SECRECY & THE SECURITY STATE - page 35

A “shot in the dark” sting tactic ruled legal by a federal appellate court should have been declared unlawfully heavy-handed, a dissenting judge who presided over the case concluded. Judge John Noonan said Monday that his colleagues on the ninth circuit court of appeals in San Francisco should have used their authority to consider arguments not made by the defendant to conclude he was a victim of entrapment. The court ruled 2-1 that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives was justified when it…

Keep Reading

A US military spokesperson in Afghanistan said Thursday, somewhat optimistically, that a recently revealed schism among Taliban leaders represents an opening for the group to lay down its arms. Army Brig. Gen. Wilson Shoffner said that news about Mullah Omar’s 2013 death and the internal fighting it has exacerbated gives the Taliban “an opportunity here, we think, to strike for peace with the Afghan government.” “We know that the government of Afghanistan has invited the Taliban to join as part of a political process. We…

Keep Reading

The Democratic Party, more so than any other major voting bloc, is willing to support giving NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden a full presidential pardon, according to a new poll released Wednesday. A plurality of Democrats surveyed, 39 percent, said they would support President Obama letting Snowden off the hook. A fraction fewer Democrats, 38 percent, were opposed to clemency, while 23 percent either didn’t know or didn’t have an opinion on the matter. The results were published by Morning Consult polling. The administration has adamantly…

Keep Reading

New documents reveal that “social media monitors” within the Department of Homeland Security kept watch on a Twitter feed operated by a prominent figure within a non-violent civil rights movement. In emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Vice News’ Jason Leopold, DHS officers looking at social media posts about #BlackLivesMatter demonstrations in Baltimore last May, described activist Deray Mckesson as “known to law enforcement.” One message, under the subject line “FYSA” (For Your Situational Awareness”) noted that “social media monitors…

Keep Reading

A federal judge in Northern Virginia ruled that a foreign company cannot sue MasterCard and Visa for violations of antitrust laws simply because high-ranking lawmakers in 2010 and 2011 successfully urged them to cut off the flow of money to Wikileaks. Alexandria District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee last week said allegations made by DataCell, an Icelandic tech firm, had no standing under the Sherman Act because the companies did not move in concert to restrain marketplace competition. Lee ruled that the conspiracy described by the plaintiffs…

Keep Reading

A much-anticipated internal investigation into how the FBI uses information it has obtained through bulk collection activities is being disrupted, according to testimony provided to Congress on Wednesday. Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz informed members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that he hasn’t been provided unfettered access to documents necessary to conduct the review. “Just yesterday, I’m told, in our review of the FBI’s use of the bulk telephony statute–a review this committee has been very much interested in our doing–we got records…

Keep Reading

Senate Judiciary Committee chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) scolded lawyers at the Justice Department for skipping out on an oversight hearing where they were asked to defend a contentious legal opinion that hinders public oversight of government agencies. “Members should be able to ask the Office of Legal Counsel about this and many other problems with its opinion,” Grassley said on Wednesday in his opening remarks. “Unfortunately, the Department refused to provide a witness from OLC for today’s hearing,” he noted. Grassley remarked that OLC chief…

Keep Reading

Prospects that the Senate will pass sweeping cyber security legislation before the upcoming summer recess dimmed on Tuesday as Senate Democrats shut down an expedited route for the bill. Entering party luncheons on Tuesday afternoon, supporters of the Cyber Information Sharing Act (CISA) had hoped to whip Senators into backing a proposal for a quicker process put forward by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), however, took to the floor after the party meetings and described McConnell’s proposed amendment process…

Keep Reading

More state prisoners died in the US two years ago than ever before, according to an annual Justice Department report released Tuesday. The Bureau of Justice Statistics study found that 3,479 inmates died in state penitentiaries in 2013—a four percent year-over-year increase that pushed the mortality rate up to an all-time high of 274 per 100,000. Driving the increase was the ongoing aging of the prison population caused by the War on Drugs. The BJS study found that those aged 55 and older accounted for 56.5…

Keep Reading

Members of the US Air Force were provided a new guidance last month, preventing them from using force against unruly journalists. The rules, contained in an updated press guide released by the Secretary of the Air Force, detail how personnel should handle reporters who are photographing classified information and restricted areas. “Do not use force if media representatives refuse to cooperate,” the memo states, ordering members to first “explain” to photographers why pictures are not authorized. Should journalists refuse to comply, the guidelines instruct personnel…

Keep Reading