FAA Extension: The Data Gaps about Our Data Collection
As I noted the other day, part of the point of the language Ron Wyden got declassified the other day seemed to be to call out a misrepresentation in Dianne Feinstein's Additional Views in the Senate Intelligence Report on the extension of the…
Judge Kollar-Kotelly Sees No Evil, Hears No Evil
Yesterday, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly upheld the government's right to withhold cables already released via WikiLeaks under FOIA (see my earlier posts on this FOIA here and here). Her logic seems to have a fatal flaw: she says the State Department…
This Drone Assurance Brought to You By Northrop Grumman
Dianne Feinstein gave a speech to the World Affairs Council yesterday. As part of it (after 9:10), she gave the following reassurances regarding the oversight of drone strikes.
We have a special effort on the CIA Predator program. The staff…
Huge Backlog Remains in Karachi for NATO Supplies; Driver Killed Near Peshawar
The Express Tribune reports today that despite the fact that the NATO supply route through Pakistan reopened three weeks ago, the huge backlog of thousands of trucks at the port in Karachi has still not yet seen the first truck leave. The trucks…
When Green on Blue Attacks Aren't "Technically" Green on Blue Attacks
On April 30, AP's Robert Burns revealed that the number of attacks on NATO soldiers by Afghan military and police had been systematically under-reported because only attacks resulting in fatalities were reported. An attack in Herat, Afghanistan…
The New Gitmo Memorandum of Understanding: Obama Finally Figured Out How to Close Down Gitmo!
Yesterday, the NYT weighed in on a new practice at Gitmo: the requirement that lawyers whose clients have lost their habeas case sign new memoranda of understanding governing the terms of access to their client.
The Obama administration’s…
NCAA, Mark Emmert, Unitary Executives & The Death of Due Process
Once you step beyond the tragedy of Aurora, the big news today centers on Penn State and the aftermath of Jerry Sandusky, Joe Paterno and Louis Freeh. There is a lot of news, and implications to come, from today's events.
First, and unsurprisingly,…
Big US Banks Have Gained Market Share in the Looter Assistance Business
As I noted earlier, the Tax Justice Network just released a study showing that there is somewhere between $21 and 32$ Trillion that tax cheats have hidden in tax havens. Really obscenely rich people like Mitt Romney make up for $9.8 trillion…
Mitt and His Buddies Looted Almost $10 Trillion from Real Economy
The Tax Justice Network just released an updated version of a report showing how much money gets siphoned out of the real economy into tax shelters: conservatively, $21 Trillion, and possibly as much as $32 Trillion.
I'll have more to say…
The Only Terrifying Math That Gets Any Attention Is Defense Spending
Bill McKibben had a long piece on climate change this week, "Global Warming's Terrifying New Math," that has justifiably gotten a lot of attention. The terrifying math of the title is this:
Almost the entire world agreed in 2009 that we…
Hockenheim, Highway Stars & Aurora
It is time for the Formula 1 Grosser Preis Santander Von Deutschland 2012. There is that.
Then there is the fact Jon Lord has died. If you do not know Jon Lord, he was a founding member of, and keyboard player for, Deep Purple. One of the…
Ron Wyden to Dianne Feinstein: Pants on Fire
While the language about the FISA Amendments Act that Ron Wyden just got James Clapper to clear for release (first reported by Spencer Ackerman) doesn't exactly call Dianne Feinstein a liar, it comes close.
Wyden got the following three statements…
Jailed Journalist More Credible than FBI Interview
There are two paragraphs of the William Webster report on Nidal Hasan's contacts with Anwar al-Awlaki I find particularly interesting. [This appears on page 62; remember that Webster uses both redactions and substitutions--I've used different…
That's Why They Call It Senseless Violence
As you've heard, a killer wearing a bullet proof vest and wielding four guns shot up an Aurora, CO midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises last night. 12 have died, 50 are wounded. It is an utterly senseless tragedy.
The news has been filled,…
DOD's New Anti-Leak Plan: Turn Michael Vickers into a Blogger
DOD just rolled out its new plan to combat national security leaks. (h/t Jason Leopold) At its core is a "top-down" approach: to have the Under Secretary for Defense of Intelligence, Mike Vickers, to review all major reporting to look for leaks.
To…
The William Webster Report: Working Thread
The William Webster report into the Nidal Hasan killing is here. I'm about 45 pages in--it's an interesting report, both in content and in method. In particular, I like the way Webster dealt with classified information, including both redactions…
Targeted Killings: When John Cornyn Makes Better Sense than Democrats ...
Things got a little crazy when the Senate Judiciary Committee FISA Amendment Markup turned to targeted killing.
John Cornyn used the opportunity of this must-pass intelligence bill to propose an amendment to require the Administration to…
CIA "Command and Control" in Syria
Yesterday, in a story describing the state of affairs following the suicide bomb that took out key members of Bashar al Assad's national security team, David Ignatius described CIA's (and Israel's) involvement in Syria this way:
The CIA has…
Sheldon Whitehouse Confirms FISA Amendments Act Permits Unwarranted Access to US Person Content
In the Senate Judiciary Committee's markup of the FISA Amendments Act, Mike Lee, Dick Durbin, and Chris Chris Coons just tried, unsuccessfully, to require the government to get a warrant before it searched US person communications collected…
More Dirty Secrets Go to the Grave
I gotta believe Moussa Koussa is feeling a bit worried these days, as one after another of those harboring the secrets about the torture the US has been complicit with die. Today, Omar Suleiman brought details of how Egyptians tortured Omar…
