I Guess Steve King Would Cede the All-Around Gymnastics Gold to Russia's Victoria Komova?
At around mid-day, IA Congressman Steve King said the following:
"The argument that diversity is our strength has really never been backed up by logic," King told The Huffington Post. "It's unity is where our strength is. Our Founding Fathers…
Nuke Site Breached Just Days After SSCI Moved to Eliminate Reporting on Nuke Site Security
I have been dawdling about writing this post, in which I explain that two of the reporting requirements the Senate Intelligence Committee rather stupidly, IMO, moved to eliminate last week pertain to the security of our nuclear labs.
Back…
"Dear John Brennan: You're Being Investigated"
A number of people have pointed to Scott Shane's story on the leak witch hunt for the details it gives on the increasing concern about leak witch hunts among journalists and national security experts.
But this paragraph includes the most…
Lost Among the Findings in Syria
The Neocons have been pressuring Obama to do something in Syria. So it's thoroughly unsurprising that we're officially learning what we've known for months: the CIA has been involved in Syria. According to Mark Hosenball the Finding Obama signed…
Dianne Feinstein Agrees with Obama: Public Can't Know Targeted Killing Legal Justification
At the end of a useful Steve Coll piece on the Constitutional danger of the Administration's unilateral decisions to kill American citizens, he argues that Congress has the ability to force the Administration to release the process by which…
Did Pakistan Provide Intelligence Against Haqqani Network?
As I mentioned on Tuesday, the head of Pakistan's spy agency is in the US for meetings with the CIA and other US intelligence interests. Those meetings started yesterday and appear to be slated to go through tomorrow. I had predicted that if…
If FBI Believes NYPD Spying Violates Americans' Rights, Why Not Stop It?
It has long been clear that the AP series on the NYPD's spying on NYC's Muslims relied, in part, on FBI sources who believed the program to be problematic. Now a new edition of Ronald Kessler's book on the voices that belief explicitly.
“What…
"They Were Suspending My Credit Line"
[youtube]pf7Cxj5BZw8[/youtube]
So Mitt is still trying to dig himself out of the hole he created when he declared, "Let Detroit go bankrupt"?
I suspect most of the commentary on this ad will focus on the irony that, had Mitt had his way,…
Using Pensions to "Punish" "Leaks" Will Subject Clearance Holders to Arbitrary Power
The Senate Intelligence Committee's new anti-leak laws are the part of the Intelligence Authorization that will generate the most attention. Greg Miller already got Dianne Feinstein to admit there's no reason to think one of the new provisions--permitting…
ABC, Reuters Parrot Deceptive State Department Spin on Terrorism Data
Yesterday, the State Department released its annual Country Reports on Terrorism and held a briefing regarding the findings. Both ABC and Reuters covered the report and crafted their stories around a single finding from it: world-wide terror…
The Administration Has Not Responded to Over 10 Congressional Requests for Targeted Killing Memo
Back in September 2010, when the Administration successfully argued that whether or not the government had the authority to kill Anwar al-Awlaki was a matter for the Executive and Congressional Branches to decide, it claimed Congress served…
Congress Can't Legislate Oversight for Fear of Legal Challenges That'd Accomplish Oversight Congress Can't Legislate
Julian Sanchez has his own rebuttal to former DOJ official Carrie Cordero's claims that FISA has plenty of oversight (see mine here). You should definitely read it, which is wonky and interesting. But I wanted to add my non-wonky answer to a…
Senate Moves to Hide Our Secret Government
A few weeks ago, the fact that there are now 4.8 million people in the US with security clearances got a fair amount of attention. 1.5% of our country has access to at least information classified as secret. The job security of most of those…
More Evidence US Views Drone Strikes as Political Retaliation Tool
On the same day that the US and Pakistan formally signed the agreement reopening the NATO supply routes through Pakistan, a piece profiling the US-Pakistan relationship in the New York Times provides further evidence supporting the idea that…
Dianne Feinstein Undermines John Cornyn's Effort to Get Transparency on Targeted Killing
As I noted a few weeks ago, the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to prevent John Cornyn from adding an amendment to the FISA Amendments Act Extension. I will have to hunt down the language of his amendment tomorrow, but it would…
Bolshevik Wins Gold for US
Here's how WSJ described Missy Franklin, who just won a gold in the 100-meter backstroke only 11 minutes after swimming a qualifier for the 200-meter freestyle, this morning.
Missy Franklin, Olympic Radical
[snip]
She's the latest incarnation…
Has Mitt Been Reading "Why Nations Fail"?
Mitt Romney's latest overseas outrage is asserting that Palestinians are so much poorer than Israelis because of their culture.
"As you come here and you see the GDP per capita, for instance, in Israel which is about $21,000 dollars, and compare…
US Wasting Money on Afghanistan Infrastructure While US Infrastructure Continues Decline
Joshua Foust tweeted a link to a story in today's Washington Post about the most recent report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. Foust's tweet succinctly summed up the situation: "#SIGAR body slams the war in…
If Everything NSA Does is "Auditable," Why Can't NSA Tell Us How Many Americans They've Spied On?
NSA Director Keith Alexander just said this to the hackers at DefCon (while wearing an absolutely ridiculous hacker costume):
“We get oversight by Congress, both intel committees and their congressional members and their staffs,” he continued,…
As Mitt Heads to Sheldon Adelson's Country, CIA Exposes Israel's Treachery
After visiting his bankster donors in London, Mitt is on his way to visit megadonor Sheldon Adelson's other country, Israel. Perhaps in a bid to butter up Adelson, Mitt's staffers put up an Israeli flag on the plane before they remembered he's…