{"id":2927,"date":"2009-09-12T15:16:04","date_gmt":"2009-09-12T20:16:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/?p=2927"},"modified":"2017-08-30T11:14:14","modified_gmt":"2017-08-30T16:14:14","slug":"homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/2009\/09\/12\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\/","title":{"rendered":"Homeland insecurity: How federal grants are being misspent"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two years ago, on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, my colleagues Karisa King and Scott Stroud wrote a story<\/a> that went beyond the platitudes of politicians and pundits. Karisa and Scott checked to see if Texas was actually safer after receiving more than a billion dollars in Homeland Security grant money:<\/p>\n

Texas has spent more than $1.4 billion in homeland security money on an effort that was supposed to make people safer, but the program has devolved into a massive spending spree undertaken with inadequate planning, coordination or accountability.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"HomelandThe problem is apparently persisting in California, where a new nonprofit organization of investigative reporters called California Watch<\/a> reviewed stacks of state audits that tracked how grant money has been spent:<\/p>\n

Related: Web tools and apps to track weather emergencies in Texas<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Under the state\u2019s open-records laws, California Watch found scores of instances of wasteful spending, purchasing violations, error-prone accounting and shoddy oversight at agencies across the state during the years immediately following 9\/11.<\/p>\n

California Watch, a new unit started by the nonprofit Center for Investigative Reporting, examined thousands of pages of documents from 160 monitoring reports written by state homeland security officials who visited cities and counties across California to inspect equipment and grant records for compliance with federal guidelines. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

California Watch is the latest nonprofit group geared towards investigative journalism<\/a>. Similar nonprofit models, such as Texas Watchdog and the Texas Tribune<\/a>, are attempting to fill the vacuum left by gutted newsrooms across the country.<\/p>\n

