McKeon Too Low For Zero Option
Late Saturday, the New York Times posted an article with the misleading headline "US Considers Faster Pullout in Afghanistan". In a classic case of burying the lede, the article contained the important news that negotiations between Barack Obama…
Did Umar Patek Lead the US to Osama bin Laden?
Yesterday, Al Jazeera published a leaked copy of the final report from the Abbottabad Commission appointed by Pakistan's government to investigate both how Osama bin Laden could have lived within Pakistan (on military land!) for so long and…
Five Additional Questions for Jim Comey
Colleen Rowley has a great list of questions Jim Comey should be asked today in his confirmation hearing (I'll be live-tweeting it, so follow the twitter feed over there. >>>>>>
Here are five questions I would add:
The…
Bradley Manning Defense: Good Data Miners Are Data Hogs
I happened to need to consult the PressFreedom transcript of today's Bradley Manning trial. And came across this exchange, which goes to the heart of the debate on NSA's dragnet of Americans.
In it, Manning's lawyer, David Coombs, questioned Chief…
Federal Court Strikes Down Obama DOJ's State Secrets Defense
In what can only be described as a significant ruling, Judge Jeffrey White in the Northern California District (CAND) has rejected the federal government's, via the Obama and Holder Department of Justice, assertion of state secrets privilege…
An EPIC Effort to Combat the Dragnet
The Electronic Privacy Information Center has filed a writ of mandamus to SCOTUS to overturn the Section 215 order turning over all of Verizon's call records to the NSA.
Let me be clear: this is a moon shot. I'm doubtful it'll work. A really…
Judge Kessler to President Obama: Will You Save Gitmo Detainees from "Painful, Humiliating, and Degrading" Treatment?
In my post describing the emergency suit to stop force-feeding at Gitmo before Ramadan, I suggested it might be unlikely for the DC District Court judges to accept a challenge about prison conditions. That is exactly what happened: Judge Gladys…
It's Not JUST the Shell Game of Moving Osama bin Laden Records--It's Retroactive Classification of Them
Congratulations to the AP, which has caught up to the reporting I did a month ago on the way SOCOM purged their own systems of Osama bin Laden photos (and, apparently, records) and moved them to the CIA.
But it appears that this shell game…
US Big-Footing Extraterritoriality Again
The Irish High Court has rejected the request for an arrest warrant for Edward Snowden. While most aspects of the request were in order -- the timing of the alleged crimes, Snowden's role in them -- the US somehow neglected to mention where…
Why Has the Intelligence Community Missed So Many Digital Bales of Hay?
In a piece on the intelligence community's increasing reliance on SIGINT, LAT reports that the amount of the President's daily brief that comes from SIGINT has increased from 60% since 2000.
Determined to identify and track Al Qaeda terrorists…
Afghanistan Claims Zakaria Kandahari Arrested Six Weeks Ago
The continuing saga of Zakaria Kandahari, who has been at the heart of the torture and murder cases that prompted Hamid Karzai to ban US Special Forces troops from the Nerkh District of Maidan Wardak Province took another huge twist Sunday,…
FISC Opinions as Legal Cover
WSJ has a story on how the FISA Court came to render the phrase "related to" -- which has been used for 7 years to collect the phone records of almost all Americans -- entirely meaningless.
The history of the word "relevant" is key to understanding…
Popcorn Futures: Client No. 9 Versus Manhattan Madam in NY Comptroller Race
Get out the biggest popcorn bowl you own and extra napkins, find your cushy tushy pillow, and get ready for some serious entertainment.
Former New York State governor Eliot Spitzer (D) has thrown his hat in the ring for state comptroller.…
In These Times We Can't Blindly Trust Government to Respect Freedom of Association
One of my friends, who works in a strategic role at American Federation of Teachers, is Iranian-American. I asked him a few weeks ago whom he called in Iran; if I remember correctly (I've been asking a lot of Iranian-Americans whom they call…
FISC Already Invented that Database-and-Mining Precedent in Secret
Almost 18 months ago, I suggested that the Amnesty v. Clapper suit challenging the government's Section 702 collection might invent what I called a "database-and-mining" precedent.
Over at Lawfare, Steve Vladeck noted that this case would…
Edward Snowden's Extradition Request
As I noted last night, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro offered Edward Snowden asylum last night. (The Spanish was "hemos decidido" and "he decidido ofrecerle asilio" which included none of the sense of hypothetical that Nicaragua's President…
FBI Retirees Warn against Jim Comey, Torture, and Indefinite Detention
When one of the unions that represent FBI Agents floated a trial balloon supporting Mike Rogers to be FBI Director, it got a lot more press attention than the unlikelihood of their request merited.
Let's see whether this letter -- from 5…
Serving the Truth
Writing yesterday in the Daily Beast, Lt. Col. Daniel Davis provides a moving tribute to the late Michael Hastings. In the piece, we learn that Hastings didn't merely help Davis by publishing Davis' long-form unclassified report detailing how…
Europe again stuck saying, "They told us they were sure"
The NATO members who refused overflight privileges for Bolivian President Evo Morales are, in the process of trying to justify what they did, revealing more details of what led them to risk such a diplomatic affront. Among other explanations,…
The Union Imperfect
Like Marcy, I find myself pondering today the Declaration of Independence as well as the subsequent system of government set in motion with publication of this influential document.
So much of what our founding fathers protested about the…