The New York Times’ Nina Bernstein reports that between 2004 and 2007, 66 detained immigrants died under custody of the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Unlike prisons, ICE detention centers, some of which are privately-owned, have no procedures for detainees to exchange information with the outside world. The 66 deaths were uncovered due to Congress demanding the information from ICE.

Told through the wrenching story of Boubacar Bah, who died in a New Jersey detention center, it emerges that even family members are kept out of the loop. In the case of detainee Walter Rodriguez Castro, his wife showed up to immigration court only to learn that her husband had been dead for several weeks.  Read Bernstein here.  MB

It’s Public Service Recognition Week and the Council for Excellence in Government has kicked off the festivities with a survey about the federal bureaucracy. In a poll of 18-to-29-year-olds, apparently also known as millennials, the survey found out that if asked by a parent, teacher, or new president of the United States to work as a civil servant, millennials would actually be fairly interested.

But as the Washington Post’s Stephen Barr reports, 60 percent have never been asked. Survey respondents often equate serving the country with military service — not, say, making the Medicaid system more efficient, creating a new energy policy, or helping rebuild the nation’s infrastructure.  Read Barr here.  MB

The Washington Post’s Walter Pincus reported yesterday that the U.S. army in Iraq is looking toward private contractors to train the Iraq military. Reliance on the private sector for Iraq security is well-documented but contracting out the military transition teams would be a first.

If the plan goes through, contractors will play a central role in the presumed Iraqi endgame of turning security over from the U.S. to Iraqi military. That is presuming that the U.S., and the contractors profiting from the war, would at some point like to leave Iraq.  Read Pincus here.  MB

Poorly grounded electrical wiring in Iraq installed by mega-contractor KBR has directly contributed to the deaths of at least five U.S. troops. The New York Times’ James Risen explained yesterday how the Pentagon and KBR have been unwilling and unable to confront a rudimentary problem. 

A departing KBR electrician told the company that the wiring was a “disaster waiting to happen” back in 2005. KBR told the Pentagon about the problem in 2007. The Pentagon, though, has still not responded, lacking contracting overseers that can deal with building maintenance issues. The most recent wiring-related death occurred this January when Staff Sgt. Ryan D. Maseth was electrocuted in the shower.  Read Risen here.  MB