Investigating whether public officials are actually doing a good job keeping people safe is important work — no matter who’s doing it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two years ago, on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, my colleagues Karisa King and Scott Stroud wrote a story that went beyond the platitudes of politicians and pundits. Karisa and Scott checked to see if Texas was actually safer after receiving more than a billion dollars in Homeland Security grant money: … <\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[82,235,359,451,508],"class_list":["post-2927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-express-news-stories","category-journalism","tag-california-watch","tag-homeland-security","tag-nonprofits","tag-san-antonio-express-news","tag-texas","infinite-scroll-item","masonry-post","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"yoast_head":"\nHomeland insecurity: How federal grants are being misspent | John Tedesco<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/2009\/09\/12\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Homeland insecurity: How federal grants are being misspent\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Two years ago, on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, my colleagues Karisa King and Scott Stroud wrote a story that went beyond the platitudes of politicians and pundits. Karisa and Scott checked to see if Texas was actually safer after receiving more than a billion dollars in Homeland Security grant money: ... Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/2009\/09\/12\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"John Tedesco\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-09-12T20:16:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-08-30T16:14:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/download.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"225\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"224\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Tedesco\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@John_Tedesco\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@john_tedesco\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Tedesco\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/12\\\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/12\\\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"John Tedesco\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c9553e8928f804751fd5f4b84ade59ce\"},\"headline\":\"Homeland insecurity: How federal grants are being misspent\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-09-12T20:16:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-08-30T16:14:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/12\\\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":276,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/65215f1cfbc6d6af95b00ec1b6e8eac5\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/12\\\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/download.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"California Watch\",\"Homeland Security\",\"Nonprofits\",\"San Antonio Express-News\",\"Texas\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Express-News Stories\",\"Journalism\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/12\\\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/12\\\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/12\\\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\\\/\",\"name\":\"Homeland insecurity: How federal grants are being misspent | John Tedesco\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/12\\\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/12\\\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/download.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-09-12T20:16:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-08-30T16:14:14+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/12\\\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/12\\\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/12\\\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/download.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/download.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/12\\\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Homeland insecurity: How federal grants are being misspent\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"John Tedesco\",\"description\":\"Investigative Journalist in Houston, Texas\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/65215f1cfbc6d6af95b00ec1b6e8eac5\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/65215f1cfbc6d6af95b00ec1b6e8eac5\",\"name\":\"John Tedesco\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/John-Tedesco-investigative-journalist.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/John-Tedesco-investigative-journalist.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/John-Tedesco-investigative-journalist.jpg\",\"width\":250,\"height\":233,\"caption\":\"John Tedesco\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/John-Tedesco-investigative-journalist.jpg\"},\"description\":\"Investigative reporter for the Houston Chronicle\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/johntedesco\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/john_tedesco\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/john_tedesco\",\"https:\\\/\\\/mastodon.online\\\/@John_Tedesco\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Key Topics Editor\",\"worksFor\":\"Houston Chronicle\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johntedesco.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c9553e8928f804751fd5f4b84ade59ce\",\"name\":\"John Tedesco\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Homeland insecurity: How federal grants are being misspent | John Tedesco","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/2009\/09\/12\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Homeland insecurity: How federal grants are being misspent","og_description":"Two years ago, on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, my colleagues Karisa King and Scott Stroud wrote a story that went beyond the platitudes of politicians and pundits. Karisa and Scott checked to see if Texas was actually safer after receiving more than a billion dollars in Homeland Security grant money: ... Read more","og_url":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/2009\/09\/12\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\/","og_site_name":"John Tedesco","article_published_time":"2009-09-12T20:16:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-08-30T16:14:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":225,"height":224,"url":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/download.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"John Tedesco","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@John_Tedesco","twitter_site":"@john_tedesco","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John Tedesco","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/2009\/09\/12\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/2009\/09\/12\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\/"},"author":{"name":"John Tedesco","@id":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c9553e8928f804751fd5f4b84ade59ce"},"headline":"Homeland insecurity: How federal grants are being misspent","datePublished":"2009-09-12T20:16:04+00:00","dateModified":"2017-08-30T16:14:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/2009\/09\/12\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\/"},"wordCount":276,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/65215f1cfbc6d6af95b00ec1b6e8eac5"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/2009\/09\/12\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.johntedesco.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/download.jpg","keywords":["California Watch","Homeland Security","Nonprofits","San Antonio Express-News","Texas"],"articleSection":["Express-News Stories","Journalism"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/2009\/09\/12\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/2009\/09\/12\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\/","url":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/2009\/09\/12\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\/","name":"Homeland insecurity: How federal grants are being misspent | John Tedesco","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/2009\/09\/12\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/2009\/09\/12\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.johntedesco.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/download.jpg","datePublished":"2009-09-12T20:16:04+00:00","dateModified":"2017-08-30T16:14:14+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/2009\/09\/12\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/2009\/09\/12\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/2009\/09\/12\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.johntedesco.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/download.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.johntedesco.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/download.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/2009\/09\/12\/homeland-insecurity-how-federal-grants-are-being-mispent\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Homeland insecurity: How federal grants are being misspent"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/","name":"John Tedesco","description":"Investigative Journalist in Houston, Texas","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/65215f1cfbc6d6af95b00ec1b6e8eac5"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/65215f1cfbc6d6af95b00ec1b6e8eac5","name":"John Tedesco","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/John-Tedesco-investigative-journalist.jpg","url":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/John-Tedesco-investigative-journalist.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/John-Tedesco-investigative-journalist.jpg","width":250,"height":233,"caption":"John Tedesco"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/John-Tedesco-investigative-journalist.jpg"},"description":"Investigative reporter for the Houston Chronicle","sameAs":["https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/johntedesco\/","https:\/\/x.com\/john_tedesco","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/john_tedesco","https:\/\/mastodon.online\/@John_Tedesco"],"jobTitle":"Key Topics Editor","worksFor":"Houston Chronicle"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c9553e8928f804751fd5f4b84ade59ce","name":"John Tedesco"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LGaa-Ld","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2927\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}