USA Gag Freedom Act
As you likely know, there have been two developments with NSLs in the last few days. First, Twitter sued DOJ, on First Amendment grounds, to be able to publish how many NSLs and FISA orders it has received. And EFF argued before the 9th Circuit…
The Executive Branch's Vendetta against James Risen
Sorry for the silence today -- I've been traveling. Meanwhile, this piece -- talking about how insane the government's pursuit of James Risen has been -- was published over at the Nation.
We focused particularly in the number of top officials…
Parchin Blast Site Far From Disputed Chamber
Yesterday, I described what was known at the time about a mysterious blast near the Parchin military site in Iran. I postulated that satellite imagery would soon be available to help sort out the mystery of what took place. A tweet this afternoon…
The Other Blind Spot in NSA's EO 12333 Privacy Report: Research
Yesterday, I laid out the biggest reason the NSA Privacy Officer's report on EO 12333 was useless: she excluded most of NSA's EO 12333 collection -- its temporary bulk collection done to feed XKeyscore and its more permanent bulk collection…
In Telling of Brennan Fit, Panetta Somehow Forgets the Torture Documents Stolen Back for the White House
As you likely know, I'm firmly of the belief that one should call DC memoirs -- especially those written by National Security figures -- autobiographical novels, because they tend to stray so far from the truth (that's true of all autobiographies,…
Blast at Parchin Kills at Least Two; Timing Stinks
Detailed information is not yet available, but by all accounts there was a very large explosion east of Tehran Sunday night, around 11:15 local time. Many believe that the explosion took place at Parchin, the military site that has been at the…
NSA's Privacy Officer Exempts Majority of NSA Spying from Her Report on EO 12333 Collection
NSA's Director of Civil Liberties and Privacy, Rebecca Richards, has another report out, this time on "Civil Liberties and Privacy Protections" provided in the Agency's EO 12333 programs. As with her previous report on Section 702, this one…
A Good Reason to Encrypt Your iPhone: To Prevent DEA from Creating a Fake Facebook Account
At Salon yesterday, I pushed back against the Apple hysteria again. In it, I look at the numbers that suggest far more Apple handsets are searched under the border exception than using warrants.
Encrypting iPhones might have the biggest…
With AIG "Bailout," Did the US become a Planned Economy to Fight Off Takeover by One?
In two posts concluding, " the government might find a victory [in AIG's lawsuit] to be more costly than it anticipated," Yves Smith digs out key details from AIG's claims that in September 2008, the US illegally took it over.
I think Smith…
Reuters Reporter Dan Williams Tries to Help Israel Sell Iron Dome, Ignores Problems
In a story published at 7:28 am this morning, Reuters more or less transcribed a sales brochure for Israel trying to get other countries to buy their own versions of the Iron Dome system. I have written on Iron Dome a couple of times, noting…
One Reason We're Losing the War against Terrorism
Last Wednesday, Oregon District judge Garr King sentenced Mohamed Osman Mohamud to 30 years in prison for pressing a button FBI undercover officers had led him to believe would bomb Portland's Christmas tree-lighting ceremony. Mohamud's attorneys…
Bigger Problem in US Than Ebola: Enterovirus D68 Spreading Respiratory, Paralytic Diseases in Children
It has now been five days since we learned that Thomas Duncan, who came to Dallas from Liberia, tested positive for Ebola. His condition has been downgraded to critical, but so far none of his contacts have come down with Ebola symptoms.…
Clouded Transparency in USA Freedom Act
I noticed earlier yet another hole in USA Freedom Act's "Transparency" provisions that I'm very intrigued about. It's part of the definition of "individual whose communications were collected," off of which all the individualized non-target…
JPMorgan's Form 8-K to Investors: We've Been Hack-Mapped!
JPMorgan's Form 8-K filed on Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission advises:
On October 2, 2014, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (“JPMorgan Chase” or the “Firm”) updated information for its customers, on its Chase.com and JPMorganOnline…
MLB Divisional Playoffs and NFL Week 5 Trash Talk
A fairly minimalist week on the sports criminal docket front other than the announcement of former SDNY Judge Barbara S. Jones to hear the Ray Rice appeal against the NFL. She looks like a decent pick.
There is, however, a lot going on in…
The Continuing Myth about USA Freedom Transparency
Summary: This is a response to an Elizabeth Goitein claim that USA Freedom would provide detailed reporting on FISA programs. That's false. As I show below, the only three kinds of collection for which reasonably real numbers will be reported…
Protect America Act Was Designed to Collect on Americans, But DOJ Hid that from the FISC
The government released a document in the Yahoo dump that makes it clear it intended to reverse target Americans under Protect America Act (and by extension, FISA Amendments Act). That's the Department of Defense Supplemental Procedures Governing…
How Did Mighty American Bombing Not Destroy Terrorist Membership Lists?
Jenan Moussa continues her remarkable string of discoveries of intact artifacts amid the destruction of war. Six weeks after the Benghazi attack, she found a slew of papers (some unsigned) that had survived the fire that killed Chris Stevens.…
Once Again, Iran Protests IAEA Leaks
Iran's Ambassador to the IAEA is not happy. Speaking to PressTV today, he protested a report yesterday that final plans are in the works for the next round of meetings between Iran and the IAEA to discuss long-standing issues on Iran's nuclear…
Jack Goldsmith Declares Victory ... for Osama bin Laden
Yesterday, Jack Goldsmith misread a crabby Harold Koh defense of Obama's ISIL escalation justification as the end to the end to the Forever War.
Harold’s Koh’s grudging defense of the domestic legal basis for President’s Obama’s…