DC Bureau - Investigative Journalism, Environmental News, and National Security Stories That Matter http://www.storiesthatmatter.org/ Recent Videos Video <![CDATA[The Secret History of the CIA: The CIA in business with the parent group to Al Qaeda?]]>  DCBureau.org editor Joe Trento interviews the author of an important new book that examines a CIA-funded mosque in Munich, Germany, that was controlled by the most extreme elements in Islam. Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Ian Johnson’s book, A Mosque In Munich, tells how the CIA deliberately went into business with the pro-Nazi Muslim Brotherhood at the height of the cold war.]]> Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:33:07 GMT <![CDATA[There Will be Gas]]>  There Will Be Gas is the title of the documentary because hardly anyone in the affected areas of New York State opposes natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale. Everyone seems to support “responsible” production – meaning extracting the gas without destroying the land and water. It is a modern day gold rush with all sides seeking the advantage. Many upstate New Yorkers in economically-depressed areas see gas leases as their economic salvation. Wall Street sees quick profits from driving up the stock prices of companies producing in the shale. Gas companies want to secure as many leases as possible at the lowest possible cost. The shadow of unethical practices by companies, politicians, and residents anxious for money, and huge environmental questions about gas extraction loom over the area.]]> Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:23:41 GMT <![CDATA[Decision to Shut Yucca Mountain to Savannah River Weapons Waste brings Lawsuit from Aiken County]]>  At a press conference on April 28 at the National Press Club in Washington, the Savannah River Site Community Reuse Organization and representatives of South Carolina and Georgia business organizations told the media why they were supporting a lawsuit filed by Aiken County, South Carolina, against the U.S. Department of Energy over its decision to close the Yucca Mountain high level nuclear waste storage facility. DCBureau.org covered the press conference.]]> Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:24:22 GMT <![CDATA[Visas For Terrorists]]>  Michael Springmann thought he was working for the State Department at the American consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. According to Springmann, the CIA was really running the show for all but 2 or 3 employees at the consulate. From 1987 through 1989, he tells us that his supervisor Consul General Jay Freres demanded that he issue VISAs to unqualified candidates. Springmann says when he denied VISAs to people unable to show any ties to their home country, Justice Stevens or Freres would quickly overrule his decision. Springmann says that he later discovered these individuals were being “sent to the U.S. for training and onward assignment to Afghanistan where they were to fight Soviet soldiers.”]]> Wed, 14 Apr 2010 08:03:54 GMT <![CDATA[Congressman Denies Knowing His Wife Lobbied For Landman Group]]>  At the same time liberal Upstate New York Rep. Maurice Hinchey, 71, championed strict control over gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, his wife lobbied for a Texas-based landmen association whose members represent gas drillers securing leases from New York property owners. Hinchey claimed that he was unaware of his wife’s lobbying on behalf of the landmen. For at least two years of their marriage, Hinchey’s wife, Allison Lee, 47, who was previously his district office representative and administrative aide, represented members of the Forth Worth-based American Association of Professional Landmen (AAPL). AAPL members came to New York to work for energy companies acquiring gas leases from property owners.]]> Wed, 07 Apr 2010 10:56:07 GMT <![CDATA[Hinchey: Gas drilling needs to be done in an environmentally responsible way]]>  Excerpts from our interview with Congressman Maurice Hinchey.]]> Tue, 06 Apr 2010 13:16:44 GMT <![CDATA[Fox and the Saudi Prince]]>  

An interview with Joe Trento that describes his experience with Fox News and the company's connection to Saudi Arabia.

