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![US Education Department Contractor Overcharged Taxpayers While Spending Millions On Executive Salaries As student math and reading scores declined, the American Institute of Research charged 50% in indirect costs and paid its CEO over $2 million by alex gutentag and Michael Shellenberger Over the last few weeks, the media and Democrats have been lambasting President Donald Trump for cutting the Department of Education’s research budget. In particular, the media criticized the Trump administration for cutting a contractor’s research into support services for students with disabilities who are nearing graduation. But it’s not clear that the research was necessary or successful, and there is already both state and federal funding aimed at helping students with disabilities to develop life skills and plans for the future. And now Public has obtained invoices showing that the Department’s contractor for the research in question, American Institute for Research (AIR), had significantly overcharged the Department in so-called indirect costs. The invoice is from November 18, 2024, and shows AIR billing the Department $411,961.35 for the month of October 2024. Of that money, $214,952.74 was in “total indirects.” AIR charged an additional $26,950.74 as a 7% fee. The invoice shows that the cumulative amount that AIR had billed the Department of Education was $10,957,275.73, of which $4,993,376.12 was total indirects and $716,831.18 was total additional fees. A second invoice is from January 15, 2025, and shows AIR billing the Department $60,913.72 for the month of December 2024. Of that money, $29,685.23 was in total indirects. AIR charged an additional $3,985.01 as a 7% fee. The invoice shows that the cumulative amount that AIR had billed the Department of Education was $11,076,493.79, of which $5,028,446.77 was total indirects and $724,630.48 was total additional fees. In response to questions from Public, an AIR spokesperson said, “AIR’s indirect rates are similar to those of other social and behavioral research organizations and we have always abided by our approved rates. For government contractors, indirect costs include such costs as information technology, data security, and compliance and reporting.” However, 50% in indirect fees is widely considered excessive. The National Institutes of Health recently required that its contractors lower indirect costs to 15% to reduce widespread overcharging. Indeed, when asked about the invoice, a spokesperson for the Department of Education condemned the high fees. “Contracts with indirect rates over 50% take gross advantage of taxpayer dollars, perverting the reason the contracts exist — our students,” said Department spokesperson Madison Biedermann. “Incoming leadership will no longer allow these unacceptable terms.” According to AIR’s IRS 990 form, the total compensation of AIR’s chief executive, David Myers, in the most recent year available, 2023, was $2,241,374. “At the end of 2023, David Myers finished a 14-year tenure as AIR’s President and Chief Executive Officer,” said the AIR spokesperson. “His compensation for his final year included a retention payment. The salary for our current President and CEO is lower and in line with what other non-profit organizations of our size and type pay their chief executives.” However, AIR’s tax forms showed that Myers earned $2,294,637 in 2022 and $1,145,400 in 2021. Jessica Heppen is the current president and CEO. In 2023, she earned $685,060 as president. Neither Heppen nor Myers responded to Public’s request for comment. AIR’s 990 form shows other high salaries for staff and fees for board members. AIR’s Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer, earned $931,610 in 2023, and its CFO earned $1,145,400 in 2022. A member of the AIR Board, Robert Boruch, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, received $80,250 in 2023 for just 2 hours of work per week, which is $772 per hour. While nonprofit board members typically donate their time, 14 of AIR’s board members received hundreds of dollars per hour for their service. None responded to requests by Public for comment. AIR’s fees should be considered in the broader context of declining student performance and AIR’s role to provide research that improves student performance. Today, only 31% of fourth graders and only 30% of eighth graders are reading at or above proficiency levels, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). In eighth grade reading, 33% of students scored “below basic,” the highest percentage recorded in the NAEP’s history. Congress established the Education Department in 1979 “to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.” Student performance has declined across the board over the last 10 years. While Covid school closures significantly worsened them, math and reading scores declined for fourth- and eighth-graders nationwide from 2014 to 2024. AIR appears to be partly responsible. It gave a favorable evaluation to Lucy Calkins’ Units of Study curriculum, which used elements of the now-debunked “whole language” approach to reading instead of systematic phonics instruction. Under the whole language approach, teachers taught children to memorize whole words and use guessing strategies instead of sounding out individual sounds in unfamiliar words. The failure of the whole language approach was precisely why the Department of Education hires groups like AIR. The goal of research is to discover which teaching methods work and which don’t before schools adopt them. That didn’t happen. In fact, the opposite did. The result was a whole generation of children robbed of fundamental literacy. “It is absolutely inaccurate to say we ‘gave a favorable