Author Archive for: emptywheel
About emptywheel
Marcy Wheeler is an independent journalist writing about national security and civil liberties. She writes as emptywheel at her eponymous blog, publishes at outlets including Vice, Motherboard, the Nation, the Atlantic, Al Jazeera, and appears frequently on television and radio. She is the author of Anatomy of Deceit, a primer on the CIA leak investigation, and liveblogged the Scooter Libby trial.
Marcy has a PhD from the University of Michigan, where she researched the “feuilleton,” a short conversational newspaper form that has proven important in times of heightened censorship. Before and after her time in academics, Marcy provided documentation consulting for corporations in the auto, tech, and energy industries. She lives with her spouse in Grand Rapids, MI.
Entries by emptywheel
FISA’s 15-Day Exemption
/in FISA/by emptywheelThe IG Report says that Yoo’s OLC opinion authorizing the warrantless wiretap program doesn’t account for the 15-day exemption period in FISA that reflects Congressional intent to have FISA apply even in times of war. What the IG Report doesn’t say–but is clear from the timeline–is that the Bush Administration used that 15-day period!
Neither of Cheney’s Illegal Programs Was Effective
/in FISA, Torture/by emptywheelDOJ’s IG on Cheney’s warrantless wiretap program:
DOJ OIG found it difficult to assess or quantify the overall effectiveness of the PSP program as it relates to the FBI’s counterterrorism activities. However, based on the interviews conducted and documents reviewed, the DOJ OIG concluded that although PSP-derived information had value in some coutnerterrorism investigations, it generally played a limited role in the FBI’s overall counterterrorism efforts.
Gonzales KNEW Ashcroft Was Too Sick to Reauthorize the Program–But Asked Him To Anyway
/in FISA/by emptywheelBack when he was testifying before Congress, Alberto Gonzales played dumb about whether or not he knew John Ashcroft was too sick to sign the reauthorization for the warrantlesss wiretap program. But the IG Report makes it clear he was well aware Ashcroft couldn’t sign it.
On March 9, Gonzales admitted publicly that Ashcroft couldn’t sign the reauthorization.