John Brennan Can't Even Last One 3-Hour Hearing without Engaging in Information Asymmetry
One of the questions Dianne Feinstein asked John Brennan in his confirmation hearing last week pertained to the role in approving drone strikes he'll have at CIA. He refused the answer the question directly because the program is classified.
Feinstein:…
Five Years or Five Months? Sex Charge Sentence Depends on Which WMD Theater Team is Chosen
The pattern is so old that it would be boring if not for the damage done. The FBI latches onto a loser who faces significant charges and gets them to work for the government, "infiltrating" a group to incite grand plans of domestic terrorism…
Garbage In, Garbage Out: The Problem with a FISA Drone Court
Since the Administration turned over the OLC memos authorizing the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki Thursday, there's been a sudden surge of support for setting up a FISA type court for targeted killing (actually, for drone targeting; I guess…
They Knew the Evidence against Anwar al-Awlaki Was Weak When They Killed Him
In case you don't want to read these two long posts, I want to point to two passages from the white paper that show, on two key points, the government wasn't even claiming Anwar al-Awlaki was the "senior operational leader of Al Qaeda or associated…
Article II or AUMF? "A High Level Official" (AKA John Brennan) Says CIA Can Murder You
I'm not sure whether Michael Isikoff decided to stamp his version of the white paper all over with "NBC News" to make sure we all knew who was the go-to for sanctioned leaks, or whether Dianne Feinstein and the Administration asked him to do…
CIA Director Petraeus' Traditional Military Operations
One of Brennan's answers to Additional Prehearing questions I didn't gloss the other day is this one:
Question 8: What are your views on what some have described as the increased "militarization" of the CIA mission following September 11, 2001…
Is One of the Anwar al-Awlaki Memos a Revised Imminence Standard?
I've been working on a theory on why the white paper is so crappy based, in part, on a problem international law experts keep making. For my purposes, Noura Erakat's description of the problem will suffice, but a ton of people have raised it.
Imminence…
When Bob Goodlatte Joins the Chorus Demanding the Memos...
To date, the push to release the targeted killing memos has come from a few civil libertarians in both parties -- Ron Wyden and his usual allies in the Senate, Jerry Nadler and a few allies on the House Judiciary Commitee, Mike Lee -- and Chuck…
Every Laptop and Cell Phone in Detroit (and Dearborn) Can Be Searched at Will
I'm not really sure how Detroit is supposed to pursue an arts-based resurgence if the Department of Homeland Security maintains that it can seize any electronics along the nation's borders -- which extend 100 miles and therefore include the…
Did Administration Stall Congressional Oversight Just to Beat ACLU in Court?
In an interview with WSJ last March, White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler said that publicly explaining the drone program would be "self-defeating."
White House Counsel Kathy Ruemmler acknowledged Mr. Obama has developed a broader view of executive…
Members of Congress Have Asked for the Targeted Killing Memos 14 15 18 Times 19 Times
With all the discussion of targeting killing memos, I thought it time to update my list of all the times members of Congress have asked for the memos. Note that the number still doesn't reflect all requests, as a number of these requests refer…
Patrick Leahy Is Confused
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair, Patrick Leahy appears to be confused.
Early in the week, Leahy was one of 11 Senators who signed Ron Wyden's letter demanding the Office of Legal Counsel targeted killing memos
After it was announced…
One of Just Four Overseers on Drone Targeting Believes First Amendment Protected Activities Merit Execution
While the Gang of Four do not have access to the CIA's kill list (and therefore did not know whether Samir Khan was on it before his death), they are the only people outside the Executive Branch who had, before today, seen the government's rationale…
John Brennan Decimates the Logic of Drone Program
John Brennan will be confirmed as CIA Director.
But along the way he has utterly decimated the drone program's legitimacy.
Twice in his confirmation hearing, he insisted he was not a lawyer. Most notably, Carl Levin went to some length…
How Can We Say John Brennan "Kept Us Safe"?
I was struck when I read this line in Dexter Filkin's article on John Brennan and drones:
None of the above is intended as an attack on Brennan, who has spent the past four years as President Obama’s counterterrorism advisor. He has a hard…
Iran Claims to Decode Imagery From Captured RQ-170 But Image Quality Sucks
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOrEADlkZfU[/youtube]
In the ongoing saga of whether or not Iran hacked our RQ-170 Sentinel drone to down it in December of 2011, Marcy has asked many questions. More recently, Iran announced last…
Five Questions for John Brennan
I'm sure I could grill John Brennan for hours. But after a lot of thought, here are the five questions I believe most important that should be asked of him Today.
1) Do you plan to continue lying to Americans?
You have made a number of…
John Brennan, Unplugged
As a special service to emptywheel readers, I am going to provide an abridged version of John Brennan's answers to Additional Prehearing Questions in advance of his confirmation hearing on Thursday.
Q1 Bullet 3: 7 CIA officers died in Khost…
Breaking: Most Journalists Mis-Report Release of OLC Memos
President Obama has finally -- after 2 years and 14 requests -- agreed to let the intelligence committees see the Office of Legal Counsel Memos that authorize the lethal targeting of US citizens.
Kudos to Ron Wyden for having the tenacity…
The Administration's Drafty Secrecy Claims
As I've noted a couple of times, both Jason Leopold and Scott Shane FOIAed the white paper someone strategically leaked to Mike Isikoff this week.
Leopold requested the white paper in August, shortly after Pat Leahy discussed it in a hearing.…