evaluation’ to Units of Study,” said AIR. But the evaluation was clearly positive. Implementation of the curriculum, AIR’s report stated, “is associated with improvements in ELA [English Language Arts] achievement starting in the second year of implementation, and in schools that opt to continue with the approach long term, the magnitude of the effects grow larger over time.” And even AIR noted, in its email to Public, “We found no positive effect in the first year of implementation, then saw positive effects in subsequent years for some schools.” Other Department contractors had much lower indirect rates. Why was AIR able to charge so much? If you're not already a subscriber, please subscribe now to support Public's award-winning investigative reporting, read the rest of the article, and watch the full video!](https://image.24vids.com/tw-1901693316267213208/ext_tw_video_thumb/1901692814133452800/pu/img/N6mfWH6lZv0rW5jL.jpg)
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THE PENTAGON PEDOPHILES: U.S. Immigration and Customs Investigations identified over 5,000 Pentagon Department of Defense, U.S. Military, DARPA, NSA and NASA employees involved in Child Pornography, some had the highest Top Secret security clearances which may involve blackmail. Thousands of sexually exploited children were as young as 3 years old. (DCIS) The Department of Defense Investigation Service dropped the case after 8 months due to lack of resources. Over 1,700 employees were never investigated. This is a National Security risk to America that has been buried and ignored to this day. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL DEFENSE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE SERVICE REPORT OF INVESTIGATION: 200701199X-29-MAY-2007-60DC-Wl/F PROJECT: OPERATION FLICKER January 24, 2008 NARRATIVE: 1. On July 11, 2007, the reporting agent received a lead referral from Special Agent IDCIS Mid-Atlantic Field Office regarding the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) initiated Operation Flicker. Operation Flicker is a nationwide investigation that has identified over 5,000 individuals that have subscribed to predicated child pornography websites. A list of individuals in New York State that are employed by the Department of Defense/U.S. Military, that have subscribed to websites that contain child pornographic images or other material that exploit children via the internet. 2. In April 2006, the ICE/Cyber Crimes Center/Child Exploitation Section (ICE/C3/CES) initiated an investigation into a criminal organization operating a commercial child pornography website known as "Home Collection." The investigation has revealed that the same organization is operating numerous commercial child pornography websites. In addition, the organization utilizes various Pay Pal accounts to process the payments for access to the member restricted areas of these websites. The investigation is being worked jointly with ICE/C3/CES, ICE/RAC/Birmingham, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Department of Justice/Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, and the USAO for the Northern District of Alabama. ICE has designated this operation as PROJECT FLICKER. 3. ICE/C3/CES has conducted over 60 undercover transactions at the advertising websites associated with this investigation. The investigation has identified that a specific criminal organization is operating approximately 18 different commercial child pornography advertising websites which provide access to approximately 18 child pornography member restricted websites. 4. Among the 5,000 names ICE identified under Project Flicker, several individuals used their .mil e-mail address, Fleet Post Office (FPO), or Army Post Office (APO) military zip codes. Special Agent advised the U.S. Attorney's Office and ICE that the DCIS will assist in identifying any additional Department of Defense (DoD) affiliated individuals and provide any investigative assistance. 5. As a result of the database queries, 264 individuals affiliated with DoD were identified, including 39 individuals within the Eastern District of Virginia. Of those identified, 9 individuals possessed a Top Secret Sensitive Compartmented Information security clearance, 13 possessed a Top Secret security clearance, 8 possessed a NATO Secret security clearance, 42 possessed a Secret security clearance, and 4 possessed an interim Secret security clearance. 6. The subject information containing DoD query results were divided by location and forwarded to the appropriate ICE and DCIS office for action. 17. This investigation is closed based upon the lack of participation by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement to present the forensic evidence obtained during the course of the investigation to the U.S. Attorney's Office. This case may be re-opened if ICE presents this case for prosecution, and the U.S. Attorney's Office accepts this case for prosecution. YAHOO NEWS: News Report by John Cook September 3, 2010 Pentagon declined to investigate hundreds of purchases of child pornography. A 2006 Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigation into the purchase of child pornography online turned up more than 250 civilian and military employees of the Defense Department -- including some with the highest available security clearance -- who used credit cards or PayPal to purchase images of children in sexual situations. But the Pentagon investigated only a handful of the cases, Defense Department records show. The cases turned up during a 2006 ICE inquiry, called Project Flicker, which targeted overseas processing of child-porn payments. As part of the probe, ICE investigators gained access to the names and credit card information of