Compartmentalization, Syrian Airstrike Style

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emptywheel
Apparently, Crazy Pete Hoekstra's been complaining again that the Bushies are keeping secrets from Congress. He co-authored a WSJ editorial several weeks ago to complain that only senior leaders in Congress (including Crazy Pete) knew the truth about the Syrian bombing. In the op-ed, Hoekstra sounded like he had found another casus belli. It has briefed only a handful of very senior members of Congress,leaving the vast majority of foreign relations and
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The Constitutional Right to a Press Pass

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emptywheel
I get asked about press passes a lot--I guess because I once had one. And the more I think about it, the more I'm raring for a constitutional challenge to the way many press passes are assigned in this country. You see, historically, just about the only meaning of Freedom of the Press that would have made sense to our founders was freedom from having the government choose official reporters by licensing

Illegal Spying on Hackers

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emptywheel
I'm going to have plenty to say on Shane Harris' story revealing that the NSA used hackers and foreign cyberhacks as their excuse for illegally accessing customer data prior to 9/11. First, though, I'd like to remind readers of this earlier Shane Harris story (with Tim Naftali)--to my mind the best reporting on this topic outside of the Risen-Lichtblau early scoop. A former telecom executive told us that efforts to obtain call
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Pakistan and the Serious People, One

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emptywheel
I'm going to do a series on Pakistan--and how the blindness of the "serious people" got us into big trouble there. I'm going to use Matt Bai's inaccurate slam on me as a foil to show how the serious people allowed themselves to get distracted from a brewing crisis that carries real consequences.

Falafel Foresight

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emptywheel
On December 19. 2005, just days after Risen and Lichtblau revealed the illegal domestic wiretap program, I wrote the following: I'm proposing it's not an indirect link to Al Qaeda, that the NYT isusing this language to shield the technical details (if these peoplewere really linked to Al Qaeda, the FISA warrant would be a cinch).

Terminate

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emptywheel
Telecom lobbyist John Ashcroft is back on the influence circuit again, trying to admonish us that refusing the telecoms immunity will kill people. Only he usually doesn't refer to telecom immunity as such. Instead, he calls on Congress to "terminate" the lawsuits against the telecom companies. There are many complex and difficult issues associated with thesedebates, but whether to terminate the huge lawsuits that have beenfiled against the nation’s major telecommunications carriers

Where's Duke?

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emptywheel
Seth Hettena notes that one of Mark Geragos' most effective lines in the Brent Wilkes trial was the insinuation that the government backed off calling Duke Cunningham as a witness. During his closing argument to jurors, defense attorney Mark Geragosasked jurors to keep one question in mind. If the governmentprosecutors believed Brent Wilkes had plied Congressman Randy “Duke”Cunningham with more than $600,00 in bribes, why didn’t they put theex-honorable gentleman on the

Did I Say Bear Hunting?

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emptywheel
I haven't seen any bears. I found a few beers, though. Here's a quick hits list of things I may return to on Wednesday, when I resume normal blogging.The Pats beat the Colts ... ugly. Shane Harris reveals that the rationale for asking Qwest to break the law before 9/11 was hackers.

Gone Bear Hunting--Light Posting

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emptywheel
Okay, not bear-hunting. But mr. emptywheel and McCaffrey the MilleniaLab and I are going on a road trip--I'm calling it mr. emptywheel's NFC North driving tour. Where I'm going, the WiFi gods really are jealous gods, so I can't even guarantee I can check in. Though I think I'll find WiFi in time to check in for the Pats-Colts game on Sunday.
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Bush and Schumer

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emptywheel
David Kurtz reports that the Mukasey nomination will come down to the Senate Judiciary Committee vote (and TPM is tracking votes so far). I believe this sets up some really interesting tension between Bush and Chuck Schumer. You see, events thus far have made it very important for Bush to get Mukasey approved.

Whitehouse Sniffing around Bush's Executive Orders

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emptywheel
Remarkably, Sheldon Whitehouse asked Mukasey very few written questions. But I am intrigued by this one. 2. Do you believe that the President may act contrary to a valid executive order? In the event he does, need he amend the executive order or provide any notice that he is acting contrary to the executive order? ANSWER:
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Who Vetted Mukasey?

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emptywheel
Here's an interesting question from Dick Durbin to Mukasey. It addresses whom the Administration felt it needed to give buy-in before nominating Judge Mukasey: 11. According to the Washington Post, before you were confirmed you "spent part of the weekend meeting with leading figures in the conservative world, seeking to allay their concerns about [your] philosophy and suitability for running [the] Justice Department." a.

Diplomatic Renditions?

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emptywheel
Here's a response from Mukasey that frankly stumps me. It comes in response to a Joe Biden question on extraordinary renditions. If the purpose [of renditions] is to gather intelligence, why would the United States trust interrogations carried out by Egyptian or Syrian intelligence agencies--agencies that the United States has long acknowledged and criticized for engaging in torture and abuse? ANSWER:

Mukasey Will Not Commit to Restoring Election Law Manual

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emptywheel
One of the sub-scandals that came out as part of the USA purge is that DOJ recently revised the manual on Election Offenses. Gonzales' DOJ basically removed the language restricting indictments just prior to elections--precisely the restriction that Hans Von Spakovsky violated when he brought indictments against former ACORN workers just before the 2006 elections.

Mukasey and Contempt

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emptywheel
Even more than Mukasey's woozy answers on waterboarding, I'm disturbed by his opinions on executive privilege and contempt, partly because I suspect Mukasey would make sure no waterboarding happened going forward, and that his answers on waterboarding are designed primarily to avoid putting those who waterboarded--or signed off on it--in the past at legal risk.

Shorter 4 Top Lawyers: To Hell with the Courts

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emptywheel
Here's the letter from Ashcroft, Comey, Goldsmith, and Philbin that came up so often in today's SJC hearing. The key graf is this one, in which four top lawyers say, "to hell with the Courts, we've got two branches plus Cheney, who needs a third?" Finally, we note that we are familiar with the legal analysis conducted within the Executive Branch of intelligence activities allegedly connected to the lawsuits against telecommunications carriers

Jane Harman Responds

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emptywheel
Jane Harman sent a response to this post via a staffer.What rubbish! For those like me whoinsist that the President’s domestic surveillance program must complyfully with the Constitution and the 4th Amendment, the only way forCongress to get there is with a veto-proof majority. That's why I'mworking with Republicans.

State Loses Its Army

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emptywheel
I've imagined (and it's largely imagination) that Condi's little PR campaign of the last week was a desperate attempt to stave off DOD control over State's bodyguards--an attempt to retain an army for the exclusive use of the State Department. Condi went to (for her) unheard of lengths to try to play nice and pretend that State could manage a very large band of mercenaries. Is it just coincidence that that effort

Oh Madame Secretary...?

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emptywheel
In an email to Laura Rozen and Jeff Lomonaco this morning, I predicted Henry Waxman would be mightily interested in the news that the Blackwater guards involved in the September 16 shooting had been granted immunity. In any case, I suspect Condi will regret that she didn't mention thiswhen visiting Congress last week.

Time for Another Primary Challenge for Jane Harman

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emptywheel
Buried in this article on Democrats compromising with Republicans, I noticed this paragraph: And as Democratic leaders push their own legislation to rein in the wiretapping program, Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) has been quietly exploring avenues of compromise with Rep. Peter Hoekstra (Mich.),the ranking Republican on the House intelligence committee. CentristDemocrats hope those talks can dovetail with the Senate intelligencecommittee's own bipartisan measure on surveillance of suspectedterrorists. Jane Harman, of course, is a
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