Bernie Sanders Warns of the Rise of Nazis if the Fed Helps ECB Further Destabilize Greece
Bernie Sanders just wrote a letter to Fed Chair Janet Yellen asking why she is doing nothing as the European Central Bank destabilizes Greece's newly elected Syriza government.
Several weeks ago the Greek people voted for a new government.…
Rauf Exploited One Last Time, Now Latest Drone Victim
On January 30, I noted how the varied history of Mullah Abdul Rauf Khadim had seen him on many different sides of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Pakistan. His history depends on whoever is describing it, but it is clear he spent time at Guantanamo,…
CIA Stiffed Merlin on His Spy Salary
Bob S -- the guy in charge of the Merlin operation -- appears to have made a false claim under oath at the Jeffrey Sterling trial.
To be fair, I think he told a lot of fibs -- shading his description of a program that was an operational disaster…
Merlin Was Reading James Risen in 1999
On March 16, 1999, Jeffrey Sterling met with Merlin, the Russian scientist Sterling was trying to get to establish ties with Iran so he could hand off a nuclear blueprint. (Exhibit 22) Merlin seemed to be getting impatient -- and perhaps a little…
CIA's Merlin Was Arranging Fake Nuclear Deals on an AOL Account Shared with His Wife and Kids
Witness after witness in the Jeffrey Sterling trial made claims about how closely held the program was. "More closely held than any other program," Walter C, a physicist who worked on the program described. "More closely held," David Shedd,…
Mapping Treasure: Looking Beyond the Yield of Traditional Insider Trading
A former SAC hedge fund manager, who cooperated with law enforcement, avoided a prison sentence this week after the FBI's investigation into insider trading found criminal activities. It's a rather typical story in which persons unfairly benefited…
Why Did ODNI Fight So Hard to Hide the Census Opinion?
Congratulations to EFF, which yesterday liberated another document on Section 215: a 2010 OLC opinion finding that the Department of Commerce (then counseled by Cameron Kerry who, curiously enough, hosted the Bob Litt speech the other day)…
Bob Litt: No Contingency Plans for Section 215
A month into the new Congress, neither USA Freedom Act nor a replacement has been reintroduced. Which has led to a discussion of what will happen if Section 215 sunsets in June.
I hope to do my own piece on all of what happens if Section…
How CIA Criminalized a Senate Staffer Google Search
Katherine Hawkins has a very good review of the results of the CIA IG Report and "Accountability Review Board" over the Senate Intelligence Committee staffers' access to CIA documents on torture; you should read the whole thing. Hawkins…
Russia’s Sabre-Rattling: Not Just Bluster About Banks and Ukraine Unrest
Last Friday, CNBC interviewed Andrey Kostin, CEO of Russia’s second largest bank, following the EU’s decision to extend economic sanctions against Russia, ostensibly to punish Russia for hostilities against Ukraine. Kostin’s comments…
The 702 Crimes Include Cybersecurity, Infrastructure, and "Transnational Crimes"
Bob Litt is giving a speech. In it he described what "serious crimes" FBI can use 702-derived information to investigate and prosecute. They include:
Can use for 702: Crimes involving death, kidnapping, bodily harm, v minor, infrastructure,…
Why Aren't Tech Companies Demanding the Common Commercial Service Agreement OLC?
As noted, Ron Wyden used Eric Holder's imminent departure as an opportunity to point to some secrets that he believes should be told. One of those pertains to what the 2003 OLC opinion on common commercial service agreements refers to.
Second,…
DOJ Says It's Not Legally Required to Tell Wyden Whether Executive Branch Conduct Was Legal
Via Ali Watkins' story on Dianne Feinstein's vindication by the Senate parliamentarian, Ron Wyden has written Eric Holder a letter listing all the unfinished business he'd like the Attorney General to finish before going off to his sinecure…
NOW Will Saudi Support for 9/11 become Toxic?
Back in a Twitter discussion with Jack Goldsmith about whether President Obama could force a peace settlement with Iran through Congress, I suggested the way to change the politics in DC would be to exercise Executive discretion over all the…
Brilliant New Iraq Strategy Unveiled: Promote Sunni-Shia Reconciliation
Once again, the brilliant leaders of the US military have shown a complete ignorance of both the centuries-long Sunni-Shia rift in Islam and more recent US failed efforts to deal with it.
Think back to those heady days in the fall of 2007,…
Working Thread: New and Improved Dragnettery
I Con the Record has released a series of changes to the dragnet to fulfill President Obama's directive to improve privacy. This will be a working thread.
Seeking Independent Advice
This section lays out all the independent advice the…
Caesars Palace Not Held to Same Standard Lavabit Is
I'm going to have a longer post about this opinion recommending a judge throw out the warrant, based on evidence FBI obtained by shutting down DSL and then pretending to be the cable guys that would fix it, used in bust Paul Phua (see this article…
Merlin: Both Russian Engineers Had Problems with the Blueprints
As I suggested in my response to Walter Pincus' laundering of false claims about the evidence presented at the Sterling trial, DOJ went to great lengths to help CIA try to rebut claims made in James Risen's book about the blueprints handed…
Superb Owl Types: Check in Here for NotAllFootBall
Yeah, me, too — I can't do football tonight. Once the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers were knocked out of the running, I didn't have a horse in the race any longer and couldn't muster the whatev to bother following the limp ball…
Emptywheel's Super Bowl XLIX Trash Talk
Welp, here we are for our last regularly scheduled Trash Talk for the football season. It may be the biggest game of the year, but it is always a tad melancholy because it means no more football. On that note, off we go.
Super Bowl XLIX is…