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
The Anthrax Prosecutor: The Daughter of the Defense Attorney for BushCo’s “Germ Boy”
/in Intelligence/by emptywheelThe most credible reason people have suggested for Ivins’ murders of five people was that he wanted the country to be more proactive about anthrax vaccines. But there’s someone else who was pushing that issue much harder than Ivins. And, astoundingly, the daughter of that person’s defense attorney is one of the prosecutors working this case. That person? Scooter Libby.
DOJ Wants to Have Its Culprit and Withhold Some Materials, Too
/in emptywheel/by emptywheelNews reports say something is going to happen today with the anthrax case. But it’s not sure what. NPR reports that DOJ is going to declared its case solved–even while it doesn’t close the case.
Officials close to the anthrax investigation have told NPR that the FBI will declare the case of the 2001 anthrax letters solved Wednesday, but that the case will remain open so agents can follow up on some
Disestablishmentarianism, CIFA Version
/in Intelligence/by emptywheelRemember that word? As a kid you probably proudly claimed to have learned its opposite, antidisestablishmentarianism, not long after you learned how to spell M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I. You may vaguely remember that the word pertains directly to state sanctioning–or unsanctioning–of religion.
According to Warren Strobel, the Pentagon has decided to use the term “disestablished” to refer to the closure of the CIFA program.
Anthrax Timeline
/in Timeline/by emptywheelThe media is finally beginning to question the story about Bruce Ivins (though Glenn is still schooling them). But here’s a question I see no one asking, much less answering. The LAT reported that attention began to focus on Ivins in “late 2006” only after FBI Director Mueller changed the leadership team on the investigation.
Federal investigators moved away from Hatfill — for years the only publicly identified “person of interest” —