CORRESPONDENTS

Marisa Taylor

U.S. gave firm low rating for Afghan work — and more business

A U.S. contractor who's continued to receive government contracts despite criticism of its work in Afghanistan got low ratings for its performance on two more high-profile projects in the war-torn country than had been disclosed previously. McClatchy has learned that the U.S. government criticized Black & Veatch for poor oversight and delays on a Kabul power plant project and for a study of the viability of developing a natural gas field in the Sheberghan region in northern Afghanistan. | 02/14/11 09:30:00 By - Marisa Taylor

Obama assertion: FBI can get phone records without oversight

The Obama administration's Justice Department has asserted that the FBI can obtain telephone records of international calls made from the U.S. without any formal legal process or court oversight, according to a document obtained by McClatchy. | 02/11/11 16:58:00 By - Marisa Taylor

Watchdog faults Obama's Afghan security strategy

The Obama administration's $11.4 billion plan to bolster Afghanistan's security forces is "at risk" because of poor planning, a government watchdog agency concluded in a report released Wednesday. | 01/26/11 14:37:00 By - Marisa Taylor

Federal inquiry under way of no-bid contract in Afghanistan

The government watchdog of U.S. contracting in Afghanistan is scrutinizing a sole-source contract that was awarded to a firm even though it was widely criticized for its construction of a power plant project in Kabul. | 01/24/11 18:01:00 By - Marisa Taylor

Arizona shooting suspect might escape death if convicted

Reacting to the Arizona shooting with anger, sadness and shock, a majority of Americans think that suspect Jared Loughner should be sent to death row if he's convicted, according to one poll. But if statistics are any indication, he has a good chance of escaping execution. | 01/21/11 18:38:00 By - Marisa Taylor

U.S. keeps funneling money to troubled Afghan projects

McClatchy found that U.S. government funding for at least 15 large-scale programs and projects grew from just over $1 billion to nearly $3 billion despite the government's questions about their effectiveness or cost. Welcome to Afghan aid, American-style. | 01/12/11 17:03:00 By - Marisa Taylor and Dion Nissenbaum

U.S. watchdog for Afghanistan contracting resigns

The embattled top watchdog of U.S. contracting in Afghanistan announced Monday that he's resigning days after vowing to resist congressional demands to step down. Four senators demanded the resignation in a letter to President Barack Obama late last year, saying Arnold Fields has done a poor job of scrutinizing how $56 billion in reconstruction money is being spent in Afghanistan. | 01/10/11 18:05:01 By - Marisa Taylor

U.S. won't pursue Karzai allies in anti-corruption campaign

Under a new anti-corruption strategy for Afghanistan, the U.S. government won't aggressively pursue top Afghan officials suspected of malfeasance, conceding that "limited judicial capacity and political interference" from President Hamid Karzai's government make success in prosecuting them unlikely. | 01/06/11 18:30:00 By - Warren P. Strobel and Marisa Taylor

Stung by Senate criticism, auditor of Afghan spending sacks aides

The top auditor of U.S. contracting in Afghanistan announced Tuesday that he had fired two of his deputies in a shake-up aimed at improving his investigations of waste and corruption. | 01/04/11 18:07:00 By - Marisa Taylor

TSA screening protest fails to take off at U.S. airports

Unwilling to gamble with their on-time arrivals, the nation's airline passengers on Wednesday ignored calls to protest heightened airport security measures on the busiest travel day of the year. | 11/24/10 17:49:00 By - Tony Pugh and Marisa Taylor

U.S. hires firms with questionable pasts for Afghan jobs

McClatchy found nearly $4.5 billion in contracts that were awarded to companies even though they violated laws or had high-profile disputes over previous projects. Such legal or financial troubles could indicate that a company isn't prepared to finish a project or is prone to wasting taxpayer money. | 11/14/10 00:01:00 By - Marisa Taylor

Flawed projects prove costly for Afghanistan, U.S.

The U.S. is spending billions of dollars to build facilities for Afghanistan's expanding national police and new garrisons for its army. The ambitious program is a linchpin of President Barack Obama's strategy to strengthen Afghan security forces so 100,000 U.S. troops can come home. However, like much of the wider Afghan reconstruction effort, it's faltering. | 11/14/10 00:01:00 By - Dion Nissenbaum, Warren P. Strobel, Marisa Taylor and Jonathan S. Landay

Justice drops inquiry into destruction of torture videos

The former director of the CIA's secret operations branch won't be charged with the destruction of 92 videotapes showing the use of waterboarding and other controversial interrogation techniques, the Justice Department announced Tuesday. | 11/09/10 16:36:00 By - Marisa Taylor

$69.3 million Afghan-contracting fine may be a record

A nearly $70 million fine announced Friday against one of the U.S. government's largest Afghanistan contractors is an apparent record war-zone settlement, and it grew from a classic David vs. Goliath confrontation. | 11/05/10 16:57:00 By - Warren P. Strobel and Marisa Taylor

Contractor Louis Berger settles in Afghan overbilling probe

One of the government's highest profile American contractors in Afghanistan has agreed to pay tens of millions of dollars to settle allegations that it overbilled the U.S. government. | 11/04/10 16:27:00 By - Warren P. Strobel and Marisa Taylor

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