Tamerlan Tsarnaev Placed in Database Perceived as Weak, Even by DHS
As the blame game starts on the Boston Marathon bombing, someone (maybe a blabby Senator?) made it public that the CIA asked to have Tamerlan Tsarnaev added to the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) database last year.
The CIA…
The Intelligence Committee's "Secret" Briefings on the Boston Attack
There are 15 members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. By my count, at least 5 of them revealed some part of what they got briefed on the Boston attack yesterday afternoon to the press.
Saxby Chambliss says an agency may not have shared…
Are We Confusing CIA's Leader-Centered Collection and Debates about Its Paramilitary or Military Focus?
In his written testimony for yesterday's drone hearing, Peter Bergen noted that the CIA keeps failing to warn policy makers of important developments.
Has the increased emphasis at the CIA on targeted killings hampered the agency’s ability…
The "Conspiracy Theory" That Prompted Kevin Curtis' Earlier Letters to Politicians
Yesterday, charges against Paul Kevin Curtis that he sent letters testing positive for ricin to Senator Lowell Wicker and the White House were dropped. It is quite encouraging that the FBI would this time choose not to continue harassing Curtis…
Drone Strikes: Misunderstanding Asymmetry
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I guess the moment of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on drones when I got really frustrated was when Retired Colonel Martha McSally said we didn't need any special rules for drones (which she tried to…
Inspire, Hijacking, and the Second Car
Just wanted to put up a post addressing several questions on the Boston Marathon attack we've been discussing.
First, NBC reports that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told authorities they learned how to make a pressure cooker bomb by reading AQAP's Inspire…
For Nobel Peace Prize Winner Obama, Diplomacy Still Afterthought in Afghanistan
The central point argued in Vali Nasr's book "The Dispensable Nation" is that for the Obama administration, diplomacy took a back seat to the military as the administration took control of the war in Afghanistan from the Bush administration.…
John Brennan's Review of How He Killed an American Teenager
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Jeremy Scahill's book, Dirty Wars, comes out tomorrow. I'm sure I'll have more to say about it over the next few weeks.
But for now, he's got an adaptation at the Nation that describes a Senior Administration…
The Dzhokhar Complaint
As I noted in the last thread, the complaint against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been released.
The affidavit supporting the complaint was sworn yesterday evening at 6:47, not in Boston, but in Brookline.
It charges Dzhokhar with two counts:…
Dzhokhar Charged, Administration Confirms Civilian Prosecution
Two important updates on the Marathon Bomber.
First, according to WCVB, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was charged this morning in front of a magistrate judge in his hospital bed.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving accused Boston Marathon bomber, has been…
Two Years after Missing Abdulmutallab because of a Spelling Variance, Government Missed Tsarnaev because of a Spelling Variance
On the Sunday shows yesterday, House Intelligence Chair Mike Rogers suggested that the government missed Tamerlan Tsarnaev's trip to Russia in 2012 because he used an alias. This morning, Lindsey Graham explained that the problem was slightly…
Outsourcing America's Bad Human Rights Reputation
Given all the attention to the Administration's decision, thus far, to neither Mirandize nor charge Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, I wanted to point back to two things that happened last week.
First, in a hearing before the House Appropriations Committee,…
John Galt Is Everywhere and His Killing Spree Continues
On Thursday, I wrote about the central role that absolute free market libertarianism, as personified by the fictional John Galt, played in the horrific explosion in West, Texas that took the lives of fourteen people, most of whom were volunteer…
"Could Not Be Independently Confirmed"
There's a dispute brewing between the Tsarnaev brothers' mother, Zubeidat, and the FBI about whether or not they called Tamerlan Thursday morning and told him he was a suspect.
Their mother went so far on Sunday to claim that the FBI had contacted…
The Shut-Down Question
While I think it's a crucial question to debate going forward, at this point I am agnostic about whether the decision to shut down the entire city of Boston on Friday was the right one or not. Furthermore, thus far the question has been presented…
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev: The Big Issue Is Not Miranda, It's Presentment
Particularly given Lindsey Graham's persistent tweeting yesterday that "the last thing we may want to do is read Boston suspect Miranda Rights," there was a lot of discussion in the moments after Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev…
April Snows Bring May Outrage: Record Flooding Ahead
In contrast to headline news today, the weather seems perfectly harmless — until one looks carefully at these maps.
Though increased soil moisture levels may be a big improvement over this past summer's drought, a serious problem remains:…
Meanwhile, Across the Globe...
In West, TX, the Mayor says the death toll will likely reach 35-40, including 10 first responders.
“We are out there searching the rubble, looking in each and every house. We are trying to locate each and every citizen,” Mayor Tommy Muska…
CAIR-MI Alleges the FBI Engaged in a Cover-Up in Imam Abdullah Luqman's Death
Back in February, I suggested that the killing of Imam Abdullah Luqman by members of FBI's Hostage Rescue Team is what a targeted killing in the US would look like. I was not asserting it was a targeted killing, just that a targeted killing…
No, Arkansas, Medicaid Is Not an "Entitlement." It's a Giant WalMart Subsidy
Arkansas, the home state of WalMart, just passed a law that will require "individuals" (by which it appears to mean biological humans) registering for Medicaid under ObamaCare's expanded coverage to sign a document acknowledging that Medicaid…
