March 2011
1 post
Rights Are Curtailed for Terror Suspects →
New rules allow investigators to hold domestic-terror suspects longer than others without giving them a Miranda warning, significantly expanding exceptions to the instructions that have governed the handling of criminal suspects for more than four decades.
February 2011
2 posts
Drone Attacks Are Legit Self-Defense, Says State... →
America’s undeclared drone war has been controversial, for any number of reasons: Pakistani politicians have cried foul over “counterproductive” strikes. Critics worry they may create more popular support for militants. And civil liberties groups have asked whether, in effect, it amounts to a program of targeted killing.
Obama assertion: FBI can get phone records without... →
The Obama administration’s Justice Department has asserted that the FBI can obtain telephone records of international calls made from the U.S. without any formal legal process or court oversight, according to a document obtained by McClatchy.
January 2011
1 post
Obama administration moves forward with unique... →
President Obama has signaled that he will give the United States Commerce Department the authority over a proposed national cybersecurity measure that would involve giving each American a unique online identity. Other candidates mentioned previously to head up the new system have included the NSA and the Department of Homeland Security, but the announcement that the Commerce Department will take...
December 2010
2 posts
Obama administration readies indefinite detention... →
The Obama administration is preparing an executive order that would formalize indefinite detention without trial for some detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but allow those detainees and their lawyers to challenge the basis for continued incarceration, U.S. officials said.
Obama Flip-Flop: FCC Vote Could End Net Neutrality... →
When Obama was running for office three years ago, he pledged to support the principle of a free and open internet, saying, “I will take a backseat to no one with regards to net neutrality.” Fast-forward to today and the FCC chair that Obama appointed is leading a vote that could end net neutrality.
September 2010
2 posts
Even Without COICA, White House Asking Registrars... →
While there’s been increasing attention paid to the “Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act” (COICA), the proposed law that would allow the government to require ISPs and registrars to block access to websites deemed to be “dedicated to infringing activities,” it looks like the White House (which we had thought was against censoring the internet) appears...
Obama Administration Wants to Make It Easier to... →
Federal law enforcement and national security officials are preparing to seek sweeping new regulations for the Internet, arguing that their ability to wiretap criminal and terrorism suspects is “going dark” as people increasingly communicate online instead of by telephone.
August 2010
1 post
Secret Assault on Terrorism Widens on Two... →
The White House has intensified the Central Intelligence Agency’s drone missile campaign in Pakistan, approved raids against Qaeda operatives in Somalia and launched clandestine operations from Kenya. The administration has worked with European allies to dismantle terrorist groups in North Africa, efforts that include a recent French strike in Algeria. And the Pentagon tapped a network of private...
July 2010
5 posts
1 Soldier or 20 Schools? →
Under Mr. Obama, we are now spending more money on the military, after adjusting for inflation, than in the peak of the cold war, Vietnam War or Korean War. Our battle fleet is larger than the next 13 navies combined, according to Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The intelligence apparatus is so bloated that, according to The Washington Post, the number of people with “top secret” clearance is 1.5...
DoJ Torture Report Says Don’t Prosecute the... →
An internal Justice Department inquiry has concluded that Bush administration lawyers committed serious lapses of judgment in writing secret memorandums authorizing brutal interrogations but that they should not be prosecuted, according to government officials briefed on its findings.
White House proposal would ease FBI access to... →
The Obama administration is seeking to make it easier for the FBI to compel companies to turn over records of an individual’s Internet activity without a court order if agents deem the information relevant to a terrorism or intelligence investigation. The administration wants to add just four words — “electronic communication transactional records” — to a list of...
Deportation of illegal immigrants increases under... →
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency expects to deport about 400,000 people this fiscal year, nearly 10 percent above the Bush administration’s 2008 total and 25 percent more than were deported in 2007. The pace of company audits has roughly quadrupled since President George W. Bush’s final year in office.
Scientists expected Obama administration to be... →
When he ran for president, Barack Obama attacked the George W. Bush administration for putting political concerns ahead of science on such issues as climate change and public health. And during his first weeks in the White House, President Obama ordered his advisors to develop rules to “guarantee scientific integrity throughout the executive branch.” Many government scientists hailed...
June 2010
7 posts
Watchdog wants investigation of White House... →
A liberal watchdog has called for an investigation into whether White House employees are using personal e-mail accounts to contact lobbyists in violation of federal law.
Closing Guantánamo Fades as a Priority →
The Obama administration has sidelined efforts to close the Guantánamo prison, making it unlikely that President Obama will fulfill his promise to close it before his term ends in 2013.
Obama: Hostage To Petraeus →
This much we also know: Obama will run for re-election with far more troops in Afghanistan than Bush ever had - and a war and occupation stretching for ever into the future, with no realistic chance of success.
U.S. Is Still Using Private Spy Ring, Despite... →
Top military officials have continued to rely on a secret network of private spies who have produced hundreds of reports from deep inside Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to American officials and businessmen, despite concerns among some in the military about the legality of the operation.
