Another NSA-Private Sector Partnership
Ellen Nakashima reports on a partnership between the NSA, defense contractors, and their Internet service providers to find hackers before they hack.
The National Security Agency is working with Internet service providers to deploy a new generation…
Netroots Nation: Marcy Wheeler Introduces Guest of Honor Russell Feingold
Please join me, Firedoglake, Netroots Nation, and the progressive enterprise as Marcy Wheeler welcomes one of us: Senator Russell Feingold.
DOJ: Calling Out Government Lies Would Endanger National Security
No matter how you look at this attempt to suppress and ignore the WikiLeaks material, it is bizarre and somewhat comical. The WikiLeaks Gitmo Detainee files genie is out of the bottle; it would behoove the US government to join the battle and arguments on the merits and facts instead of trying to cram the genie back in and play hide the bottle.
Investigating Juan Cole Rather than Ahmed Chalabi
James Risen reports that Glen Carle, a former CIA officer, says the Bush Administration was looking for dirt on Juan Cole in 2005. In one incident, Carle's supervisor asked whether the CIA had anything on Cole.
Mr. Carle said that sometime…
Hassan Ghul's World Travels
Adam Goldman significantly fleshes out the story of what happened to Hassan Ghul after he was picked up in Iraq in 2004. It appears that Ghul may have been freed by the Pakistanis sometime after January 2007 because of his ties to Lashkar-e-Taiba,…
Jon Tester: Get Out of My Trash
Jon Tester is, to the best of my knowledge, the first member of Congress to complain about FBI's new investigative guidelines allowing agents to--among other thing--search potential informants' trash.
As a strong believer in government accountability…
Robert Mueller: Civil Liberties Don't Need a "Fresh" Review
This exchange last Thursday between Senator Al Franken and FBI Director Robert Mueller was frustrating enough--Senator Franken's questions were the only ones on civil liberties Mueller faced, and the Director seemed pretty miffed to be questioned…
China Is Hiding Its Counterfeit Electronics Parts
The Senate Armed Services Committee is trying to investigate how allegedly counterfeit parts get into the military supply chain. But China won't give visas--or promise freedom of movement without minders--to its investigators.
Two key US senators…
CIA Inspector General Reopens Khalid El-Masri Abduction
The AP reports that, in addition to the grand jury investigation of Manadel al-Janabi's death, the CIA Inspector General has reopened its investigation of Khalid el-Masri's abduction.
Forgive me for my cynicism, but this investigation--and…
More Security Theater as Play
Some weeks back, I posted on a Disney ride that offers riders the opportunity to be "verbally accosted by a security droid." Now, kids can play at being a TSA-worker themselves with a security wand:
There's nothing cooler than being a TSA agent…
IMF Blames State Actor for Hack
Over the weekend, I expressed some curiosity over who hacked the IMF. They at least say it was a state actor.
Security experts said the source seemed to be a "nation state" aiming to gain a "digital insider presence" on the network of the…
The "Purported" Detainee Assessments
When I posted on the new guidelines the government has given Gitmo lawyers on how they can use the Gitmo Detainee Assessment Briefs released by WikiLeaks, I had not yet seen the guidelines. Here they are.
What's most interesting to me about…
Durham Targeting More Contractors?
Time reports that John Durham has sent out recent subpoenas for grand jury testimony pertaining to torture and war crimes, specifically as it relates to Manadel al-Jamadi, the dead Iraqi depicted in one of the most graphic Abu Ghraib photo.
It…
FBI Aspires to Be the Stasi
Charlie Savage describes changes the FBI is making to its Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide. On its face, the changes he describes are downright bad. The changes allow FBI agents to:
Make a database "assessment" search of a group…
F1 Trash: Bernie Ecclestone Takes a Swing At Sultans of Bahrain
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bmazBernie yanks the Bahraini GP and Vettel looks on track for another win in Montreal.
The Quiet Death of Habeas Corpus
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bmazWhen our children askin the future how the Great Writ of Habeas Corpus, the foundation of law, died, this is the time and this is the answer.
The Chambermaid's Revenge: IMF Hacked
Usually, the apparent purpose of hacks is fairly banal. To steal defense secrets. To profit organized crime. To embarrass a political opponent.
But a reported sophisticated hack on the IMF is far more intriguing.
Because the fund has been…
Anglo-Americans at Cyberwar: Two Weeks of Cupcakes
I've been meaning to return to this Ellen Nakashima story on our cyberwar efforts. As you recall, it lays out the turf war between the CIA and DOD over clandestine cyberops, partly by telling the story a fight over whether or not to disrupt…
The Gitmo Lawyers' Information Gulag
Charlie Savage reports on the new "relaxed" standards that will allow Gitmo defense lawyers to glance at the Gitmo Detainee Assessment Briefs released by WikiLeaks. (h/t fatster)
In guidance to the lawyers — who have security clearances,…
Did Thomas Drake Get iJustice?
There's an interesting discussion at the end of Josh Gerstein's article on the Drake plea agreement. He points out that after Judge Bennett ruled that the government needed more descriptive substitutions for some of its exhibits, DOJ did not…