The 2011 DIOG Permits Using NSLs to Get Journalist Contacts
In what may be one of those stories telegraphing investigative details between people being investigated, the WaPo updates the StuxNet investigation.
Prosecutors are pursuing “everybody — at pretty high levels, too,” said one person familiar…
Mohammed bin Nayef's Debutante Ball
This Marc Lynch post on America's Saudi problem is worth reading for its discussion of how our uncritical support for Saudi Arabia undermines our efforts in the Middle East.
America's alliance with Saudi Arabia remains the greatest contradiction…
Sheldon Adelson Should Have Saved His Cash
When Mike Allen asked Sheldon Adelson in September why he had dumped so much money in what would be an unsuccessful attempt to help Republicans win in november, Adelson's first reason was that he was being unfairly treated by DOJ.
Self-defense:…
Obama Recess Appointments Slapped Down by DC Circuit, CFPB At Risk
What can only be described as a blockbuster opinion was just handed down by the DC Circuit in the case of Canning v NLRB, the validity of President Obama's recess appointments has been slapped down. Here is the full opinion. The three judge…
Lisa Monaco Moves On without Fulfilling Promise to Reveal FISA Court Opinions
In response to Chuck Grassley's question whether the government has struck the right balance between national security and civil liberties leading up to her confirmation as Assistant Attorney General for National Security, Lisa Monaco claimed…
CIA's Torturers Get Their Scalp
With the news that John Kiriakou will head to prison for 30 months, it's worth remembering how he got sent there.
It started when CIA officers claimed that when Gitmo defense attorneys provided photos of their clients torturers to them--having…
Kerry Resists Rand Paul on Pakistan Funding Question
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttImNNFgCDc[/youtube]
At his confirmation hearing yesterday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, John Kerry, who has been nominated by President Obama to be the next Secretary of State, engaged…
Jack Goldsmith, Open Source OLC Lawyer, to Obama: You're Breaking the Law
Eleven days ago, Senate Intelligence Committee member Ron Wyden sent a publicly released letter to John Brennan making two things clear:
The Administration has refused to tell grunt (that is, non-Gang of Four) members of the Senate Intelligence…
Praising by Damned Faintness: The NSAs, SoSs, and SoDs Who Didn't Endorse Chuck Hagel
Ever since this letter, in which a bunch of former Directors of Central Intelligence--but not Poppy Bush--came out against torture investigations, I've been more interested in who doesn't sign these endorsement letters than who does.
For…
DHS: Happy to Spend $$ To Keep People Out, But Not Illicit Trade
A few weeks ago, a nonpartisan group revealed that the Federal government spends more on immigration enforcement than all other law enforcement combined. Altogether it spends $18 billion a year--most of it to keep people out of the country and…
Failed Filibuster Reform Doesn't Only Affect Partisan Relationships
As you've no doubt heard, Harry Reid, with the support of a handful of Senators, has killed the effort to reform the filibuster.
DDay has come out of retirement to issue an excellent rant on what this means for democracy. [Update] Here's…
Are We to Believe Samir Khan's Communications Were Used as a Tripwire, but Awlaki's Weren't?
You should read both the AP and OregonLive accounts of yesterday's Mohamed Osman Mohamud trial for their description of the problems surrounding the FBI's account of its early investigations of the teenager (not to mention its choice, when Mohamud's…
Pakistan Supreme Court Condemns Indefinite Detention Without Charges
While the US enters its eleventh year of maintaining the Guantanamo Prison that Barack Obama pledged to close by the end of 2009, Pakistan now finds itself in the glare of international condemnation for its own practice of indefinite detention…
Day after Frontline Exposure, Lanny Breuer Resignation Reported
Last night, Frontline had a very good show exposing how derelict DOJ has been in not prosecuting any of the banksters who ruined the economy. It could have been far, far worse, as it dealt solely with the securitization crimes that were ignored.…
Ron Wyden: There Is More than One Targeted Killing Memo
I've been comparing Ron Wyden's February 2012 letter demanding the authorization the Administration uses to kill American citizens with the one he sent John Brennan last week.
It's striking how similar the letters are, particularly given…
Drone Fallout in Pakistan; Falling Drone in Afghanistan
Marcy has been dutifully noting the alignment of forces behind the Czar of Moral Rectitude, John Brennan, in his nomination to be Director of the CIA, as well as the disclosure over the weekend that although a rule book is being drawn up to…
Crowd of Unilateral Lawyers Applaud Unilateral Operator
Sarah Cleveland? Not a judge. Greg Craig? Not a judge. William Dodge? Not a judge. Jeh Johnson? Not a judge. David Kris? Not a judge. David Martin? Not a judge. Daniel Meltzer? Not a judge. And Trevor Morrison?
Also not a judge.
Nevertheless,…
Weeping For the Scarecrow
As you may have heard by now, friend of this blog, and our friend at Firedoglake, John Chandley, aka "Scarecrow", has died. Let the record reflect that I am freaking tired of being on the memorial duty. Seriously tired. If you are a participant…
Dennis Blair and Drone Targeting
On February 3, 2010, in a public House Intelligence Committee hearing, Ranking House Intelligence member Pete Hoesktra asked then-Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair about the "framework" that might be used to target a US citizen.
So…
Rather than Lying to Congress, CIA Now Blows It Off
Five months into Obama's first term, then-CIA Director Leon Panetta caused a scandal by telling Congress about Blackwater-staffed assassination squads deployed under the Bush Administration; we would ultimately learn the program was run by a…