Tag Archives: NSA
How The Terrorists Are Winning
In the wake of the February 2015 terrorist attacks in Copenhagen, the Danish parliament is considering legislation that would allow the country’s intelligence service to spy on Danes overseas without a warrant. Australia’s federal police want the nation’s lawmakers to … Continue reading
Intelligence Community Oversight: The “Reforming Congress” Angle
The Sunlight Foundation and dozens of other groups today issued a letter to House leadership and a proposal with dozens of suggested/needed reforms to how Congress conducts oversight of the Intelligence Community. The proposed reforms are thoughtful, eminently reasonable, well … Continue reading
NSA Reform: When 293 Votes Is Not A Majority
Late this afternoon, I was informed that the only NSA reform measure to pass either chamber of Congress this year–the Lofgren/Massie amendment to the FY15 DoD approps bill–is being stripped out of that bill as part of the House-Senate deal … Continue reading
Udall, The Torture Report and The Pentagon Papers Option
Shortly after Colorado Senator Mark Udall lost his reelection bid to Rep. Cory Gardner, it began–first as conversations among civil liberties activists, then in media outlets, and finally Udall himself raised the possibility: on his way out of the Senate, … Continue reading
Surveillance Reform: House Mid-term Election Impact Update
While seven House races remain undecided, what we do know is that seven House members who voted for the Massie/Lofgren/Holt NSA surveillance reform amendment to the FY15 DoD appropriations bill were defeated on election night. They are Shea-Porter (NH-1), Garcia … Continue reading
NSA And “Turnkey Totalitarianism”
From the speech given at MIT yesterday by former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Chas Freeman: Mr. Snowden has brought home to us that, while we Americans do not yet live in a police state or tyranny, we are well … Continue reading
Jon Stewart on Obama and NSA
Priceless.
NSA Reform Legislation Update
I’ll withhold final judgement on the pending Conyers-Sensenbrenner bill until I see the bill text, but here’s a reality check based on the summary provided thus far by the bill’s authors and some accounts online: Conyers-Sensenbrenner would leave the Surveillance … Continue reading
Richard Cohen’s Edward Snowden Assessment, Revised
You can read his column here. Being both a former CIA analyst-turned-whistleblower-turned-Hill staffer, my background–and my sense of the history of these things–lead me to offer the following: The only traitors in this episode are executive branch officials who knowingly … Continue reading
HPSCI’s “Statue of Liberty” Play On PATRIOT Act Reauthorization
Did the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) engage in the document-based form of the old football deception play? That’s the allegation coming from Michigan Rep. Justin Amash: Justin Amash, the Michigan Republican whose effort to defund theNSA‘s mass phone-records collection … Continue reading
Long Strange Journey 