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Project on Government Oversight
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==History== The Project on Military Procurement, an arm of the National Taxpayers Legal Fund, was founded by Dina Rasor in February 1981. The Project's mission was to make the public aware of 'waste, fraud, and fat" in U.S. defense spending, according to Rasor. In the organization's early days, Rasor worked with whistleblowers to expose design flaws in the [[M1 Abrams]] tank, which had undergone a "shocking (cost) increase" in 1980, according to Rasor.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1982/0114/011458.html|title=Dina Rasor: blowing the whistle on the Pentagon|last=Webbe|first=Stephen|date=1982-01-14|work=Christian Science Monitor|access-date=2017-09-08|issn=0882-7729}}</ref> The Project first gained widespread attention in the early 1980s for publishing reports on "outrageously overpriced military spending", including a $7,600 coffee maker and a $436 hammer.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/01/business/high-cost-of-military-parts.html|title=High Cost of Military Parts|last=Barron|first=James|date=1983-09-01|work=The New York Times|access-date=2017-09-08|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jul/01/project-on-goverment-oversight|title=Would you pay $382 for a six-pack of Bud?|last=Chatterjee|first=Pratap|date=2011-07-01|work=The Guardian|access-date=2017-09-08|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> These prices were actually an artifact of government accounting rules, and include not just the cost of the equipment but also a portion of the overhead cost of the entire project they were associated with.<ref>[https://www.govexec.com/federal-news/1998/12/the-myth-of-the-600-hammer/5271/ The myth of the $600 hammer]</ref> The organization expanded its scope beyond military spending and changed its name to the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) in 1990. Danielle Brian joined POGO as its executive director in 1993.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/danielle-brians-pogo-is-constantly-poking-prodding-exposing-government-waste-and-fraud/article/2533504|title=Danielle Brian's POGO is constantly poking, prodding, exposing government waste and fraud|last=McCabe|first=Neil|date=2013-07-25|work=Washington Examiner|access-date=2017-09-08|language=en}}{{dead link |date=January 2025}}</ref> Other watchdog organizations have folded into POGO over the years. In 2012, the Straus Military Reform Project of the [[Center for Defense Information]] joined POGO.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pogo.org/about/cdi-joins-pogo.html|title=CDI Joins POGO|website=Project on Government Oversight|access-date=2017-09-08}}</ref> In 2016, the [[Center for Effective Government]] (known as OMB Watch until 2013) folded and became part of POGO.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.govexec.com/oversight/2016/03/two-longstanding-good-government-groups-join-forces/126786/|title=Two Longstanding Good-Government Groups Join Forces|last=Clark|first=Charles S.|date=2016-03-18|work=[[Government Executive]]|access-date=2017-09-08}}</ref>
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