Monthly Archives: October 2012
The NYT’s Obama Schizophrenia
The NYT Editorial Board, May 30, 2012, on Obama’s assassination-by-drone program: A unilateral campaign of death is untenable. To provide real assurance, President Obama should publish clear guidelines for targeting to be carried out by nonpoliticians, making assassination truly a last resort, … Continue reading
Drone Anxiety
From this week’s CQ Weekly cover story piece: According to a June poll by Monmouth University in New Jersey, a majority of Americans supports the expansion of drones into U.S. skies for a variety of purposes, such as border protection, … Continue reading
MI6’s Mark Allen: Al Qaeda would simply scatter elsewhere
From today’s Guardian piece on Britain’s role in facilitating rendition by the USG: The book reveals that [MI6 counterterrorism chief Mark] Allen (who was later to develop a cosy relationship with Gaddafi’s intelligence chiefs) expressed concern after the post-9/11 meeting … Continue reading
Army Releases Latest Suicide Data
From the official announcement: The Army released suicide data today for the month of September. During September, among active-duty soldiers, there were 15 potential suicides: one has been confirmed as suicide and 14 remain under investigation. For August, the Army … Continue reading
Biden: “We’re leaving Afghanistan in 2014.” State: “Not exactly.”
From The Cable, today: “We are leaving in 2014, period, and in the process, we’re going to be saving over the next 10 years another $800 billion,” Biden said. “We’ve been in this war for over a decade. The primary … Continue reading
It Isn’t Just Government Snoopers You Have To Worry About
From Slashdot: “The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Facebook revealed the sexual preferences of users despite those users have chosen ‘privacy lock-down’ settings on Facebook. The article describes two students who were casualties of a privacy loophole on Facebook—the … Continue reading
An Intelligence Story That Should Be Getting A Lot More Play
The CSM today: In a 52-page report, the US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee warned US companies and government agencies not to do business with either Huawei or ZTE, respectively the world’s second- and-fifth largest manufacturers of routers and other Internet and telecoms gear. … Continue reading
Iran: War Drums Grow Louder
From today’s Roll Call: Overwhelming majorities in both chambers are on record in support of a policy that rules out containment of a nuclear-armed Iran as an option. And lawmakers, including Sen.Lindsey Graham, are eyeing new resolutions that would back … Continue reading
On Afghanistan War Anniversary, Remembering A Fallen Father
I met Bill Cahir in 2006, when I was serving as press secretary for a member of Congress and Bill was a reporter for a Pennsylvania newspaper. Although he spent his days telling other people’s stories, it was his own … Continue reading
CSM On Drone Warfare’s Three Biggest Problems
The piece, by Anna Mulrine, raises the three most commonly cited problems: the fear of copy-cat attacks, killing innocent civilians, and the lack of oversight over the program(s). In fact, it’s Obama’s assertion of his unilateral authority to use drones … Continue reading
Long Strange Journey 