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Jan 29, 2009 06:00 PM | 18
National Science Foundation (NSF) employees wasted scads of time and tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars perusing online porn on the clock—and Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley (R–Iowa) wants to know how such lapses could occur at a $6-billion federal agency.
The accounts of employees' surfing for smut are documented in the NSF’s semiannual report (pdf), which was published in September and notes seven cases of pornographic exploits among the foundation's 1,500 employees uncovered by Thomas Cross, the foundation’s inspector general (IG).
“The semiannual report raises serious questions about how the National Science Foundation manages its resources," Grassley said in a statement today. "Congress ought to demand a full accounting before it gives the agency another $3 billion in the stimulus bill" set to be debated by the Senate next week. (The House passed an $819 billion version of the package yesterday.)
In a letter sent to Cross on Tuesday, Grassley requested that the IG send him all pertinent audit and other reports relating to the NSF investigation to "ensure that NSF properly fulfills its mission to strengthen scientific and engineering research, and makes responsible use of the public funding provided for these research disciplines." Grassley received the documents today, after The Politico published a story on the investigation yesterday.
Among the IG's findings: “Six cases of viewing, downloading, saving and/or sharing pornographic images or videos, and one case of extensive participation in pornographic chat Web sites and the concomitant significant waste of official time.” None of the offenders are identified in the report.
Some other highlights:
In addition to suspending three employees and notifying another three that they'd be dismissed, the foundation has installed filtering software on its computers to block smut, and reiterated that staff must take an online test to make sure they know what is and isn’t allowed on government computers.
"NSF takes the issue of appropriate use of taxpayer resources very seriously, and has communicated its commitment to enforcing proper IT use policies to congressional oversight committees that have asked about the IG report," Nesbit said in a statement. "The agency has a long-standing policy prohibiting the inappropriate use of government IT resources—including the viewing, downloading, or playing of sexually explicit material. NSF employees and contractors know that because they are using taxpayer resources, they can expect no right to privacy for any information used or shared on an NSF system."
The NSF funds 10,000 research grants each year at U.S. colleges and universities. Nesbit wouldn't answer a question about whether the foundation believes it's being unfairly targeted. "We're just doing our job here," Nesbit tells ScientificAmerican.com.
Image © iStockphoto/Jacob Wackerhausen
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18 Comments
Add CommentThe reason this happened - poor security, poor firewalls, poor IT in general.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOR not enough to do and sloppy oversight.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this7 out of 1500 employees?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'll bet if you checked the computers of the 100 U.S. Senators you'll get more than 7.
What about Solitaire or Freecell? Those games should be completely forbidden, I hope the report mention them too, along with the useless mails (not work related) that people send one another. Together, these activities in the workplace probably waste more than ten times what was spent in porn.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI bet some if not all of those caught looking at porn were appointed or hired by the last administration.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNSFw
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWOW, NOT GETTING ANY??? I guess a lot of these workers are not getting laid. Porn is ridiculously boring and overrated. What, your wife isn't complying? Then you married the wrong person LOL. What a waste of tax payer's money and a waste of work time. I would understand if you are a teenager but c'mon! We are all adults here! How disappointing...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs noted, if all that could be found was 7 out of 1,500 it is certainly is absurd, and if we imagin that the investigation itself had a staff of more than one and lasted more than a few days, I image the potential $58K lost of one individual plus those of the others, doesn't stack up as a good value. I would be fascinated to find out how much the study cost.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs for porn, it is a stupid waste of time (once again noted) but Grassley sounds like the sort of guy who would use government money to find out that onl 3% of NSF employees attended church regularily. I rather doubt that the main thrust of the agenda here is with the pelvis.
The war on science by the last administation took many forms. Certainly the first step in defunding an activity based on facts and not ideology would be a moral one.
However, In light of this study, I am quite sure that Grassley would welcome a forensic examination of the browsing history of his DC and Iowa state offices. In fact, I would hope that readers of Scientific American in Iowa would request one.
Better time management could fix all of that. These guys are bored and frustrated, combine that with the fact that they're male and have testosterone and you've got a guy who will look at porn if they get the chance. Granted, the fact that such people don't have enough frontal lobe function to realize "This might be a bad idea." is a bit unnerving, considering that the work for the NSF.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGive them enough work to keep them busy and they shouldn't be so bored. As for frustration, just make sure they get their breaks and lunches that that they are properly congratulated for work well done.
I wonder how much time our governors, senators, representatives, and/or our president spends surfing porn on the people's dime?