]]> Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:57:17 GMT <![CDATA[Iranian Missiles and what they mean for the Persian Gulf.]]>  An interview with Joe Trento on the threat of Iranian C-802Missiles and what they mean for the Persian Gulf.]]> Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:22:02 GMT <![CDATA[Dirty Waters: Cashing in on Ocean Pollution]]>  DIRTY WATER exposes how even the newest cruise ships lack state-of-the-art environmental mitigation systems. The two-part series exposes a cruise industry dependent on lax federal oversight and more interested in putting profits into PR and lobbying and campaign contributions instead of installing new technologies that could mitigate some of its negative environmental impact. DCBureau reporter David Rosenfeld reveals that the cruise industry touts untouched ocean scenery while beneath the surface cruise ships leave a wake of toxic sewage and other harmful pollutants that threaten marine life and human health. The cost-effective and preferred method of discharging sewage into the ocean requires a high-grade retrofit that costs $10 million. Yet the largest cruise companies choose not to spend the money to equip dozens of ships with the latest technology even as they make huge profits. Carnival Corporation, the world’s largest cruise company, in the down 2009 economy made $1.3 billion in one quarter alone.]]> Tue, 26 Jan 2010 09:45:33 GMT <![CDATA[The Burn Pit Contracts: KBR and the Army]]>  KBR exposed soldiers and their employees to toxic burn pit smoke at Joint Base Balad in Iraq. KBR denies any responsibility even though their contract with the army contradicts their denial. Soldiers and KBR workers have suffered from health problems consistent with exposure to burn pit smoke since returning home.]]> Tue, 15 Dec 2009 08:27:08 GMT <![CDATA[The Marcellus Shale: Environmental Impact]]>  Allison Sickle discusses the environmental impacts of drilling.]]> Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:28:16 GMT <![CDATA[The Marcellus Shale: Land Owners]]>  Allison Sickle discusses how land owners are forced by law to allow drilling to occur beneath their property.]]> Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:26:16 GMT <![CDATA[Stories That Matter #3: Losing The War On Drugs]]>  In a new Stories That Matter video, Joe Trento tells how one of the CIA’s most notorious case officers was brought back by the CIA from Iran-Contra disgrace – a convicted felon and one of the few high-level officials to serve time in prison – to coddle the Karzai family in Afghanistan. It provides historical context to the CIA’s recruiting of drug lords, including using the Laos-Vietnam era case officer to work with Karzai family members with drug connections. This story advances the recent New York Times article on Karzai’s well connected brother.]]> Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:12:39 GMT <![CDATA[Stories That Matter #2: The Atlantic Water Summit]]>  

The main Ballroom at the National Press Club was packed with individuals from nonprofits, government and business (lobbyists, media relations and a few executives) who traded business cards, overused acronyms and buzzwords, asked long questions, and got short answers. As a large camera in the back panned the room, The Atlantic Water Summit was officially live...

]]> Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:33:09 GMT <![CDATA[Stories That Matter #1: No Contractor Left Behind]]>  

No Contractor Left Behind tells how American soldiers were not told they were exposed to a cancer-causing chemical at the Qarmat Ali electrical plant near Basra in the first months of the Iraq War. KBR, the Pentagon's biggest private contractor, was supposed to clean up the site. It did not. Instead, the company and the Army exposed hundreds of soldiers to a rust inhibitor that is a well known carcinogen and did not tell them about it until years later. Many of the Army National Guard soldiers from Oregon, Indiana, and West Virginia became very ill. Several have died. You will meet some of the soldiers who were exposed and see the depositions of KBR officials who did nothing to protect the Guardsmen. The story shows how the Senate, more concerned about KBR and the Pentagon than the health of our soldiers, left the investigation into this tragedy to the Democratic Policy Committee. The DPC is powerless to compel testimony from witnesses, or subpoena documents, or control the budgets of the Pentagon or the Veterans Administration to help these men who are facing huge health bills and years of medical treatment.

]]> Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:26:06 GMT <![CDATA[Dr. Gibb interview part 2]]>  Dr. Herman Gibb explains the errors in the Army's testing.]]> Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:49:17 GMT <![CDATA[Dr. Gibb interview part I]]>  

Dr. Herman Gibb discusses the toxicity of sodium dichromate.

