Sam Sacks - page 61

The Department of Justice Inspector General is adding to his list of grievances about his office being obstructed by a law enforcement agency—this time, America’s top drug cops. Michael Horowitz, testifying before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Tuesday, told a familiar story about his inspectors being stonewalled, and denied access to records crucial to their investigations. The complaints come on top of prior lamentations about the FBI engaging in similar practices, and mostly pertain to allegations of sexual misconduct by federal agents… Keep Reading

Lawmakers in the House look set to advance the mark-up of contentious public-private online data-sharing legislation in the next few days. The House Homeland Security Committee will on Tuesday consider its version of cybersecurity bills in what will be the first of the final efforts to mollify privacy advocates before the hotly-anticipated measures are finalized. It is expected to pass committee before being shuttled to a full House vote next week–a time that Republican leadership has already dubbed “Cybersecurity Week.” The proposal–the National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act–is similar to… Keep Reading

A year after the Cliven Bundy ranch showdown, an organization for environmental public servants is leveling charges that the Bureau of Land Management isn’t doing enough to protect its workers. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility said Thursday that the Department of the Interior agency has tucked itself into a “fetal position” in response to the growing number of armed militias who question the authority of Washington. The non-profit watchdog also announced that it is suing BLM for access to information about the incident last April,… Keep Reading

For more than two decades, the Drug Enforcement Agency was running a mass surveillance program focused on telephony metadata—a program nearly identical to the one run out of the National Security Agency revealed by former contractor Edward Snowden. A new report published on Tuesday by USA Today revealed that the DEA’s phone dragnet was halted following Snowden’s summer of leaks in 2013, but it has since taken a form markedly similar to what surveillance reform advocates have envisioned—at a minimum—for the NSA. Beginning in 1992,… Keep Reading

Law enforcement records released on Tuesday following a New York Civil Liberties Union lawsuit confirmed that local police are being forced by the FBI to deny having “stingray technology”—part of an apparatus used to conduct dragnet cell phone surveillance. The documents divulge details about a non-disclosure agreement that the FBI entered into with the Erie County Sheriff’s office, and make the case that transparency “could result in the FBI’s inability to protect the public from terrorism and other criminal activity.” “Law enforcement agencies increasingly rely… Keep Reading

Speaking at a forum on cyber security threats, the Director of the National Security Agency cautioned against increasing the role that for-profit entities are playing in US military operations. When asked a question about the possible threat that could come from a private security going rogue–a reference to a plotline in the most recent “Call of Duty” video game–Adm. Mike Rogers intoned that it wasn’t worth entirely ignoring. Rogers said that he believed “the application of force” is “best controlled through the nation state,” in remarks delivered… Keep Reading