After World War II, the grandfather of the atomic bomb, Hans Bethe, returned to the quiet college town of Ithaca, New York to resume his research. International spies, intent on reshaping the global balance of power, would soon follow.

Back in December, in response to reporting of Treasury claims that the proposed Trump tax cuts would generate $1.8 trillion in revenue, we requested the reporting and analysis that led to that conclusion. In response, the Treasury produced a single-page memo, which appeared to be the exact same document referenced in the article included in our request.

Three years after initial request, the NSA finally hands over records related to its youth outreach program - just not the ones I asked for.

A common question, especially as MuckRock continues to explore CIA and DIA’s involvement in psychic research, is how so many resources wound up being wasted on frivolous efforts that produced laughable results, absurd guides and even more absurd worries. The FBI’s file on Extrasensory Perception (ESP), which predates the CIA’s declassified psychic research program by more than a decade, may hold the answer: a basic failure to understand how math works.

Earlier this week, we looked at how the FBI spent two years hot on the heels of a bloodthirsty cult, only to find out it didn’t exist. Inspired by this magnificent waste of time and money, we decided to round up some of the more dubious cases the Bureau’s top men have cracked over the years.