New website to monitor fed travel excesses

A new independent issue website called JunketSleuth.com has been launched this month, focusing on publishing information on what its staff argue is wasteful travel by federal government employees.

The website cites federal government spending calculated at $14 billion per year — including approximately “400 employees of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [who] have racked up more than a $100,000 each in taxpayer-funded travel since 2005.” The site points to official records backing the claim.

The website’s editorial staff is led by Chris Carey, a longtime print journalist and creator of BailoutSleuth.com, which tracks alleged waste and fraud in the management of ongoing government economic bailouts since the financial crisis struck in 2008.

“Some of those employees were undoubtedly pursuing critical missions – ensuring the safety of foreign-made drugs, working to slow the spread of HIV and other deadly diseases, or providing on-site support after the devastating earthquake in Haiti this year,” JunketSleuth acknowledges in a Web-posted statement. “But an analysis of the Department of Health and Human Services’ computerized travel database, obtained by JunketSleuth through the Freedom of Information Act, shows that more than half of the trips by department employees fell into more mundane categories, such as meetings, conferences, training sessions and speeches.”

For more, go to www.JunketSleuth.com.