Why would they rethink giving money to NSF because of this behavior? They will only be depriving the working scientist of fund to do research not the NSF administration.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy would they rethink giving money to NSF because of this behavior? They would only be depriving the working scientist of funds to do research not the NSF administration.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNSF is probably the most cost-effective federal agency in Washington. The money appropriated by Congress results in the most highly merited scientific research and development. And all this with hardly any money devoted to internal agency overhead. The issue raised by Grassley was buried within an internal IG report and probably has already been addressed by NSF because NSF sees these internal reports before they go to the Congress. Grassley apparently sought to raise this issue now in order to bolster his own interest in diverting money from NSF to some other agency in his committee jurisdiction. That is usually how the Congress operates during budget time. However, if that is not the case, and he is truly supportive of NSF, it dumbfounds me why he would take this relatively minor issue and blow it up like this at this particular time. Is the guy sort of, well, not very bright? I wonder. He refers to this as a systemic issue. Yet it is anything but systemic unless you think that an agency should operate at 100 per cent "efficiency". This is often the mentality of "bean counting" auditors in the government. Small minds drawing big conclusions. Please . Pick on another agency, Mr. "Waste, Fraud, and Abuse" Grassley. Leave NSF alone. It gives much more back to the American taxpayer than you ever have or ever will.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNSF is probably the most cost-effective federal agency in Washington. The money appropriated by Congress results in the most highly merited scientific research and development. And all this with hardly any money devoted to internal agency overhead. The issue raised by Grassley was “buried” within an internal IG report and probably has already been addressed by NSF because NSF sees these internal reports before they go to the Congress. Grassley apparently sought to raise this issue now in order to bolster his own interest in diverting money from NSF to some other agency in his committee jurisdiction. That is usually how the Congress operates during budget time. However, if that is not the case, and he is truly supportive of NSF, it dumbfounds me why he would take this relatively minor issue and blow it up like this at this particular time. Is the guy sort of, well, not very bright? I wonder. He refers to this as a “systemic” issue. Yet it is anything but systemic unless you think that an agency should operate at 100 per cent "efficiency". This is often the mentality of "bean counting" auditors in the government. Small minds drawing big conclusions. Please . Pick on another agency, Mr. "Waste, Fraud, and Abuse" Grassley. Leave NSF alone. It gives much more back to the American taxpayer than you ever have or ever will.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisJeez, Just fire their butts and get on with it. It's ludicrous to make such a large deal out of such a small number. I agree with the previous poster that it is worrisome, not that the researchers were scanning porn, but that they were doing so on the taxpayer's dime and obviously thought they would not be caught. Time to find a smarter breed of employee. I work for a business with some 4000 employees with about 2500 PCs scattered around the business. Employees are warned not to use the computers for immoral (spelled out) or unethical purposes during their employee orientation. They are required to sign a statement swearing they will not use the company equipment for such purposes, and further that they understand their computer use WILL BE monitored and that forbidden usage is grounds for termination of employment. We still get a few every year that are fired for cause by violating that oath. So, some people are too stupid for words. Get rid of them and move on.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNSF is probably the most cost-effective federal agency in Washington. The money appropriated by Congress results in the most highly merited scientific research and development. And all this with hardly any money devoted to internal agency overhead. The issue raised by Grassley was “buried” within an internal IG report and probably has already been addressed by NSF. But Grassley apparently sought to raise it now for his own political reasons: to divert money from NSF to some other part of his committee jurisdiction. That is usually how the Congress operates. However, if that is not the case, and he is truly supportive of NSF, it dumbfounds me why he would take this relatively minor issue and blow it up at this particularly time. Is the guy sort of, well, not very bright? I wonder. I understand he is big on "waste, fraud, and abuse." He refers to this as a “systemic” issue. I fear that small, bean-counting minds looking for "perfection" tend to be unable to put things in a larger perspective, much like religious fanatics and other weirdos. Please, Sir. Pick on another agency. Leave NSF alone. It gives much more back to the American taxpayer than you ever have or ever will.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI completely agree with you. I think the numbers speak for themselves. That senior official wasted what $58,000? That's probably the price tag of one of the VP's, who's getting billions in stimulus money, trips to the spa. I think that this story is more about its shock value than the amount of money truly wasted. I think people probably waste more time gossiping with people around the office.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSeveral years ago I worked for NSF. I see a few faults in the reasoning for on the clock time wasted, depending on who the offenders were. I traveled seven states during my time with the company, and would be away from home 1 to 1.5 weeks at a time. My wages were not by the hour but salary. I worked very long hours to keep things in budget. Off time in a hotel costs the company nothing cause it is your time. That being said, using a company computer that you know will be looked at by tech for porn is not smart. Seriously, solitaire and mine sweeper I am sure, cost companies more than 7 people looking at porn.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy should there be Porn on the internet? And how or why is that allow on a government PC? The government should make all these porn sites accountable for the damage they have caused with viruses and spyware etc.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiseach site should have strict rules and be monitored closely for any illegal activity. All porn sites should be band from public viewing just like on tv. Many children use internet to do their research and there no reason they have to be subjected to this filth.