In 2015, CIA Will Proactively Respond to the "Digital Revolution"
I noted some weeks ago about how John Brennan -- who had failed spectacularly on cybersecurity while at the White House but then learned the joys of hacking targets when he spied on the Senate Intelligence Committee -- was rolling out a…
Why Didn't the Government Make a Bigger Deal about Iranians Hacking Sheldon Adelson?
As I keep explaining to gobsmacked security experts, according to the DHS, not only are motion picture studios like Sony considered Critical Infrastructure the security establishment must protect, but so are casinos (and campgrounds!) as part…
Does Petraeus Plea Say NO Classified Info Appears in "All In"?
Sorry to be all Petraeus-centric.
But I wanted to follow up on one more detail about his plea deal, because it has been a point of discussion on whether he faces an appropriate punishment.
A number of people are saying that Paula Broadwell…
David Cole's Shiny Objects
David Cole persists in reading some selected documents in isolation from a far more extensive record and patting himself on the back that he has discovered what many of us have been saying for years: that some in the White House were also responsible…
Maybe Petraeus' Plea Deal Is More Interesting to the Benghazi Report than Hillary's Emails?
There is an exception to every rule, standard operating procedure, and policy; it is up to leaders to determine when exceptions should be made and to explain why they made them.
-- David Petraeus' Rules for Living, as presented by Paula…
Bob Litt Tried to Stuff Ron Wyden down Alice In Wonderland's Rabbit Hole
Man, I must have written about this letter Ron Wyden sent to John Brennan during his confirmation process 15 times (of which just a few are linked below). Which is why I'm so fascinated by the back and forth between Wyden's office (the staffer's…
CBP Repeats the Snowden Asylum "Mistake" with Matthew DeHart
One of the favorite tactics of Edward Snowden's critics is to call him a "fugitive" in Russia, emphasizing that he is avoiding US legal prosecution by hiding in an abusive country. As Glenn Greenwald noted yesterday, such digs ignore that Snowden…
The Persistent Concerns about Altered Financial Data
Remember that weird passage in the President's Review Group Report warning against changing the account numbers in financial accounts as part of offensive cyberattacks?
(2) Governments should not use their offensive cyber capabilities to…
FBI Is Not "Surveilling" WikiLeaks Supporters in Its Never-Ending Investigation; Is It "Collecting" on Them?
The FOIA for records on FBI's surveillance of WikiLeaks supporters substantially ended yesterday (barring an appeal) when Judge Barbara Rothstein ruled against EPIC. While she did order National Security Division to do a more thorough search…
David Petraeus: The Bestest General Ever Since George Washington
From what I've read, maybe about half of David Petraeus' boosters are shocked about his plea deal -- not so much that he pled guilty to a crime, I think, but the details about the kinds of sensitive materials he stored in a rucksack then…
Neoliberal Utility and the Paradox of Taxation
I've written about definitions and uses of “market” in several posts. The term “utility” is equally important in the development of mainstream economics. Here’s what Samuelson and Nordhaus say in Economics, 2005 ed.:
In a word,…
Partnering with the Kiwis, NSA "Protects" Us from Climate Resistors?
The Intercept has what will be the first in a series of partnering articles with New Zealand's great surveillance reporter Nicky Hager on the role of New Zealand's SIGINT agency, Government Security Communications Bureau, in the Five Eyes dragnet.…
DOJ Can't Keep Its Spin Straight in the Sterling Case
As I noted several weeks ago, Jeffrey Sterling challenged his conviction based on the absence of evidence actually implicating him in the crime. On Monday, the government responded. And while I expect the government will succeed in defeating…
David Petraeus Gets Hand-Slap for Leaking, Two Point Enhancement for Obstruction of Justice
Cross posted from ExposeFacts.
As a supine Congress sitting inside a scaffolded dome applauded Benjamin Netanyahu calling to reject a peace deal with Iran, DOJ quietly announced it had reached a plea deal with former CIA Director David…
James Clapper Admits Phone Dragnet Data Retention Is about Discerning Patterns
In the Q&A portion of a James Clapper chat at Council on Foreign Relations yesterday, he was asked about the phone dragnet and Section 215 (this starts after 48:00).
He made news for the way he warned Congress that if they take away…
The Jihadi John Cover Story
In the WaPo's story identifying Jihadi John as Mohammed Emwazi, they noted that the FBI intimated it had ID ISIL's executioner as far back as February.
Authorities have used a variety of investigative techniques, including voice analysis and…
The "Torture Works" Story
After Adam Goldman exposed the identity of Jihadi John, ISIL's executioner, as Mohammed Emwazi, it set off an interesting response in Britain. CagePrisoners -- the advocacy organization for detainees -- revealed details of how MI5 had tried…
Piketty Gets A Laugh At Mankiw's Expense
I’m not a fan of the former Bush economics adviser and Harvard economics professor N. Gregory Mankiw, so I was delighted to see Thomas Piketty make a joke about him at the recent meeting of the American Economics Association. Chuck Collins…
Will Verizon Challenge the Government's Fishy Dragnet?
Tim Edgar has a fascinating post on how the SCOTUS decision in Yates v US -- in which a guy busted for throwing away undersized fish was let off because those fish do not constitute a tangible object under the law -- might have repercussions…
The Government Continues to Play Hide and Seek with Surveillance Authorities
Last year, I described the effort by the Reaz Qadir Khan's lawyers to make the government list all the surveillance it had used to catch him (which, significantly, would either be targeted off a dead man or go back to the period during with…