Former National Security Agency chief Keith Alexander said Wednesday that the ex parte, non-adversarial nature of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court made for a “great debate” and that he was in favor of allowing third-party, friend-of-the-court observations on proceedings — amicus curiae — though he “forgot what you call it.” Read more of this article at The Intercept.
As Pentagon officials tour sites in the US in search for an alternative to the prison at Guantanamo Bay, skittish lawmakers are growing more defensive over their home turfs. This week, as scout teams for the Department of Defense prepared to visit the consolidated Naval Brig in Charleston, S.C., the state’s junior Senator announced he would be tagging along–and not to provide encouragement. “Sen. Scott will be attending parts of the tour and will be conveying his beliefs to the surveying team that Charleston is not…
Attorneys defending the National Security Agency’s bulk telephone metadata collection program appeared in a Washington courtroom on Wednesday, facing off once again with a judge who has already against them. District Judge Richard Leon had rejected an earlier bid by the Department of Justice to postpone Wednesday’s hearing, which was scheduled following a decision last Friday by a federal appeals court. The higher court had vacated Judge Leon’s 2013 ruling that the NSA’s dragnet had likely violated the constitutional rights of conservative activist Larry Klayman. The founder of Freedom…
Police claim they have a second video depicting last Friday’s killing of Gilbert Flores, who appeared to have his hands up when two officers opened fired on him. A Member of Congress is now urging its prompt release. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) said on Tuesday that the “encounter is extremely disturbing as it appears to show an unarmed man with his hands up being shot by a deputy.” He later took to Twitter to call for transparency from the police. “I hope the Bexar County…
A lag between the planned increase in drone usage and the number of the aircraft that the Pentagon expects to acquire over the next few years could be explained by military officials’ deference to private sector developments, according to a Congressional Research Service report. The Aug. 27 CRS paper said that if the unmanned aerial vehicle’s past is any indication, the Department of Defense will allow contractors and corporations to take the lead on shaping its future. “DOD again appears to be waiting for industry…
A federal appeals court has, for now, stopped a challenge to the National Security Agency’s bulk metadata collection program, giving enormous deference to US spies, and ruling that the plaintiffs couldn’t prove they were actually under surveillance. The 2-1 decision came down on Friday from the Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, sending a challenge from conservative activist Larry Klayman back to a lower district court on grounds that he didn’t have standing to challenge the NSA’s phone records dragnet. The plaintiff relied on documents…
Public interest non-profits said Wednesday that the House Ethics Committee’s refusal to release Office of Congressional Ethics findings about an illicit 2013 junket to Azerbaijan set “a dangerous precedent.” Groups including Public Citizen, Demand Progress, Common Cause, and Democracy 21 said the panel has never before kept the independent body’s findings under wraps “where the Members under investigation remain within the Ethics Committee’s jurisdiction.” The organizations said in a joint letter that the committee has only twice before declined to publish OCE findings, but in…
A congressional panel is investigating the possibility that Obama administration political appointees have unduly interfered with Freedom of Information Act requests. The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee is looking into “any involvement by non-career officials in the FOIA process” across agencies, according to a letter published this week by the Department of Defense inspector general. The probe has led committee chair Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) to ask federal inspectors general to look into the matter. It was sparked by “media reports of specific cases at the…
A concerned Department of Defense employee has prompted an internal investigation into whether the Pentagon was altering intelligence assessments on the impact of the US military’s bombing campaign against the Islamic State (ISIL). The civilian Defense Intelligence Agency employee alleged that officials at US Central Command fudged the conclusions of an intelligence report examining the effectiveness of the operations, according to the New York Times. The charges initiated a Department of Defense Inspector General investigation. The types of intelligence believed to have been distorted includes…
When members of the intelligence community learn that an individual’s life may be in danger, they now have an obligation to warn that person, according to a new directive issued by the nation’s spy chief. The Director of National Intelligence James Clapper issued the “Duty to Warn” rule in July, requiring agencies to inform both US citizens and non-citizens of any threats of “intentional killing, serious bodily injury, and kidnapping.” This includes threats where the target is an individual, a group, or an “institution, place…
Pentagon chief Ashton Carter told reporters Thursday that as long as Guantanamo Bay is open, it will be “a rallying call for jihadi propaganda,” and admitted to dispatching teams across the country to scout locations for a substitute “War on Terror” prison. The remarks confirm reporting over the last week, which said that department staffers were reviewing military facilities in Hanahan, S.C., and Ft. Leavenworth, Kan. as potential alternatives. “This does not mean that either of these sites will be chosen,” Carter cautioned, noting that…