Wyden and Udall: They're Blowing Smoke about Phone and Other Bulk Record Safety
When I wrote about the letter from Ron Wyden, Mark Udall, and 24 other Senators to James Clapper a month ago, I focused on the specter that Section 215 would be used to collect gun records (in response to which, the NRA let its political guns…
On the Growing Fight Against America's Secret Enemies
Cora Currier describes the absurd response she got when she asked for a list of our enemies.
At a hearing in May, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., asked the Defense Department to provide him with a current list of Al Qaeda affiliates.
The Pentagon…
Eric Holder: Well, Maybe Just a Little Forced Nudity and Solitary Confinement...
Eric Holder has written a letter to Russian Minister of Justice Alexander Valdimirovich Konovalov. In it, he claims to address the issues Edward Snowden raised in his application for asylum to Russia (I'm not sure he accurately represents the…
FBI's Warrantless Drone Surveillance
The FBI has responded to Rand Paul's request for information on how it uses drones.
It provides several paragraphs detailing the use: They've used drones in kidnapping, drug interdiction, fugitive, and search and rescue cases, for a total…
Will Souring US-Russian Relations Enable US-Iran Bilateral Nuclear Technology Talks?
Michael Gordon reports in the New York Times that Iran may be making overtures for direct bilateral talks on Iran's nuclear technology. As Gordon points out, however, news of the overture came to the US through Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki,…
Candidate Obama's Tribute to "Courage and Patriotism" of Whistleblowers Disappears 2 Days after First Snowden Revelations
Sunlight Foundation discovers the Obama Administration has removed access to his 2008 campaign promises from the White House website. It suggests one of the promises Obama may want to hide has to do with his support for whistleblowers.
While…
SIGAR's Sopko re $50 Million Sole Source Rule of Law Contract: "You Can't Make This Up"
The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) has discovered that the State Department has awarded a sole source contract for nearly $50 million to provide training on the rule of law in Afghanistan. Remarkably, the…
Steny Hoyer Thinks All Americans May Be Pre-Investigation Terrorist Communicators
Like Glenn Greenwald, I'm appalled by the crazy language Steny Hoyer circulated yesterday to oppose the Amash-Conyers amendment. Here's the language:
2) Amash/Conyers/Mulvaney/Polis/Massie Amendment – Bars the NSA and other agencies from…
Amash-Conyers Fails 205-217
In one of the closest votes in a long time for civil liberties, the Amash-Conyers amendment just failed, but only barely, by a vote of 205-217.
The debate was lively, with Mike Rogers, Michele Bachmann, and Iraq verteran Tom Cotton spoke…
Mike Rogers: IRS Scandal Is Real, NSA Scandal Is Not; AP Collection Is a Dragnet, Section 215 Collection Is Not
One of the four members of Congress with greatest influence over this country's "intelligence," House Intelligence Chair Mike Rogers, claims that the IRS scandal is real and the risk of NSA dragnet is not.
Rogers said Amash's amendment, which…
"Section 215 Is Silent"
Justin Amash has a useful fact sheet on the Amash-Conyers amendment that would defund dragnet 215 collection. (If you haven't yet called your Congressperson and told her to support the amendment, please do so!)
As a whole, the fact sheet…
CIA Death Squads in Afghanistan to Have Fewer Bases
Greg Miller reports in the Washington Post that the CIA will be closing several bases in Afghanistan as US military forces are withdrawn from the country. I've been obsessing lately about US death squads operated primarily by the CIA but also…
The Liars Are "Very Concerned" Program They Lied About Will Be Defunded
Buried at the bottom of a broader story on opposition to the Amash-Conyers amendment, CNN offers a very solicitous account of the White House statement opposing it, making no note of how absurd the entire premise is.
The White House issued…
After 7 Years of Refusing Any Public Debate, Executive Decries Congress for Not Being "Open"
Here's what the Administration thinks about the Amash-Conyers amendment (which it calls the Amash Amendment, perhaps not wanting to name a Democrat who has been involved in historic fights against out-of-control executive power in the past),…
Working Post on Government Motion in Moalin Prosecution
As I described in this post, the government's opposition motion to Basaaly Saeed Moalin's challenge to the FISA intercepts used to convict him is a doozy. I showed there how complex the collections used to convict him were (and presumably still…
Of Course the NSA Can't Search Its Own Emails...
Justin Elliott reports that when he tried to FOIA emails between National Geographic and the NSA, the world's premier digital spying agency said they couldn't search their own emails.
"There's no central method to search an email at this time…
Will Keith Alexander FINALLY Tell the Full Truth about the Section 215 Dragnet in Today's Secret Emergency Hearing?
Since Edward Snowden made it clear the government has been collecting every American's phone records in the name of terrorism (and Iran), the National Security establishment has made a great show of transparency.
Don't worry it's "just" metadata,…
Dempsey Photo-Op With Karzai Illustrates Futility of SOFA Negotiations
As the Afghanistan disaster careens closer to the late 2014 end of the NATO mission, the US continues to embarrass itself while it perpetuates the charade of trying to negotiate terms for US forces to remain in Afghanistan beyond 2014. On…
Study Shows Cybertheft Really Isn't the Greatest Transfer of Wealth in History
I've long mocked the claim -- often wielded by people like Sheldon Whitehouse and Keith Alexander -- that cybertheft is the greatest transfer of wealth in history. Sure, cybertheft might be big. But bigger than colonization? Bigger than slavery?
But…
Did the Government Change When -- and How -- It Minimized US Person Collections Since 2008?
I've been digging through the weeds of the government's response to Basaaly Saeed Moalin's challenge of the FISA materials used in his trial. As a reminder, this is one of just two examples of a case where the government has admitted to using…