Christie's Quarantine Over-Reaction Ignores How Ebola is Transmitted
It's really difficult to say which poor response to Ebola has done more damage to the public health system in the United States. First, we had the series of unforgivable errors at Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas that resulted in Thomas…
Deconfliction in Dragnet Databases
I want to return to something that appears in both of the Hemisphere slide decks we've seen: Deconfliction.
In addition to helping law enforcement find burner phones and contact chains, using connections that include location, Hemisphere…
The Decline and Fall of the Bo Merlot Empire
There was once upon a time a great band of Wolverine warriors who prowled a region of earth known as The Big Mitten. Proud and fierce, they were led by a god like creature known as Bo. Merlot that is. Three yards and a clod of sod Schembechler.…
DNA Sequence Analysis Shows Ebola Outbreak Naturally Ocurring, Not Engineered Virus
I had really hoped I wasn't going to have to write this post. Yesterday, Marcy emailed me a link to a Washington'sBlog post that breathlessly asks us "Was Ebola Accidentally Released from a Bioweapons Lab In West Africa?" Sadly, that post…
Two Men with Weapons But No Passports in Another Country
The more I think about this story, the more ridiculous it appears.
WSJ's sources are concerned, apparently, that US counterterrorism officials did not have prior knowledge of two men who each killed a Canadian soldier this week.
Neither…
Maybe the Spooks Don't Want FTC to Know NSA's Tricks?
In awesome news, the Federal Trade Commission has hired Ashkan Soltani -- the tech expert who helped Bart Gellman on many of his most important Snowden scoops -- as its new Chief Technology Officer.
The news has elicited wails from NSA's…
Wyden Doesn't Know What NSA Does with Its Dragnet Overseas
Kim Zetter has an interview with Ron Wyden that goes over a number of things I have already reported. She describes him hedging when asked when he first learned of the phone dragnet; as I have shown the government did not brief the Internet…
Connecting the Dots on the CIA Torture Report
I want to pull several details of the HuffPo's last two pieces on the CIA torture report together (kudos to HuffPo for stealing Ali Watkins from McClatchy).
Tuesday's story presents conflicting claims about whether the CIA impersonated SSCI…
After Acid Attacks on Women, Rouhani Speaks Out Against "Discord" "Under the Flag of Islam"
In the historic city of Isfahan in Iran yesterday, several thousand protesters gathered in front of the judiciary building and shouted slogans against assailants who have thrown acid on a number of women in recent weeks. Even though a spokesman…
No, Obama Doesn't Need Legislation to Fix the Dragnet--Unless the "Fix" Isn't One
In an editorial calling on Congress to pass the USA Freedom Act, the USA Today makes this claim.
Obama's proposal last January — to leave the data with phone companies, instead of with the government — can't happen without a new law. And,…
Plane Meets Plow: The Curious End of Total S.A. CEO Christophe de Margerie
Forgive my skepticism about the accident Monday night that took the life of Christophe de Margerie. CEO of French oil and gas company Total S.A. We’ve been told by enough analysts that several target countries, including Russia, are under…
New CDC Hospital Ebola Guidelines Fall Short of WHO Guidance on Personnel Flow
I'm either a lone voice in the wilderness or just another angry old man shouting at clouds on this, but, to me, the issue of personnel flow inside a facility treating a patient for Ebola is critical. Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas got that…
Another Attorney-Client Conversation Spied On
Last month, I laid out the several attorney client conversations to which Raez Qadir Khan was party that the government wiretapped. Among the 7 privileged conversations wiretapped by the government was a January 2010 conversation he had with…
Maybe NSA "Moonlighting" Is Another Name for "Public-Private Partnership"?
As you've likely read, NSA's Chief Technology Officer has so little to keep him busy he's also planning on working 20 hours a week for Keith Alexander's new boondoggle.
Under the arrangement, which was confirmed by Alexander and current intelligence…
FISCR Used an Outdated Version of EO 12333 to Rule Protect America Act Legal
If the documents relating to Yahoo's challenge of Protect America Act released last month are accurate reflections of the documents actually submitted to the FISC and FISCR, then the government submitted a misleading document on June 5, 2008…
Border Incidents Escalate Again: Iran Kills Pakistani Soldier
Back on Thursday, I noted that Iran claimed the right to enter Pakistani territory to chase terrorists that it blames for a series of border incidents that have killed a number of Iranian border guards. Iran wasted no time following up on that…
The Obama Administration Debate on the Convention Against Torture and Anas al-Libi
For some reason, the NYT decided to bury this article from Charlie Savage on page A21. It explains that the Obama Administration is debating internally whether to overturn Obama's ban against cruelty (which is also mandated by the Detainee Treatment…
Week Seven Pro and College Football Trash Talk
The week got off to a good start as the Patriots outlasted the Jets Thursday night. Barely and, really, the Jets should have won, they played better. Then, yesterday, the Jets traded a conditional draft pick to Seattle for Percy Harvin. Seems…
Why Isn't FBI Investigating the Hackers Who Broke into Google's Cables?
At his Brookings event yesterday, Jim Comey claimed that there is a misperception, in the wake of the Snowden releases, about how much data the government obtains.
In the wake of the Snowden disclosures, the prevailing view is that the government…
I Con the Record's International Privacy Guidelines Swallowed Up by Exceptions
Sometimes I Con the Record outdoes itself.
On Tuesday, the Guardian noted a scathing report UN Counterterrorism special rapporteur Ben Emmerson issued last month attacking British and US collection of bulk communications.
“Merely to…