more than 5,000 Americans who had subscribed to websites offering images of child pornography. Many of those individuals provided military email addresses or physical addresses with Army or fleet ZIP codes when they purchased the subscriptions. In a related inquiry, the Pentagon's Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) cross-checked the ICE list against military databases to come up with a list of Defense employees and contractors who appeared to be guilty of purchasing child pornography. The names included staffers for the secretary of defense, contractors for the ultra-secretive National Security Agency, and a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. But the DCIS opened investigations into only 20 percent of the individuals identified, and succeeded in prosecuting just a handful. The Boston Globe first reported the Pentagon's role in Project Flicker in July, citing DCIS investigative reports showing that at least 30 Defense Department employees were investigated. But new Project Flicker investigative reports obtained by The Upshot through the Freedom of Information Act, which you can read here, show that DCIS investigators identified 264 Defense employees or contractors who had purchased child pornography online. Astonishingly, nine of those had "Top Secret Sensitive Compartmentalized Information" security clearances, meaning they had access to the nation's most sensitive secrets. All told, 76 of the individuals had Secret or higher clearances. But DCIS investigated only 52 of the suspects, and just 10 were ever charged with viewing or purchasing child pornography. Without greater public disclosure of how these cases wound down, it's impossible to know how or whether any of the names listed in the Project Flicker papers came in for additional scrutiny. It's conceivable that some of them were picked up by local law enforcement, but it seems likely that most of the people flagged by the investigation did not have their military careers disrupted in the context of the DCIS inquiry. Among those charged were Gary Douglass Grant, a captain in the Army Reserves and a judge advocate general, or military prosecutor. After investigators executing a search warrant found child pornography on his computer, he pleaded guilty last year to state charges of possession of obscene matter of a minor in a sexual act in California. Others included contractors for the NSA with Top Secret clearances; one of them a former contractor fled the country after being indicted and is believed to be in Libya. But the vast majority of those investigated, including an active-duty lieutenant colonel in the Army and an official in the office of the secretary of defense, were never charged. On top of that, 212 people on ICE's list were never investigated at all. According to the records, DCIS prioritized the investigations by focusing on people who had security clearances since those who have a taste for child pornography can be vulnerable to blackmail and espionage. The documents show that the probe then concentrated on people who had been previously suspected of or convicted of sex crimes, or had access to children as part of their Defense Department duties. But at least some of the people on the Project Flicker list with security clearances were never pursued and could possibly remain on the job: DCIS only investigated 52 people, and 76 of those on the Project Flicker list had clearances. A DCIS spokesman didn't return phone calls. But the agency's own documents obtained via The Upshot's FOIA request indicate that the decision to press investigations forward hinged largely on questions of the resources available to the investigators. "Due to DCIS headquarters' direction and other DCIS investigative priorities, this investigation is cancelled" is a common summation in the files. A source familiar with the Project Flicker investigations who requested anonymity because public disclosure could jeopardize this person's job confirmed that departmental resources, and priorities, were decisive factors in letting inquiries lapse. DCIS is primarily tasked with rooting out contractor fraud and investigating security breaches; its 400 staffers were already plenty busy before Project Flicker dropped 264 more names onto their caseloads. And child pornography investigations are difficult to prosecute. Many judges wouldn't issue search warrants based on years-old evidence saying the targets subscribed to a kiddie porn website once. "We were stuck in a situation where we had some great information, but didn't have the resources to run with it," the source told The Upshot. Many of the investigative reports obtained by The Upshot end with a similar citation of scarce resources: Of course, other federal agencies, including ICE and the FBI, may have prosecuted some of the Project Flicker names the DCIS ignored. But that's unlikely, given that some of the DCIS investigations were closed due to lack of cooperation from ICE. In one case, involving an Army Reserve corporal in the Pittsburgh area, a DCIS agent expressed exasperation after repeatedly trying to get ICE to collaborate with him on the investigation: "Based upon the complete non-responsiveness of ICE ... it is recommended that the matter be closed." As for the 212 Project Flicker names that DCIS didn't investigate, the source familiar with the investigation said there was no systematic effort to inform their superiors or commanding officers of their suspected purchases of child pornography. DAILY MAIL: By WILLS ROBINSON PUBLISHED: 13:01 EDT, 24 August 2015 EXCLUSIVE: NASA employees caught buying child porn from site which showed three year olds being abused, but they escape prosecution and now their names are being kept secret. 