Austin City Limits Trash Talk
The eyes of Texas, and the world, are on Austin this weekend. No, it is not for the big resurgence of Mack Brown and whether he and the Whorens can keep it up against those high flying Cowboys from Oklahoma State. No, it is because it is United…
The Second Page, Glenn Greenwald Edition
On the first page of a WaPo story on an Eric Holder speech, it says this.
Holder indicated that the Justice Department is not planning to prosecute former Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald, one of the journalists who received documents from…
Like Obi Wan, Osama bin Laden Has Come Back More Powerful Than Ever Before
In a piece that serves only to claim we need even more invasive online surveillance because we've made al Qaeda more insidious than before Osama bin Laden died, Michael Hirsh tries to make Abu Musab al-Suri the new boogeyman (who, as J.M. Berger…
Time to Investigate John Brennan and Those Air Marshals Again
Back in September I noted that the entire narrative of the guilty plea from Donald Sachtleben presented the false impression that he was the first, only, or most dangerous leaker about the UndieBomb 2.0.
But, as bmaz emphasized in his post…
The CIA (&etc) Money Orders
Both the NYT (Charlie Savage and Mark Mazzetti) and WSJ (Siobhan Gorman, Devlin Barrett, and Jennifer Valentine-Devries) tell the same story today: the CIA is collecting bulk data on international money transfers. Given that someone has decided…
IAEA Report Shows Iran Halting Expansion of Nuclear Program -- Slowdown Began Before Rouhani Elected
Despite a near-miss last weekend on an agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group of nations, a report released yesterday by the IAEA shows that Iran has already carried out several of the steps that such an agreement would have called for. The…
Basaaly Moalin Denied New Trial
As I noted the other day, Basaaly Moalin argued for a new trial Wednesday, arguing that disclosures that his entire prosecution stems from indirect phone contacts with a Somali warlord under the Section 215 phone dragnet program raises questions…
DiFi's Circular Defense of the Phone Dragnet's Legality Proves It Is Illegal
In the report on her own Fake FISA Fix, DiFi makes this case that the phone dragnet program is not illegal.
First, in reference to the call records program, some people will say that the FISA Improvements Act codifies an illegal program. It…
Fat Al Gore Menaces the Homeland and Homeland Security Experts Don't Care
Six days ago, Fat Al Gore (my shorthand for climate change) attacked the Philippines, killing as many 10,000 and leaving 250,000 homeless.
It was Fat Al Gore's most successful attack thus far.
With Fat Al Gore's growing success in mind,…
Pentagon Finally Surrenders, Cancels New Purchase of Russian Helicopters Through Dealer Supplying Syria
Back in June, I wrote about the deceit employed by the Pentagon in going against the advice of SIGAR (pdf) and explicit language in the NDAA to purchase Russian Mi-17 helicopters through the arms dealer Rosoboronexport. Because Rosoboronexport…
DiFi Fake FISA Fix Explicitly Allows Contractors to Conduct Suspicionless Searches on US Person Data
The Senate Intelligence Committee has released its report on DiFi's Fake FISA Fix. The report makes it clearer than ever that this is not at all an improvement, but rather an attempt to use the Snowden leaks as an opportunity to make the spying…
In the Middle of Spying Scandal, Scotland Yard Gives Up on Another One
I'll be honest. I've been thinking about Gareth Williams -- the GCHQ spy found dead in a duffle bag in his safe house -- since the Snowden leaks started. With each new disclosure, especially about GCHQ (though remember that Williams also worked…
If the Executive Had Followed Clear Minimization Requirements of PATRIOT, Dragnet Abuses Might Have Been Avoided
For 4 years, it has been clear that DOJ Inspector General Glenn Fine used his 2008 report on the FBI's use of Section 215 to address how it had been used for what was then a secret program. For that reason, I want to look more closely at what…
McClatchy Debunks the Latest Libyan Left Behind Novel
McClatchy has done the long overdue work of debunking the entirety of the 60 Minutes piece on Benghazi.
Much of their line-by-line debunking serves to point out that 60 Minutes' repeated claims that "al Qaeda" was responsible for the attack…
In Which Ben Wittes Proves Ben Wittes Is NAKED
160 days ago, Jim Sensenbrenner released a letter to Eric Holder expressing concern about the way DOJ had interpreted Section 215. In it, he did some creative editing to hide that he had had an opportunity to learn about that interpretation…
Lavabit and The Definition of US Government Hubris
Well, you know, if you do not WANT the United States Government sniffing in your and your family's underwear, it is YOUR fault. Silly American citizens with your outdated stupid piece of paper you call the Constitution.
Really, get out if…
The Phone Dragnet Did Not (and May Still Not) Meet the PATRIOT Act's Minimization Requirements
While a number of the changes to Section 215 passed just before the government started relying on it to create a database of all phone-based relationships in the United States watered down the law, one provision made the law stricter.
The…
The Opportunity Cost of the Global Dragnet
Back in 2006-7, I wrote a series of posts in which I considered the opportunity cost of the Iraq War at a time when our hegemonic position was already clearly in decline. In the years leading up to the Iraq War, I believe Dick Cheney assessed…
Just One Week Before Jirga on US Troop Immunity, Reuters Finds Afghan Murder Investigation Stymied by Immunity
With Hamid Karzai's loya jirga only about one week away, Reuters has published information that adds fuel to one of the major objections to the new Bilateral Security Agreement between Afghanistan and the US that the jirga is meant to bless.…
You Were Warned: Cybersecurity Expert Edition — Now with Space Stations
Over the last handful of days breathless reports may have crossed your media streams about Stuxnet infecting the International Space Station.
The reports were conflations or misinterpretations of cybersecurity expert Eugene Kaspersky’s…