]]> Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:34:01 GMT <![CDATA[KBR Testimony: Doug Fletcher]]>  

The testimony of KBR employee Doug Fletcher.

]]> Wed, 07 Oct 2009 08:38:54 GMT <![CDATA[KBR Testimony: Johnny Morney]]>  

The testimony of KBR employee Johnny Morney.

]]> Wed, 07 Oct 2009 08:36:32 GMT <![CDATA[KBR Testimony: Sudhir Desai]]>  

The testimony of KBR employee Sudhir Desai.

]]> Wed, 07 Oct 2009 08:32:06 GMT <![CDATA[KBR Testimony: Robert Conte]]>  

The testimony of KBR employee Robert Conte.

]]> Wed, 07 Oct 2009 08:29:20 GMT <![CDATA[KBR Testimony: Chuck Adams]]>  

The testimony of KBR employee Chuck Adams.

]]> Wed, 07 Oct 2009 08:24:09 GMT <![CDATA[Engaging the rest of the world]]>  

Holly Bamford talks about the work other governments are doing o combat marine debris.

]]> Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:29:46 GMT <![CDATA[Inter-agency work on marine debris]]>  

Inter-agency work on marine debris

]]> Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:20:47 GMT <![CDATA[Funding NOAA]]>  

Goes over how much the marine debris program gets from the federal government and how that impacts their work.

]]> Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:16:08 GMT <![CDATA[Universities and the fight against marine debris]]>  

Holly Bamford talks about the creation of programs to update the study of marine debris.

]]> Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:12:06 GMT <![CDATA[The environmental impact of marine debris]]>  

Holly Bamford goes over the environmental impact of marine debris.

]]> Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:07:23 GMT <![CDATA[Marine debris causes and cleaning it up]]>  

Holly Bamford discuses the causes of marine debris and how NOAA is going to clean it up.

]]> Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:52:20 GMT <![CDATA[Human Impact]]>  

Holly Bamford discusses the causes of marine debris and its impact on human health.

]]> Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:50:01 GMT <![CDATA[Intro to marine debris]]>  

Holly Bamford, Director of NOAA’s Marine Debris Program, gives an introduction to marine debris and NOAA's plan to combat it.

]]> Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:47:53 GMT <![CDATA[Unsafe At Any Altitude]]>  

A special 9/11 investigation.

]]> Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:30:09 GMT <![CDATA[No Safe Harbor: Interview with Adam Sarvana pt. 3]]>  

Part three of an interview with DC Bureau reporter Adam Sarvana about the shipping industry and the pollution it causes.

]]> Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:19:54 GMT <![CDATA[No Safe Harbor: Interview with Adam Sarvana pt. 2]]>  

Part two of an interview with DC Bureau reporter Adam Sarvana about the shipping industry and the pollution it causes.

]]> Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:19:53 GMT <![CDATA[No Safe Harbor: Interview with Adam Sarvana pt. I]]>  

Part one of an interview with DC Bureau reporter Adam Sarvana about the shipping industry and the pollution it causes.

]]> Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:19:51 GMT <![CDATA[Dawud reflects on the murder (From 20/20)]]>  A remorseless Dawud Salahuddin reflects on the murder Tabatabai'e. From 20/20.
]]> Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:58:31 GMT <![CDATA[A Murder in Washington (From 20/20)]]>  

Watch Dawud Salahuddin describe the murder of Tabatabai?e, the former spokeman for the ousted Shah of Iran.

Clip from 20/20: The Assassin.

