Did Covert Officer A--Whose Identity John Kiriakou Allegedly Leaked--Leave the CIA?
DOJ has apparently failed in its efforts to get John Kiriakou to agree to a plea deal; they've just indicted him.
Interestingly, the indictment describes Covert Officer A--whose identity Kiriakou allegedly leaked--differently than the complaint…
Whose Illicit Money Did Citi Help Launder?
Back when the story of how Wachovia helped drug cartels launder money was breaking in 2010, reports said that cartels had also used Citi to launder their money.
A Mexican judge on Jan. 22 accused the owners of six centros cambiarios, or money…
Turning Soft Power into a Casus Belli
I noted the other day that NYT Executive Editor Jill Abramson, in patting herself and her paper on the back for coverage that was better than the NYT coverage that got us into Iraq, totally misunderstood the frame of the debate.
To strike or…
Is Obama Threatening the "Special Relationship" to Hide Torture?
I noted, when David Cameron was in town, that his Justice Secretary, Kenneth Clarke, was pushing to expand "closed material proceedings" as a way to better protect secret information. The effort was a response, Clarke claimed, to courts forcing…
What if the FBI Infiltrated Anti-Choice Groups?
The suspect in the attack on the Grand Chute Planned Parenthood office, Francis Grady, explained to journalists at his court appearance today why he attacked the clinic.
A reporter asked why Grady attacked the clinic.
"Because they're killing…
Philip Zelikow Saves Condi Rice's Hiney (Again)
Back in April 2009, former State Department Counselor and all-around Condi Rice fixer Philip Zelikow revealed that "in 2005," he had written a dissent to Steven Bradbury's 2005 Memo finding the torture program complied with the Convention against…
The US and Afghan National Army Become Partners on Night Raids
Yesterday, the US and Afghanistan drew closer to an agreement on night raids. Not only would the deal give Afghan courts veto power over the raids (though, in some cases, the raids could be approved after the fact), but it makes Afghan military…
Nate's "Common Sense" on ObamaCare
Nate Silver has a post purporting to show that it is "common sense" that SCOTUS overturning ObamaCare (Nate calls it the "health care bill," which it is assuredly not) would not be good for Obama.
He argues his point by pointing to the very…
The National Security Committee Knew They Were Going to Get FALSE Confessions from Torture
Jason Leopold [update: and Jeff Kaye] have an important article on a key document used to develop the torture program, but I think its title should be stronger. As his article shows, Condi Rice and several high level Bush officials were briefed…
The National Security Council Was Briefed on Anna Chapman before Her Arrest
I frankly wasn't all that interested in the news that Russian spy Anna Chapman was setting a honey trap for an Obama cabinet official...
In a documentary broadcast last night, FBI counter-intelligence chief Frank Figliuzzi claimed the glamorous…
Who Brought Key Al Qaeda Forums Down?
A number of al Qaeda's online jihadist forums have gone down for extended periods.
Al-Qaeda’s main Internet forums have been offline for more than a week in what experts say is the longest sustained outage of the Web sites since they began…
The Brownish Pink Ghetto on Terrorism Protections
As DDay formulated it, when someone set off a bomb at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Grand Chute, WI yesterday, it turned the political war on women into an actual war on women.
Within short order after the attack, DOJ's Civil Rights Division…
The Magical Science of Beans
We already know the pink slime issue has been engaged in a full court press (even while the pink slime company itself declared bankruptcy). So it's not surprising to see even the science press parroting the talking points being pushed by the…
ObamaCare SCOTUS Reaction: Why Not Find a Way to Make the Benefits Worth the Price?
I was going to let bmaz handle the ObamaCare debate. But then I read this Jonathan Cohn piece--which asks whether SCOTUS' likely decision to strike down the mandate will delegitimize the court. And I had to respond.
Cohn started his discussion…
Obama Puts More American Targets in Yemen
I want to unpack this dense LAT article on drones--titled "In Yemen, lines blur as U.S. steps up airstrikes." Maybe it's intentional but both at LAT's level and that of its Administration sources, the depiction of our efforts in Yemen is a big…
Big Brother Works Both Sides of the Atlantic
I was rather surprised that there seemed to be more outrage Sunday about the UK's announced plan to roll out the same ability to monitor everyone's online activity that the US set up after 9/11 then over Eric Lichtblau's report--based on the…
The Intelligence Community Has Cleaned Up Its Attribution Problem ... Has the Press?
James Risen has another article on the evolution of intelligence analysis, this time describing how screwing up the Iraq intelligence so badly now weighs on Iran analysts (for the better, IMO).
I was struck by the description of one way the…
Requiem For ACA at SCOTUS & Legitimacy Of Court and Case
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), otherwise popularly known as “Obamacare” had a bit of a rough go of it this week at the Supreme Court. Jeff Toobin called it a train wreck (later upgraded to plane wreck). Kevin Drum…
Panjwai: Was There One Killer at Alkozai But Multiple at Najiban?
I'm working on a theory about the Panwjai killings: that there was just one gunman at the village of Alkozai, but multiple solders were present at Najiban. At this point, it's just a wildarsed guess, but it is consistent with what at least some…
America, the Dystopian Reality Show: Pink Slime Edition
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When The Decline and Fall of the American Empire is written, I hope the historian writing it is astute enough to notice…