Will the CIA Regret It Started a Witchhunt against Detainee Lawyers?
As I noted, DOJ charged former CIA officer Jon Kiriakou for allegedly leaking information relating to the CIA's torture program (as well as purportedly secret information about GPS tracking that is not secret).
But remember how this investigation…
DOJ Charges Former CIA Officer for Exposing CIA's Torture
It would be too simple to say that Jon Kiriakou was a whistle-blower. His initial leaks to journalists seemed like sanctioned leaks to minimize the effect torture had.
But whatever role he played, DOJ just charged him for leaking information--almost…
SCOTUS Unanimously Declares (Some) GPS Tracking a Search
Good news! The Fourth Amendment is not totally dead yet!
SCOTUS just handed down its decision in US v. Jones, which I wrote about here. And while there are three concurring opinions (the majority authored by Scalia and joined by Roberts,…
The Administration's Half-Striptease of Anwar al-Awlaki's Rotting Corpse
This article, which claims the "Obama administration is planning to reveal publicly the legal reasoning behind its decision to kill" Anwar al-Awlaki, also reveals that Administration debates about whether to do so likened such necessary transparency…
What Do You Call a "Cornhusker Kickback" for California?
Remember the "Cornhusker Kickback"? That was the $45 million in expanded Medicaid funding Ben Nelson demanded from the Obama Administration before he'd support Health Insurance Reform. The special treatment for Nebraska gave the reform effort…
Championship Sunday Trash Talk
Well, here we are at Championship Sunday weekend. It seemed like only yesterday that the NFL season was tearing through a hasty preseason after the lockout, and the Packers were beating the Saints in a season opening Thursday night shootout.…
Exhibits in Latif's SCOTUS Petition Prove Interrogation Summaries Should Not Be Entitled to Presumption of Regularity
In his book, The Black Banners, former FBI Agent Ali Soufan describes multiple occasions when FBI and CIA reporting on a subject did not match. For example, he describes how his reporting and that of a CIA officer, Fred, differed during the…
If the Only News Is Good News and There Is No News ...?
Tara McKelvey, the woman who wrote one of the most detailed stories on drone targeting (which has subsequently gotten John Rizzo into some trouble), has a CJR piece on the problems of reporting on drones. The whole thing is worth reading, but…
Wells Fargo, Freddie, Bank of America, and UBS at DOJ
As a number of people have noted, Reuters has an important story on a potential conflict of interest at DOJ: Covington and Burling, where Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer worked before coming to DOJ in 2009, wrote key memos leading to the creation…
In Rush to Transcribe Military's Concern on Why We Can't Leave Afghanistan, Did NY Times Fact-check "Classified" Report?
Today's New York Times carries a long article under the headline "Afghanistan's Soldiers Step Up Killings of Allied Forces". The story appears to me to be presented from the angle of military higher-ups who don't want to withdraw from Afghanistan…
Obama's Housing Campaign
Let's connect a few data points.
Last Friday, Jame Dimon demanded that all the players (except the actual homeowners) get locked into a room until some leader solved the housing problem he and his buddies created.
On Sunday, the Administration…
The FBI Feeding Fantasies for Fun and Fear
Jim linked to this long Esquire story on the Waffle House plotters, the four senior citizens arrested last year for a plot to attack government workers and make ricin. It traces the plot from the online regrets of the leader of the plot, Fred…
The OTHER Assault on the Fourth Amendment in the NDAA? Drones at Your Airport?
Steven Aftergood notes that the Army just issued new directives for the use of drones in civilian airspace. The new directives include nothing earth shattering (my favorite part is the enclosure from 2009 explaining what to do when you lose…
Ahsan Procures Adjournment to Feb. 1 in Gilani Contempt Case; Pasha Term to Expire; NATO Routes to Re-open?
In his much-anticipated appearance today before Pakistan's Supreme Court, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was represented by Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan. [I must admit to a bit of bias here. Ahsan became something of a personal hero to me when…
Judy Miller Discovers the Word "Claim"
Judy Miller, first amendment martyr, has finally found an assertion that she distrusts enough to diminish by using the word "claim:"
NYPD’s critics have complained about potential invasions of privacy and disruptions of New Yorkers’ civil…
Inspiring Attorney-Client Crackdowns
Those of us who watch Gitmo legal issues have wondered since late last year why the prison had imposed new clean team processes on communications between lawyers and their clients. We learned the beginnings of an answer today. DOD found a copy…
The False Report of Banned Books In Tucson: The Tempest in the Arizona Teapot
Last Friday afternoon, author Jeff Biggers published an article at Salon entitled Who’s Afraid of “The Tempest”? The cognitive lede, and framing for the article as a whole, is contained in the first sentence:
As part of the state-mandated…
Save the Internet!
PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.
We've been remiss in covering the SOPA/PIPA fight. So in honor of today's SOPA/PIPA strike, we will be on strike from 6AM to 6PM today.
In the meantime, here…
Turkish Double Talk
And just because this seems to connect all my posts from today.
Today's Zaman, January 17, 2012:
According to reports by Turkish intelligence agencies, Heron unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) operated by Israel that have been observed in Hatay…
Fans, Fertilizer, and False Flags
I'd like to look more closely at the alleged Hezbollah terror plot announced last week in Bangkok.
Thai police said they had broken up a terror plot aimed at tourist sites in Bangkok, after U.S. warnings triggered in part by worsening tensions…