]]> Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:58:30 GMT <![CDATA[Could Western Governments have stopped AQ Khan?]]>  Joseph Trento discusses numerous points when the western world could have prevented Pakistani nuclear proliferation.
]]> Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:58:29 GMT <![CDATA[Zbigniew Brzezinski Advocated Nukes for Pakistan]]>  David Armstrong discusses Zbigniew Brzezinski's role in Pakistani nuclear proliferation.
]]> Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:58:28 GMT <![CDATA[Nestle and rural America]]>  Norah Shipman discusses Nestlé's methods of acquiring water rights and the lucrative business of bottled water.
]]> Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:58:27 GMT <![CDATA[Baghdad’s Ambassador Confronts a Fragmented Iraq]]>  The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The KRG is represented inside the Beltway by Qubad Talabani, son of Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, and has spared no expense on U.S.-based representation. Besides operating its own office in downtown D.C., the Kurds retain BGR Group (at $58,000 per month), the law firm of Greenburg Traurig American ($40,000), and the Business Development Group ($10,000) for ?strategic counsel and representation.? Moreover, to help ?shape U.S. perceptions of Kurdish interests ? the Talabanis paid the Republican-linked PR firm of Russo, Marsh & Rogers $200,000 to produce television advertisements ?educating the public that Kurdistan is safe, has an open society, and is receptive and equipped for investment.?]]> Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:58:26 GMT <![CDATA[Sumaida'ie, the INC, and the liberation of Iraq]]>  After Saddam's ouster, Sumaida'ie was rewarded, like many of his comrades, with a seat in Iraq?s provisional government. He served as Interior Minister before being appointed as the country's representative to the United Nations. In 2006, he became Baghdad's man in Washington, where he found himself among a new Iraq lobby that, unlike its predecessors in the INC, championed diverging political aims, mirroring the sectarian divisions that had taken root back home.]]> Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:58:15 GMT <![CDATA[American intervention and the spoils of war]]>  Samir Sumaida?ie, Iraq?s Ambassador to the United States, is a revolutionary. A decade ago, Sumaida?ie was an integral part of the diverse cadre of Iraqi dissidents who, from their perches in London, Washington, and Iraqi Kurdistan, provided impetus for the coup-by-proxy that would become one of the largest foreign policy blunders in modern American history.]]> Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:58:10 GMT <![CDATA[An Interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski]]>  In May 2004, the authors of America and the Islamic Bomb interviewed former National Security Advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski.  Asked whether he believed the policy outlined in his 1979 memo to President Carter suggesting that the United States set aside concerns about Pakistani nuclear proliferation in order to win Islamabad?s cooperation in supporting the anti-Soviet rebels in Afghanistan was appropriate, as implemented, Brzezinski replied, ?In general, yes.?  After further elaboration, he then ended interview.
]]> Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:11:06 GMT <![CDATA[Western Knowledge of Pakistani Proliferation]]>  Joseph Trento discusses the spin, lies, and failures of the west that allowed Pakistan to become a nuclear power.
]]> Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:11:05 GMT <![CDATA[America and the Islamic Bomb]]>  David Armstrong promotes the book: America and the Islamic Bomb. He also discusses the the long history between Pakistan and the United States.]]> Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:11:04 GMT <![CDATA[US Role in Pakistani Bomb Was a Bipartisan]]>  David Armstrong discusses the history of biparitsanship that led to nuclear weapons in Pakistan.
]]> Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:11:03 GMT <![CDATA[British Intelligence and the AQ Khan Network]]>  David Armstrong discusses how British Intellegence obstructed a customs investigation of the AQ Khan Network. ]]> Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:11:02 GMT <![CDATA[Roots of War]]>  Fawaz Younis was one of the Amal Militia's top operatives in Lebanon. He holds the distinction of being the only hijacker ever to take two planes in one week. Co-author Josepth Trento interviewed him in Beirut in June, 2005.]]> Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:20:31 GMT <![CDATA[Joseph and Susan Trento]]>  Joseph and Susan Trento are the authors of Unsafe at Any Altitude.]]> Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:20:31 GMT <![CDATA[Airport Weakness]]>  Fawaz Younis was one of the Amal Militia's top operatives in Lebanon. He holds the distinction of being the only hijacker ever to take two planes in one week. Co-author Josepth Trento interviewed him in Beirut in June, 2005.]]> Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:20:31 GMT