How Many Other Journalists Does the FBI Consider Informants?
Yesterday, the Center for Public Integrity revealed the contents of a secret FBI memo treating a top ABC journalist--who turned out to be Christopher Isham (currently CBS' DC bureau chief)--as a confidential source for a claim that Iraq's intelligence…
One Year After Collateral Murder Release, DOD's Networks Are Still Glaring Security Problem
As I have posted several times, the response to WikiLeaks has ignored one entity that bears some responsibility for the leaks: DOD's IT.
Back in 2008, someone introduced malware to DOD's computer systems. In response, DOD announced it would…
In July 2001, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Tried to Come to the US
One of the most intriguing details of the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed indictment is this entry:
126. On or about July 23, 2001, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, KHALID SHEIKH MOHAMMED applied for a U.S.-entry visa, using the name "Abdulrahman A.A. Al-Ghamdi,"…
DOD Considers Illegal Data Mining Part of Capital Crime
I've written two posts on the software that Bradley Manning is alleged to have loaded onto SIPRNet (here, here). Wired has now gotten a little more detail about what the software was: DOD says it was some kind of data mining software, though…
DOJ: Iraq Had No Al Qaeda Affiliates (Working Thread on KSM Indictment)
As Eric Holder said, he had the December 14, 2009 indictment of KSM and the other 9/11 defendants unsealed. Here is the indictment.
Page 3: Note in their description of why al Qaeda targeted the US, they make no mention of Palestinians, even…
Eric Holder: Moving KSM Trial to Gitmo Wrong Decision, But We're Doing It Anyway
There was something I appreciated about the Holder press conference capitulating on trying the 9/11 defendants in civilian trials.
He didn't try to spin it as a good idea.
Not only did he reiterate his judgment that trying KSM in a civilian…
Holder's Press Conference Liveblog
Holder: I stand by decision that best venue for prosecution civilian court.
Had developed plans for dealing with classified evidence.
"Members of Congress have intervened."
Decisions about who, where, to prosecute have always been made…
This Presidential Campaign Brought to You by a Massive Capitulation on Civilian Law
Reports are trickling out that Eric Holder will announce an epic cave this afternoon on his earlier decision to try the 9/11 defendants in civilian courts.
Attorney General Eric Holder today will announce that self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind…
SWIFT and the Asymmetric Control of Data
I've been thinking a lot about SWIFT lately. Partly that's because of the renewed discussion on how some big banks relied on cash from drug cartels to survive as the housing bubble began to pop. Partly that's because of advance publicity for…
How Allowing Money Laundering Keeps Our Bubblicious Finance Afloat
Last June, Bloomberg did a long story on the Deferred Prosecution Agreement that Wachovia negotiated with DOJ. As "punishment" for helping Mexican drug gangs to launder more than $363 billion through casas de cambios for three years, Wachovia…
Putting "Really Mushy" Functions in a Department that Refuses to Be Audited
Noah Shachtman points to NextGov's unsuccessful attempt to define how much DOD plans to spend on cybersecurity next year. DOD or its components have offered three different versions:
DOD's mid-February report it would spend $2.3 billion
Air…
Donald Trump: The Jamaica Jerkoff
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bmaz.
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Seriously, this asshole with a dead ferret on his head thinks he is going to run for President? Of the United States? Um, no. And why supposedly credible news organizations are giving this crapola one fleeting second of credibility…
University of Wisconsin's Response to FOIA Request Emphasizes Importance of Academic Freedom
The University of Wisconsin issued two documents in response to the request for Professor Bill Cronon's emails: a message from the Chancellor, and a letter from the General Counsel to WI's GOP. As the GC letter describes, UW has withheld the…
Darrell Issa Complains that Janet Napolitano Took a Whole Year to Change Michael Chertoff's Inefficient FOIA Process
Darrell Issa has no credibility when it comes to matters of transparency. We've seen Issa's rank hypocrisy in the past. He dismissed concerns about Karl Rove doing business on RNC emails as a political stunt. And he suggested that apparently…
Wingnut Pastor's Koran-Burning Gets UN Staffers Killed
This is horrible.
Protesters angered by the burning of a Koran by a fringe American pastor in Florida mobbed offices of the United Nations in northern Afghanistan on Friday, killing ten foreign staff members and beheading two of the victims,…
US Intelligence Operatives in Libya, Before a Finding, Sounds Like JSOC
Mark Hosenball, who yesterday broke the news that Obama had issued a Finding authorizing the CIA to operate covertly in Libya in the last 2-3 weeks, today says "intelligence operatives" were on the ground before Obama signed that Finding.
U.S.…
Out of the Mouths of Babes Real People: Just Keep Jobs Here
The powers that be--those that give a damn about creating jobs at all (Obama's campaign manager doesn't)--have a bunch of tired plans for creating jobs in America: get rid of labor unions, repeal healthcare reform, cut the safety net, create…
"Pro Life" Republicans Trying to Kill 70,000 Children
At the same time as Republicans are trying to force the IRS to audit abortions (even while forbidding use of the word "uterus"), they are trying to cut Obama's request for international aid by 16%. Doing so, USAID Rajiv Shah testified yesterday,…
Goldman's Lies and Jamie Dimon's Piggy Bank
After a drawn out battle to liberate the records of the Fed's discount window lending, they've finally been released. Bloomberg (who led the legal fight to liberate them) has made the records available here.
While it's going to take a while…
Uterus: (Yew-Tur-Us), N, A curse word meaning "not a corporation."
Apparently, the children in the GOP party in Florida are offended that a Democratic state Representative uttered the word "uterus" on the House floor:
During last week's discussion about a bill that would prohibit governments from deducting…