Macron's False Documents

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emptywheel
Macron's campaign has provided more details on what they faked.
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James Clapper: Unmasking And/Or Jeff Sessions?

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emptywheel
In Monday's hearing James Clapper admitted he had unmasked a Trump associate and a member of Congress. But he said there was just one. If so, that may suggest Clapper unmasked the identity of a Trump associate who is or was a member of Congress, such as Jeff Sessions, the guy who just had a role in firing Jim Comey.
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The Curious Timing of Flynn Events and EO 13769

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Rayne
Pick a subject and it's probably on fire if it's not smoldering. James Comey's job may now be a dumpster fire, but this post looks at a different story with a much slower burn.
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The Tuesday Night Massacre

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bmaz
As you may have heard, President Trump has just fired FBI Director James Comey. This is truly Nixonian Saturday Night Massacre level action. Trump previously ran on, indeed got elected on, and likely only on, the scurrilous rogue comments…
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Why Accuracy about Wikileaks Matters

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emptywheel
Everyone is entitled to hate and attack Julian Assange. But it would be more useful if such attacks were factually accurate.
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Verizon Gets Out of the Upstream Surveillance Business

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emptywheel
Verizon's sale of the data centers that made up the Stormbrew program just finalized on May 1.
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The Macron Hack: Sometimes the Metadata Is (Part of) the Message

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emptywheel
People seem not to have learned the lesson from the DNC hack: Sometimes, the metadata is (part of) the message.
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The Implications of the Competing Flynn-Billingslea Stories

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emptywheel
Read in tandem, the Washington Post and AP stories on Mike Flynn obtaining a dossier on Sergey Kislyak suggest someone may have handed documents to the Ambassador.
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The Webster Report Recommendations and FBI's Federated Back Door Searches

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emptywheel
In 2014, I suggested FBI rolled out back door searches in response to the Webster Report on the Nidal Hasan attack. I was right.
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CIA or NSA Warrantlessly Accessed the Content of More than 300 US Persons (Probably More than 1,300) Who Aren't Terror Suspects

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emptywheel
When you take out all the suspected terrorists in this country, either the NSA or CIA is still warrantlessly accessing the content of at least 300 US persons, and probably more like 1,300 US persons.
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Hemisphere 2.0

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emptywheel
It's possible that the NSA is getting more than five years of data under the new USA Freedom phone dragnet.
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AHCA: GOP and its Ugly Poke

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Rayne
One of the most immoral and unethical episodes of American government unfolds today as the GOP-led House votes blindly on the American Health Care Act — which isn't healthy or caring whatsoever.
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One Takeaway from the Five Takeaways from the Comey Hearing: Election 2016 Continues to Suffocate Oversight

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emptywheel
Yesterday's SJC hearing was a sad demonstration of the degree to which last year's election is preventing us from conducting necessary oversight. But some oversight did happen.
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I Con the Record Transparency Bingo: Playing Card

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emptywheel
My working thread for the I Con the Record Transparency Report.
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I Con the Record Transparency Bingo (4): How 151 Million Call Events Can Look Reasonable But Is Besides the Point

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emptywheel
The I Con the Record Transparency Report revealed that NSA sucked in 151 call event records last year. That seems eye popping, but may not be in context. That said, it is eye popping when you consider these are mostly the edge cases, many of the telecom records will come from EO 12333 collection.
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Grassley Continues to Ask Worthwhile Questions about the Steele Dossier

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emptywheel
Chuck Grassley still has some worthy questions about the Christopher Steele dossier.
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I Con the Record Transparency Bingo (3): CIA Continues to Hide Its US Person Network Analysis

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emptywheel
Three years after entities started recommending that CIA start counting its US person metadata queries, it still is not doing so. But it has a banner!
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I Con the Record Transparency Bingo (2): The Inexplicable Drop in PRTT Numbers

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emptywheel
The I Con the Record Transparency Report shows a drop in PRTT numbers -- though not a big drop in identifiers affected. There are lots of reasons we can't determine what that means.
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I Con the Record Transparency Bingo (1): Only One Positive Hit on a Criminal Search

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emptywheel
FBI reported just one positive hit on Section 702 data off an entirely criminal search last year. But that data point is not as meaningful as it is being presented.
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