“When the Guardrails Erode” Series

Published on October 14, 2026

The U.S. anti‑corruption architecture — from inspector‑general offices to transparency rules and enforcement units, and more — is being systematically weakened. In our series, When Guardrails Erode, we bring together expert analysis that traces this erosion, assesses the risks for democratic governance, and outlines pathways to rebuild or even reinvent these safeguards.

The series will expand regularly and is paired with a continuously updated Anti‑Corruption Tracker that documents every concrete action in one place. Forthcoming pieces explore international accountability measures, FOIA, the role of inspectors general, and what states can do to protect against weakened federal anti-corruption measures, and more.

• Eric Petry, Closing Pay-to-Play Loopholes: Strengthening the Ban on Federal Contractor Political Spending (Oct. 14, 2026)
• Casey Michel, Congress Needs a Select Committee That Focuses on Trump Family Corruption (August 13, 2026)
• Saskia Brechenmacher, What Hungary’s Anti-Corruption Election Can Teach U.S. Democracy Advocates (July 24, 2026)
• Brandon DeBot and Kelsey Merrick, What Congress Should Do About the President’s Sweetheart Deal in Trump v. I.R.S. (June 2, 2026)
• Scott Greytak and Tom Firestone, FEPA’s First Test: Protecting American Companies Returning to Venezuela (May 21, 2026)
• Reed Shaw and Winston Berkman-Breen, State and Administrative Law Backstops to Federal Corruption (May 19, 2026)
• Melissa Hooper, If President Trump is Concerned With the Entry of “Criminal Aliens,” Why Is the U.S. Welcoming Corrupt Foreign Officials? (May 15, 2026)
• Richard Nephew, Bruce Swartz, and Dani Schulkin, The Just Security Podcast: The Latest on International Anti-Corruption Enforcement (May 14, 2026)
• Adam Keith and Amanda Strayer, Dubious Delistings: Unexplained U.S. Sanctions Removals for the Corrupt and Well-Connected (May 11, 2026)
• Dani Schulkin, Jodi Vittori, and Matthew Stephenson, Will Congress Throw Out a Tool to Fight Money Laundering and Corruption? (May 7, 2026)
• Abigail Bellows, Pioneering Plunder: How to Stop Modern Profiteering in Public Office (April 30, 2026)
• Richard Nephew, A Year Later – What Did the Pause on FCPA Enforcement Do? (March 10, 2026)
• Dani Schulkin and Amy Markopoulos, The White House’s New Fraud Section: Key Questions (Jan. 23, 2026)
• Adam Keith, Schuyler Miller and Dani Schulkin, The Just Security Podcast: Can the U.S. Still Lead on Anti-Corruption? Understanding the Combating Global Corruption Act (Dec. 18, 2025)
• Schuyler Miller and Adam Keith, Global Corruption, Local Hypocrisy: The Promises and Pitfalls of the U.S. Combating Global Corruption Act (Dec. 9, 2025)
• Naomi Roht-Arriaza and Dani Schulkin, The Just Security Podcast: Is there a Fox in the Henhouse? A Comparative Perspective of State Capture in the U.S. (Nov. 26, 2025)
• Scott Levy, How to End the Shadow Budget and Protect Congress’s Power of the Purse (Nov. 21, 2025)
• Naomi Roht-Arriaza, Is the U.S. Becoming a Captured State? A Comparative Perspective (Nov. 18, 2025)
• Scott Levy, The $550 Billion Shadow Budget: Trump’s Japan Deal and the Disappearing Appropriations Clause (Oct. 30, 2025)
• Jason Powell, Should Inspectors General be Moved to the Legislative Branch? (Oct. 22, 2025)
• Abigail Bellows, The Human Costs of Systemic Corruption (Aug. 11, 2025)
• Amanda Teuscher, The Freedom of Information Act and Deteriorating Federal Transparency Infrastructure (Aug. 4, 2025)
• Bruce Swartz, Sonia Mittal, Inbar Pe’er, and Brady Worthington, Hard to Kill: The Transnational Survival of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (July 24, 2025)
• Dani Schulkin and Amy Markopolous, When the Guardrails Erode: An Anti-Corruption Series (July 23, 2025)
• Dani Schulkin, Amy Markopoulos, and Maya Nir, The Anti-Corruption Tracker: Mapping the Erosion of Oversight and Accountability (July 23, 2025)
• Nicole Vander Meulen, American Businesses Still Face International Human Rights Obligations, Even as Oversight Diminishes at Home (June 23, 2025)

FEATURED IMAGE: The Washington Monument reflects in the Capitol Reflecting Pool at sunset on a warm evening on June 2, 2025 in Washington, DC.(Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images)

Send A Letter To The Editor