagorin walk Maren through Cuffari’s baffling refusal to investigate the Secret Service’s role in the violence in Lafayette Square or the abuse of migrants by Customs and Border Protection agents. For transcript and show notes, visit pogo.org/podcasts/bad-watchdog Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Nick and Adam discover that Cuffari’s office removed damaging findings from an official report about dozens of cases of domestic abuse by Homeland Security law enforcement agents with access to government-issued firearms, and they poke holes in Cuffari’s excuses for refusing to criticize the agencies he’s supposed to hold accountable. Maren circles up with experts to learn about how the Department of Homeland Security became home to the largest and least accountable law enforcement agency in the federal government. For transcript and show notes, visit pogo.org/podcasts/bad-watchdog Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Homeland Security watchdog tries to bury a report on sexual harassment and misconduct at the agency, but POGO’s investigators expose the plot. Maren talks to former Border Patrol officer and current reform advocate Jenn Budd about her own painful experiences working for the agency. DHS Secretary Mayorkas responds almost immediately to Nick and Adam’s findings, and Congress starts asking questions about Cuffari. For transcript and show notes, visit pogo.org/podcasts/bad-watchdog Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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