CNN reports: “A $39 million taxpayer gift to Johnstown, Pennsylvania … an earmark, a special spending request slipped into the intelligence bill by Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha. The $39 million funds the National Drug Intelligence Center [NDIC], located right here in Murtha's district on the fifth floor of a former Johnstown, Pennsylvania department store.” (CNN, 5/31/07)

U.S. News & World Report criticized NDIC as a “drug war boondoggle.” John Carnevale, a former official with the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said “none of us wanted it in Johnstown. We viewed it as a jobs program Murtha wanted [for his district].” (U.S. News & World Report, 5/1/05)

The Washington Examiner reports in an editorial that “The House Government Reform Committee called NDIC ‘an expensive and duplicative use of scarce federal drug enforcement resources.’ By any rational standard, this $400 million disaster should have been shut down a long time ago.” (Editorial, 5/22/07)

CNN reports: “What the National Drug Intelligence Center was supposed to do when first proposed back in 1990 was gather information on the national drug war, then become a resource for local and federal agencies. Isn't that what the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Department of Justice and even the FBI, already were doing? Answer, yes. According to the Government Accounting Office report issued way back in 1993 when the NDIC first opened, that report found the NDIC was doing work already being done by 19 other agencies. In 2005, the Office of Management and Budget asked the NDIC be shut down because it ‘has proven ineffective in achieving its assigned mission.’” (CNN, 5/31/07)

Former NDIC Deputy Director: “‘The bottom line,’ [former NDIC deputy director and DEA agent Jim] Milford said, ‘was that we had to actually search for a mission.’” (U.S. News & World Report, 5/1/05)

What Happens When Republicans Try to Strike This Waste of Taxpayers’ Money?

“Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) threatened to deny any further spending projects to a Republican who challenged him over an earmark last week, the GOP is charging — a potential violation of House rules that could cause a spike in partisan tensions. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), who questioned money that Murtha inserted into an intelligence bill last week, turned the tables Thursday night by saying he would call for Murtha to be reprimanded for violating House rules … ‘I hope you don’t have any earmarks in the defense appropriations bills because they are gone, and you will not get any earmarks now and forever,’ Murtha told Rogers, according to the draft transcript given to The Politico. ‘This is not the way we do things here — and is that supposed to make me afraid of you?’ Rogers replied. ‘That’s the way I do it,’ Murtha said.” (Politico, 5/18/07)

“Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) exploded at a colleague on the Appropriations defense subcommittee, Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), on the House floor last week after Tiahrt voted in a private meeting to cut $23 million from a project in Murtha’s district … Murtha vented his anger against Tiahrt for voting last Wednesday to kill the center in Johnstown, Pa., by unleashing a loud, finger-jabbing, spittle-spraying piece of his mind, according to lawmakers who witnessed it. Murtha threatened to withdraw support from a defense project …” (The Hill, 5/7/07)

Wall Street Journal editorial: “218 Democrats voted to cover up Rep. John Murtha’s ethics violation and shield him from an official reprimand today. The Wall Street Journal laid out the vote’s significance this way: “Democrats now have a choice, which is to go along with the public reprimand for a visible leader or go soft on one of their signature campaign promises.” (Editorial, 5/22/07)