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.
Back in May, the DC Circuit decided that detainees at Bagram Air Force base were not entitled to habeas corpus because, since the base is in an active war zone, it would be unduly burdensome for the government to hold a real hearing. I’m wondering if the DC Circuit would like to rethink that decision? […]
Steven Aftergood has an important update on the continuing saga of whether or not GAO can conduct investigations of intelligence activities. He explores the source of current restrictions on GAO review: a 1988 OLC opnion written by Douglas Kmiec. The current dispute between the Obama Administration and some members of Congress over whether to strengthen […]
There was a fair amount of attention to Vaughn Walker’s scathing dismissal of professional anti-gay “scholar” David Blankenhorn’s testimony in the Prop 8 trial. The court now determines that Blankenhorn’s testimony constitutes inadmissible opinion testimony that should be given essentially no weight. But I’ve seen little commentary on the fate to which Walker consigned Dr. […]
You should read two pieces in conjunction this morning. First, this Andy Worthington piece from last week, that lays out new details on the black site CIA used in Poland in 2002-2003. On Friday, the Polish Border Guard Office released a number of documents to the Warsaw-based Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, which, for the […]
Nine years ago today, George W Bush was informed that “Al Qaeda [was] determined to strike in US.” And then he went out to clear more brush at his pig farm in Crawford. Obama is showing no such presidential manliness in the second year of his term. Yesterday, his Justice Department actually indicted 14 of […]
Tuesday, Philip Shenon reported that Wikileaks wanted the Defense Department’s help reviewing the next batch of documents it will release for names that should be redacted. Julian Assange wants the Pentagon’s help. His secretive WikiLeaks website tells The Daily Beast it is making an urgent request to the Defense Department for help reviewing 15,000 still-secret […]
Carol Rosenberg tweets: Just got formal notice: Pentagon publicly naming Interrogator No. 1 who testified remotely to #Guantanamo as ex-Army Sgt. Joshua Claus Army Maj. Bradsher read me a Pentagon policy statement that said Claus’ “own actions” mean publishing his name does not violate ground rules You’ll recall that DOD banned Carol Rosenberg and three […]
Omar Khadr is set to go on trial starting Monday, August 9. Today, his brother went free in Canada. A judge ruled that he could not be extradited to the US because the confessions on which his extradition request was based had been collected when he was illegally held and interrogated in Pakistan. Abdullah Khadr […]
You know how the Defendant-Intervenors submitted a premature request for a stay in the Prop 8 case yesterday? Well, the plaintiffs have now asked Judge Walker not to issue a stay without giving plaintiffs a time to weigh in. Dear Chief Judge Walker: I write on behalf of Plaintiffs in response to the obviously premature […]
So after a last minute dance with three Republican holds, James Clapper is poised to be confirmed as Director of National Intelligence. As I noted before, this means someone most Senators either have or have had concerns about will be approved by big numbers to head our intelligence community. But the more important story about […]