Washington, D.C. – Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) asked Department of Justice Inspector General Glenn Fine to investigate the Criminal Division’s inadequate training and supervision of line attorneys. CREW based its request on the December 31, 2009 dismissal of the indictments of four Blackwater security guards after their constitutional rights had been violated by prosecutors, as well as the decision of the United States to drop all charges against former Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) after prosecutors failed to disclose evidence.

As world leaders gather in Copenhagen to discuss the challenges posed by climate change, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) today released a report revealing how the debate in Congress over climate change initiatives is being influenced by the people who made up President George W. Bush’s climate team.

CREW’s report, Smoke Screen: How Bush Insiders Distorted – And Still Influence – America’s Debate Over Climate Change, profiles many of these former Bush officials and the roles they are now playing on behalf of oil, gas, mining and other powerful energy interests.

CREW received a response from the Centers for Control and Prevention (CDC) denying CREW’s request for expedition of its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking all records related to the agency’s policies, protocols, and practices for distributing the H1N1 vaccine.

CREW has filed a lawsuit against the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, challenging the Board’s failure to produce records in response to CREW’s FOIA request for records that identify the recipients of financial assistance the Board has provided in the last six months, as well as the amount each institution received and the terms of the assistance. In the past two years, the Board has provided more than $2 trillion in loans and assistance in response to the ongoing financial and economic crisis.