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SECRECY & THE SECURITY STATE - page 42

Aging Prison Population Faces Jailhouse Neglect, Watchdog Warns

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The aging prison population is proving to be such a strain on the criminal justice system that some federal inmates are forced to wait more than 100 days to see a doctor, according to a Justice Department Inspector General report. Noting that agency regulations require BOP staff to escort prisoners to outside medical facilities, the IG found that “aging inmates experience delays receiving medical care.” The investigation, which was published Wednesday, also discovered that other healthier inmates usually take on the role of caregivers—an arrangement…

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To Kill Or To Spy: Navy’s $3 Billion Drone Program Faces Existential Crisis

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Deployment of a new unmanned aerial fleet has been pushed back multiple years because lawmakers and military officials are unable to settle on what type of drones they want—ones loaded to kill or ones built to keep a watchful eye. That was the conclusion of a Government Accountability Office report commissioned by Congress to study the Navy’s Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) system—a regime that includes new drones, a control system, and an aircraft carrier. “The system’s intended mission and required capabilities have…

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Congressmen Announce Plan to Strengthen Oversight of Military, Will Force Vote on I.S.I.L. Fight

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Two Congressmen set the stage for political theater later this month, vowing on Friday to force a debate and vote on the ongoing war against the Islamic State (ISIL). Reps. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Walter Jones (R-N.C.) said on CSPAN’s Washington Journal that they will introduce a privileged resolution to mandate the parliamentary moves on the military operations, and accused Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) of leading an effort by Congressional leaders to avoid fulfilling a legislative branch obligation mandated by the Constitution.…

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Washington Post: Anger Over “Killing Muslims” Saw Drones Kicked Out of Only Permanent U.S. Base in Africa

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Pentagon officials in 2013 moved drone operations out of a joint civilian-military installation in Djibouti after encountering resistance from local air traffic controllers who denounced the US “killing Muslims,” a Washington Post report revealed on Thursday. Civilian air traffic controllers even attempted to ban the top-secret unmanned aircraft from taking off or landing at Camp Lemonnier—an increasingly important US military facility built within Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport—but those orders “lasted no longer than a week,” The Post also noted. Craig Whitlock, the veteran national security reporter who…

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NDAA Heads to Markup Tempting Presidential Veto

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The House Armed Services Committee is spending Wednesday afternoon marking up the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act—a must-pass piece of legislation instructing the Pentagon how to spend hundreds of billions of dollars next year. But even before authorizing lawmakers got to work, the stage was set for drama. On Tuesday night, the White House expressed its disapproval with the process thus far, noting concerns about Republican-proposed language entrenching prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and other provisions that would keep Uncle Sam throwing money at wasteful military…

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NSA Reformers Restart Legislative Push, Fall Short of Significant Reform

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As the USA Freedom Act was reintroduced Tuesday with the PATRIOT Act set to expire at the start of June, civil liberties advocates accused Congress of lacking the will to rein in spy agencies that have run roughshod over the Bill of Rights since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The legislation, which bears the same name as a bill that died in the Senate last November, is aimed at reforming the National Security Agency’s bulk communications collection activities—most notably its call records database revealed in 2013…

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Republican Senator: Pay Off Local Governments Reluctant to Deport Undocumented Residents

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Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) called on Washington to pay local governments anxious about cooperating with federal immigration officials, in what would be a move designed to use cash to sway their opinions on deportation. The junior republican senator issued the appeal at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing while rattling off a long list of right wing complaints about the Department of Homeland Security under President Obama. “Sanctuary cities continue unabated. They don’t even honor your detainers,” he told DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, referring to requests…

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D.H.S. Distances Self From Cruz Policy Blasted By Civil Rights Lawyers; Similar Measure Advanced In House Last Week

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The Department of Homeland Security distanced itself again on Tuesday from a Republican proposal that critics have described as opening the door to civil rights abuses. DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson told Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) that legislation he drafted, which would strip citizenship from American nationals fighting for US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations, was not “the most effective tool” for officials conducting counterterrorism operations. Johnson made the remarks in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Cruz suggested that Secretary of State John Kerry should be lobbying…

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Senators Press Lynch To Correct “Incredible Injustices” & Allow Hundreds Of Inmates To Challenge Flawed Convictions

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One day on the job and already dealing with civil unrest in Baltimore, Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Tuesday found herself on the receiving end of a high profile lobbying campaign launched by eight liberal lawmakers. The group, which includes top Senate Judiciary Committee Democrat Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), is calling on Lynch to correct two decades of wrongs caused by FBI forensic teams’ systematically faulty testimony in hundreds of cases that resulted in convictions. “Simply informing incarcerated individuals is not enough,” the Senators noted, adding…

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Top Republican Mulls Mandating Federal Probes of Police-Related Minority Deaths

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Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) floated the idea of having the federal government take a more active role in investigating local law enforcement agencies’ killing of minorities. Grassley, the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, made the remarks in response to a reporter’s questions about how he was prepared to respond to recent such high profile fatal incidents that have shaken communities of color across the country—notably,in Ferguson, Mo., New York, and Baltimore. The Senator avoided most details in his response during Monday’s Q & A…

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