Letter: Security institute in need of scrutiny

Friday, June 23, 2006 | 7:17 a.m.

Kudos to Sun reporters Jeff German and Steve Kanigher for their investigative piece on the UNLV Institute for Security Studies ("Security institute misses the mark," June 18).

Given the other budgeting concerns in Nevada - K-12 education, real higher education programs, transportation infrastructure, health care - it was maddening to learn about ISS' "accomplishments." These seem to consist mostly of funneling federal and state dollars to institute cronies still working in the private sector, and taking a skim off the top for "administering" the grants.

What's worse is the almost complete lack of oversight by UNLV, the chancellor and the Board of Regents. It's time for all state of Nevada entities to pull the financial plug on this boondoggle and for the attorney general's office to begin a fraud investigation.

The ISS strikes me as a classic example of a "bait and switch" scam.

Gregory Grant, Las Vegas

archive