1. Staff were found to have purchased illegal images while at the agency. 2. Were bought from Belarus and Ukraine using credit cards and PayPal. 3. FBI uncovered the illicit transactions in 2010 as part of a government probe. 4. They were identified by authorities, but their names have been redacted. NASA employees were caught buying child pornography from a criminal ring in Eastern Europe that distributed images of minors as young as three, it can be revealed. An investigation by Daily Mail Online found staff members from the space agency paid for pictures and videos of children in sexual situations, but were never prosecuted. Their names have never been released because of government guidelines which protect their privacy. The probe found that in 2010, the employees paid for the pornography using personal credit cards or PayPal while working for the government. Their actions were uncovered during Project Flicker - an investigation by the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) into American citizens buying child pornography from Belarus and Ukraine. The investigation began in 2007 when more than 33,000 images of minors being abused flooded into the country. Investigators identified more than 5,200 citizens across the country who had paid for a subscription to illicit websites in order to access the content. In 2010 it was revealed that 264 of these worked for the Pentagon as either employees or contractors. Some of them worked for the NSA and had top security clearance. But the Daily Mail Online can reveal for the first time that NASA employees were also identified in the sickening scheme in the same year. However their names have been redacted in documents obtained by Daily Mail Online via a Freedom of Information Act request from NASA's Office of Inspector General. Some had highest available security clearance. After the probe was completed just 10 were ever charged with viewing or purchasing child pornography - prompting fears some of those caught could still be working for the military. It is not known whether any of the NASA employers were questioned, but it is clear they were not prosecuted - as their names have not been revealed. If they had been found guilty of a crime, their names would not have been redacted in the disclosed files. A spokesman for NASA told Daily Mail Online they would not be commenting beyond what was stated in the FOIA documents. The investigation, called Project Flicker, was conducted in collaboration with other U.S. and international law enforcement partners around the world, and identified 30,000 customers in 132 countries - resulting in hundreds of convictions in the U.S. and 16 arrests in Belarus and the Ukraine. 'The criminal rings involved used a variety of online and traditional payment methods, elaborate defense measures and a franchise business model that provided access to images and videos of sexually exploited boys and girls, some as young as 3 years old. HSI’s Cyber Crimes Center distributed more than 5,000 domestic leads to field offices around the country and shared more than 4,000 foreign leads with its law enforcement partners via HSI’s attaché offices. HSI is a leading federal law enforcement agency combating the sexual exploitation of children. HSI conducts investigations under Operation Predator, a nationwide initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who possess, trade and produce child pornography; who travel overseas for sex with minors; and who engage in the sex trafficking of children. The FBI said they would not be adding to the ICE's statement. The latest disclosure comes after Daily Mail Online investigations unearthed shocking breaches of computer guidelines inside the Department of Education the Department of Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services. FORMER CIA OPERATIONS OFFICER: There is a great cause for alarm. The Elite appear to be seeking to infect local and provincial law enforcement officers with a taste for Pedophilia. There appears to be a very deliberate attempt to push this interest in Pedophile movies including movies that include beastiality. We are seeing movies where military men are raping children including toddlers. Evidence shows these movies may have come from Afghanistan from U.S. soldiers. The center of gravity for taking down the Deep State is Pedophilia. Pedophilia is the induction glue of the Deep State. Pedophilia is how the Deep State recruits and controls its people, it is also the achilles heel of the Deep State. Once the public realizes that the government is not protecting their children, then everything else about the government will be called into question. For change to happen in our world the American public needs to get angry over the injustice. If the American public gets angry we will stop supporting dictators overseas and we will close all our military bases. There are one thousand U.S. military bases around the world and they are not there for national defense, they are there to smuggle guns, cash, gold, drugs and small children. UNITED NATIONS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: The Oligarch's, all of them are related to the System of Pedophilia. Millions of children every year disappear. These millions of innocent children need you to fight for them. They are being raped, tortured, murdered and sacrificed every year. Pedophilia has infiltrated every part of our society at the highest level by the Deep State and Oligarch's who use this for control and blackmail. Justice will not come through the current corrupt Pedophile System of things. Justice will only come through the people. The Committee of 300 is the Deep State and the Oligarch's that must be stopped.
Truth Justice ™
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