GOP Not Anxious to End John Roberts' Unilateral Reign Appointing FISA Judges
FWIW, Roger "Broccoli" Vinson aside, John Roberts has been appointing some solidly conservative, but nevertheless not lockstep Republicans to the FISA Court in recent years. But especially given the degree to which the FISC is now playing what…
Shaker Aamer: "Guards Using Ramadan to Massage Numbers" on Gitmo Hunger Strike
When this Charlie Savage story came out yesterday in the New York Times, my spidey senses went all tingly. Something just didn't feel right:
An American military spokesman said Sunday that 15 detainees at the military prison at Guantánamo…
Wherein Alexander the Great Conquers the World
"Collect it all," an anonymous source describes General Keith Alexander's approach to data, in a bizarre WaPo profile this morning.
The article includes several anonymous condemnations of Alexander the Great's approach.
"But even his…
Was Inspire a British-Made Product?
Amid a longer story about one-time Brits stripped of their citizenship and handled according to the Administration Disposition Matrix, Ian Cobain fills out the story of Minh Quang Pham (whose identity in the UK is protected under a legal gag…
Why "Members of the News Media" Should Welcome a Shield for the Act of Journalism
As I noted in this piece, the new policies DOJ rolled out in the wake of the AP and James Rosen revelations applies explicitly to "members of the news media," not journalists per se. The definition might permit the exclusion of bloggers and…
What will John Brennan do, Suspend his operations?
These with a thousand small deliberations
Protract the profit of their chilled delirium,
Excite the membrane, when the sense has cooled,
With pungent sauces, multiply variety
In a wilderness of mirrors. What will the spider do,
Suspend…
In Bid to Placate Legacy Media, DOJ Moves Closer to Instituting Official Press
The First Amendment was written, in part, to eliminate the kind of official press that parrots only the King's sanctioned views. But with its revised "News Media Policies," DOJ gets us closer to having just that, an official press.
That's…
Chuck Schumer Must Want All American Brown Youth Stop and Frisked
I thought Chuck Todd was speculating in that beltway fashion when he said he had heard people suggest Ray Kelly should replace Janet Napolitano as Department of Homeland Security Secretary.
But apparently, Chuck Schumer actually thinks it's…
Edward Snowden Invokes Nuremberg in Defending His Actions
Here's his speech:
Hello. My name is Ed Snowden. A little over one month ago, I had family, a home in paradise, and I lived in great comfort. I also had the capability without any warrant to search for, seize, and read your communications.…
NSA Undermines Past Leaked Narrative about Edward Snowden with New Ones
The 21st paragraph of this 22 paragraph article on what Edward Snowden may have taken from the NSA reads.
But that also made it easier for systems administrators such as Snowden, whose job was to make sure the networks worked properly, to gain…
Why Has John Bogdan Not Yet Been Relieved of Command at Guantanamo?
It has been clear for some time that the current hunger strike crisis at Guantanamo can be laid squarely at the feet of John Bogdan, who heads the Joint Task Force Guantanamo Detention Group. In other words, he is the head of the guard…
Spying on Americans: A "Team Sport" Since 2004
One of the more colorful revelations in today's Guardian scoop is the newsletter piece that describes increased sharing of PRISM (Section 702) data with FBI and CIA.
The information the NSA collects from Prism is routinely shared with both…
The Evil Empire
The Guardian has its latest scoop on NSA spying, describing the extent to which Microsoft helps the government spy on its customers. This bullet list is just some of what the article reveals.
Microsoft helped the NSA to circumvent its…
MEK Stirs Pot in Iran Despite Improved Negotiation Outlook After Rohani's Election
In a remarkably welcome surprise, moderate cleric Hassan Rohani won last month's presidential election in Iran and did so with a large enough margin to avoid a runoff. In the immediate aftermath of the election, there was hope that the heated…
Dianne Feinstein Suggests President Obama Personally Violating Our Treaty Obligations
As I noted the other day, in her ruling that she could not halt the force-feeding at Gitmo, Gladys Kessler described the treatment as "degrading," potentially invoking our obligations under Article 16 of the Convention again Torture to prevent…
Uncomfortable Truth: The State Of Evidence in the George Zimmerman Prosecution
I have said this from the get go: In the case of State of Florida v. George Zimmerman, under the actual facts of the case from the State of Florida's own disclosure, as opposed to hype from Benjamin Crump and his public relations team, who have…
Citing a Culture of "Verified Trust," DefCon Asks Feds Not to Come
Even after I wrote this post, few people following the NSA story seem to get that James Clapper's lie to Ron Wyden was just the culmination of a seven month effort on Wyden's part to get Keith Alexander to correct two misleading statements he…
"Is This the New Espionage?" CBS Asks of Leaking Government Files, While Airing Leaked Government Video
"Is this the new espionage," CBS asks, "the spy who believes, for the good of his country, he must reveal its secrets?"
CBS then chooses to give former NSA Director Michael Hayden -- who oversaw the NSA when it engaged in an unprecedented…
PCLOB: An Exercise in False Oversight
As you may have seen from the reporting or my live-tweeting of yesterday's Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board hearing on the government's surveillance program, there were a few interesting bits of news, starting with former FISC judge…
The Torture That Underlies FISA Court's "Special Needs" Decisions
At the core of the expanding dragnet approved in secret by the FISA Court, Eric Lichtblau explained, is the application of "special needs" to "track" terrorists.
In one of the court’s most important decisions, the judges have expanded the…