A report released last week by the Inspector General for the Department of Veterans Affairs highlighted the current recordkeeping shortcomings for the Veterans Health Administration, tasked with the care and health of the country’s military veterans.

We spoke with experts around the country for advice on using the Freedom of Information Act to dig into military contracts. Here are their top tips.

Carrying on an Obama-era interest in identifying citizenship granted on fraudulent information, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is redirecting resources to focus on finding anyone who may have made false statements during the naturalization process.

Opposition researcher Abraham Payton joined us last Friday to discuss how his company, Due Diligence, uses FOIA to investigate public figures.

This week, we’re finding transparency never rests with important work being done following up on an old privacy scandal targeting young people, plus a look at how even a no responsive documents response can help show when public officials are asleep at the wheel.

Every year, literally hundreds of billions of tax dollars are spent on contracting agreements with private businesses. And all of them are subject - to some extent - to public records laws and inspections.

After 15 years and $110 billion, the scorecard of successes for U.S. reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan has tallied yet another loss. A second sergeant was recently sentenced in connection with a bribery and money laundering scandal involving over $30 million in contract awards at the Humanitarian Air Yard at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan. The story caught just a blip of coverage, but it offers a sense of the troubles that continue to face American efforts.

A scathing audit released yesterday by the Justice Department’s inspector general lists a slew of issues with the DEA’s management of confidential sources. Auditors found that DEA brass reauthorized long-term informants after mere seconds of review, and that the agency has weak oversight for illegal activity conducted by undercover sources.

Reports by a specially-tasked agency looking for fraud in Afghanistan reveal allegations ranging from simple pay-to-play bribery schemes to concerns about whether a security contractor paid the Taliban to not attack U.S. forces and kill a rival.

Government investigators looking for fraud in Afghanistan reconstruction efforts have chased leads ranging from military officers soliciting bribes to contractors using shoddy materials, but one investigation of possible abuse stands out: Documents provided by the little-known Special Inspector General for Afganistan Reconstruction show concerns about nearly non-existent oversight for a program that paired impoverished Afghans with goats.