In this award-winning investigative podcast, host Maren Machles explores how accountability failures in Washington D.C. impact the lives of people all over the country, and she showcases the investigators, experts, and activists who work to keep our government working for the people.
In the second season, Maren and POGO’s investigative reporters take a look at the Department of Homeland Security. They trace how an agency established to protect the nation from security threats has doubled down on detaining migrants, sometimes in horrifying conditions, while failing to address the more immediate security threat caused by far-right extremism — even within the agency’s own ranks.
In the first season, Maren focused on the department’s Office of Inspector General, revealing a shocking pattern of misconduct that resulted in a failure to investigate some of the most troubling events in recent history.
In 2024, Bad Watchdog was a silver medalist at the New York Festivals Radio Awards and a nominee for the Ambie Awards' Best Politics or Opinion Podcast.
For more, visit pogo.org/podcasts/bad-watchdog
Bad Watchdog is a member of the Airwave Media network and a part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what’s broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.
All content for Bad Watchdog is the property of Project On Government Oversight and is served directly from their servers
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In this award-winning investigative podcast, host Maren Machles explores how accountability failures in Washington D.C. impact the lives of people all over the country, and she showcases the investigators, experts, and activists who work to keep our government working for the people.
In the second season, Maren and POGO’s investigative reporters take a look at the Department of Homeland Security. They trace how an agency established to protect the nation from security threats has doubled down on detaining migrants, sometimes in horrifying conditions, while failing to address the more immediate security threat caused by far-right extremism — even within the agency’s own ranks.
In the first season, Maren focused on the department’s Office of Inspector General, revealing a shocking pattern of misconduct that resulted in a failure to investigate some of the most troubling events in recent history.
In 2024, Bad Watchdog was a silver medalist at the New York Festivals Radio Awards and a nominee for the Ambie Awards' Best Politics or Opinion Podcast.
For more, visit pogo.org/podcasts/bad-watchdog
Bad Watchdog is a member of the Airwave Media network and a part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what’s broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.
This episode discusses suicide and recounts an incident in which a homophobic slur was used.
Maren follows the story of Berto Hernandez, who recounts their detainment at ICE’s Adelanto Detention Center and the treatment and conditions they faced inside. But when people in detention are mistreated, where can they turn for help? Experts from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) investigate complaints involving ICE’s detention facilities, then file reports on their findings and recommendations. Maren breaks down POGO’s investigation into three of these expert reports — and their disturbing findings regarding Adelanto’s overuse of solitary confinement.
Maren talks with Berto, who shares how the conditions in Adelanto affected them and how they grew determined to fight for their release. POGO Senior Investigator Nick Schwellenbach delves into his investigation into CRCL’s reports, what those findings revealed about the problems at Adelanto, and the upcoming obstacles to get more reports out of the Department of Homeland Security.
If you enjoy Bad Watchdog, sign up for emails from the Project On Government Oversight to learn more about POGO’s mission and check out our website for our full Bad Watchdog archive.
Bad Watchdog is a member of the Airwave Media network and a part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what’s broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.
Bad Watchdog
In this award-winning investigative podcast, host Maren Machles explores how accountability failures in Washington D.C. impact the lives of people all over the country, and she showcases the investigators, experts, and activists who work to keep our government working for the people.
In the second season, Maren and POGO’s investigative reporters take a look at the Department of Homeland Security. They trace how an agency established to protect the nation from security threats has doubled down on detaining migrants, sometimes in horrifying conditions, while failing to address the more immediate security threat caused by far-right extremism — even within the agency’s own ranks.
In the first season, Maren focused on the department’s Office of Inspector General, revealing a shocking pattern of misconduct that resulted in a failure to investigate some of the most troubling events in recent history.
In 2024, Bad Watchdog was a silver medalist at the New York Festivals Radio Awards and a nominee for the Ambie Awards' Best Politics or Opinion Podcast.
For more, visit pogo.org/podcasts/bad-watchdog
Bad Watchdog is a member of the Airwave Media network and a part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what’s broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.
