Various Resources

A government website (USAspending.gov) that is intended to provide transparency on government contracts and awards currently presents incomplete, inconsistent and sometimes invalid data, the Government Accountability Office said last week.  See “Electronic Government: Implementation of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006” (pdf), GAO-10-365, March 2010.

“Improving Transparency and Accessibility of Federal Contracting Databases” (pdf) was the subject of a September 29, 2009 hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (published last month).

“Homeland Security Intelligence: Its Relevance and Limitations” was discussed at a March 2009 hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee (also published last month).

“Widespread violent crimes in the United States posed threats to the lives, properties and personal security of its people,” the Chinese government declared in a new report on the “Human Rights Record of the United States in 2009.” The Chinese government report, a compilation of sad facts, dubious assumptions and assorted exaggerations, was published on March 12 as a rejoinder and a rebuke to the U.S. State Department which published its latest Country Reports on Human Rights Practices on March 11.  “The [U.S.] reports are full of accusations of the human rights situation in more than 190 countries and regions including China, but turn a blind eye to, or dodge and even cover up rampant human rights abuses on its own territory,” the new Chinese report said.