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Bad Watchdog
Behind the Curtain (S2 E5)
Season 2, Ep. 5
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Content note: This episode discusses suicide and sexual violence.
After a years-long legal fight from the Department of Homeland Security, a court order finally gave Nick and other investigators access to 33 reports detailing conditions in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities. The documents showed a disturbing pattern of abuse that extended far beyond the gates of Adelanto Detention Center, spreading throughout ICE detention facilities across the United States. In this episode, Maren gets into the conditions in ICE detention and raises the question: What needs to change for this broken system to be fixed?
Maren breaks down the reports with POGO’s Senior Investigator Nick Schwellenbach and former Senior Researcher Freddy Martinez. She talks with activists Berto Hernandez and Arely Westley about their experiences of the conditions in ICE detention, and she visits a Louisiana airport with LA-AID volunteer Sarah Jones to meet people who were recently released from ICE facilities. Finally, to untangle just how immigration policy became entwined with counterterrorism — and how we can fix it — Maren talks with POGO’s Katherine Hawkins, the Brennan Center for Justice’s Spencer Reynolds, and The Ohio State University Professor César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández.
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Bad 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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Introducing: Bad Watchdog
02:20||Season 1Government 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
1. The Missing Text Messages (S1 E1)
27:33||Season 1, Ep. 1How 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
2. The Tip of the Iceberg (S1 E2)
28:44||Season 1, Ep. 2A 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
3. Abuse of Power and People (S1 E3)
28:41||Season 1, Ep. 3Nick 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
4. The Story of an Agency (S1 E4)
36:49||Season 1, Ep. 4The 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
5. Who is Joseph Cuffari? (S1 E5)
35:55||Season 1, Ep. 5Cuffari’s mismanagement of Homeland Security’s watchdog office has Maren wondering how he ended up with such an important job in the first place. She looks back at his Senate confirmation, alleged ethics violations, and dubious qualifications, and she and Nick talk with Representative Bennie Thompson (D-MS), chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security, about his efforts to hold Cuffari accountable. Nick and Adam detail Cuffari’s early fights with his own staff, and a group of anonymous watchdog office staff plead with President Biden to remove their boss. For transcript and show notes, visit pogo.org/podcasts/bad-watchdog
6. The Perfect Storm (S1 E6)
32:08||Season 1, Ep. 6In the final episode of “Bad Watchdog,” Nick and Adam discover that Cuffari knew about even more missing January 6th text messages from the Trump-era DHS leadership team, and Maren asks the million-dollar question: Why hasn’t this guy been removed from power? Experts weigh reforms to the inspector general system that would improve accountability for bad watchdogs and discuss what may be preventing President Biden from taking action. Maren gives Cuffari’s staff the final word. For transcript and show notes, visit pogo.org/podcasts/bad-watchdog
7. Cuffari Regularly Purges His Texts (Special Update)
25:17||Season 1, Ep. 7Last week was the first time DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari testified in front of Congress since Bad Watchdog was released. Lawmakers took it as a chance to hold him accountable for some of the decisions he’s made as inspector general, from his delayed notification to Congress about the missing Secret Service text messages to the sexual misconduct and harassment report his office never published. Investigative reporter Nick Schwellenbach joins Maren to recap the hearing, to break down an explosive admission by Cuffari, and to share updates about Nick’s latest investigations into Cuffari — and an upcoming season two of Bad Watchdog. For transcript and show notes, visit pogo.org/podcasts/bad-watchdog
8. Obscured: County Jails, Mental Health & Accountability Barriers with Brett Sholtis
37:48||Season 1, Ep. 8We want to share a new podcast with you! Obscured tells stories that unfold largely out of the public eye. Investigative journalists and creators of Obscured Emily Previti and Stephanie Marudas are sharing the latest episode from their series “From Words to Weapons” with Bad Watchdog listeners.Obscured’s sixth episode of “From Words to Weapons” focuses on how county jails treat people with mental health conditions. Emily and Stephanie talk with journalist Brett Sholtis, who investigated this issue in Pennsylvania. Brett investigated interactions between corrections officers and inmates with mental health conditions; specifically, he looked into how tasers, restraints, and other types of force are utilized within county jails.The conversation also delves into how a lack of transparency about what happens in these county jails can prevent accountability and public understanding of these issues. For more information and resources from Obscured, listeners can go to https://www.kouvendamedia.com/obscured/ and can listen to more episodes here.Links of interest: https://www.witf.org/news/mental-health-behind-bars/