Administration Takes a Hard Line Against Leaks to... →
The indictment of Mr. Drake was the latest evidence that the Obama administration is proving more aggressive than the Bush administration in seeking to punish unauthorized leaks to the press.
ACLU chief 'disgusted' with Obama →
“It’s 18 months and, if not now, when? … Guantanamo is still not closed. Military commissions are still a mess. The administration still uses state secrets to shield themselves from litigation. There’s no prosecution for criminal acts of the Bush administration. Surveillance powers put in place under the Patriot Act have been renewed. If there has been change in the civil...
'Obama Deceives the Public' →
Ellsberg: I think Obama is continuing the worst of the Bush administration in terms of civil liberties, violations of the constitution and the wars in the Middle East… Take Obama’s explicit pledge in his State of the Union speech to remove “all” United States troops from Iraq by the end of 2011. That’s a total lie. I believe that’s totally false. I believe he...
May 2010
7 posts
U.S. Is Said to Expand Secret Military Acts in... →
The top American commander in the Middle East has ordered a broad expansion of clandestine military activity in an effort to disrupt militant groups or counter threats… While the Bush administration had approved some clandestine military activities far from designated war zones, the new order is intended to make such efforts more systematic and long term, officials said.
Judges Rule Against Detainees Held at Afghan Air... →
A federal appeals court ruled on Friday that prisoners being held without trial in Afghanistan by the military have no right to challenge their imprisonment in American civilian courts. The decision, overturning a lower court ruling in the detainees’ favor, was a victory for the Obama administration’s efforts to hold terrorism suspects overseas for extended periods without judicial oversight.
Elena Kagan Will Move the Court Further to the... →
Rather than celebrating the historic achievements of the Warren Court – and of Justice Stevens – Obama is once again cowering in the face of conservative opposition. Obama should have done the right thing, the courageous thing, and filled Justice Stevens’ seat with someone who can fill his shoes. His nomination of Elena Kagan will move the delicately balanced court to the Right.
Obama Seeks to Ease Rules on Questioning Terror... →
The Obama administration said Sunday it would seek a law allowing investigators to interrogate terrorism suspects without informing them of their rights.
Copyright treaty is classified for 'national... →
Both the Obama administration and the Bush administration had rejected requests from civil libertarians and technologists for the text of ACTA, with the White House last year even indicating that disclosure would do “damage to the national security.”
National Day of Prayer Deemed Unconstitutional,... →
While Oil Slick Spread, Interior Department Chief... →
Though his agency was charged with coordinating the federal response to the major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Department of the Interior chief of staff Tom Strickland was in the Grand Canyon with his wife last week participating in activities that included white-water rafting, ABC News has learned.
April 2010
11 posts
Obama Team Is Divided on Anti-Terror Tactics →
In February 2009, just weeks after the inauguration, John D. Bates, a federal judge overseeing several cases involving detainees in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, asked a provocative question: Did the new administration want to modify Mr. Bush’s position that the president could wield sweeping powers to imprison people without trial as wartime detainees? … In classified briefs filed in several...
FOIA needs new muscle behind it, not just promises... →
Obama has made similar promises before, however, only to break them later. The very day after his inauguration he instructed U.S. agencies to “adopt a presumption in favor of disclosure” when handling FOIA requests. But instead, agencies only increased their use of possible legal exemptions to avoid replying to FOIA requests during Obama’s first year in office, according to a review of agencies by...
Obama Visits the Rev. Billy Graham →
President Obama ventured to the mountaintop on Sunday to visit the Rev. Billy Graham, becoming the 12th commander in chief to meet the famed pastor to the presidents.
Hyperfast missile to hit anywhere in an hour →
White House officials confirmed last week that the president, who won the Nobel peace prize last year, is considering the deployment of a new class of hypersonic guided missiles that can reach their targets at speeds of Mach 5 — about 3,600mph.
Obama avoids use of 'genocide' again in marking... →
Obama had promised early in his presidential campaign that he would call the mass killings genocide if elected. “The facts are undeniable,” Obama said in a Jan. 19, 2008, statement. “An official policy that calls on diplomats to distort the historical facts is an untenable policy. As a senator, I strongly support passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106 and...
U.S. Urging NATO to Maintain Nuclear Deterrent →
Fresh from signing a strategic nuclear arms deal with Russia, the United States is parrying a push by NATO allies to withdraw its aging stockpile of tactical nuclear weapons from Europe…. A senior American official said [Secretary of State Clinton] would underscore the need for NATO to maintain a deterrent, and for the alliance to act together on this issue. The Obama administration is also...
Seven Years of War: On Anniversary of US Invasion,... →
Inside Iraq, a citizen, a citizen inside Iraq, a woman in Iraq, or a worker or even an official, you would absolutely see no difference. We did not feel any difference inside here. People are so exhausted economically that there isn’t much hope that something very good could happen soon.
Bush's Ongoing Legacy of Secrecy →
The Obama team is mimicking some of the worst traits of its predecessor. Last July, the White House refused to disclose the names of health-care executives who had visited the White House to discuss health-care reform. The administration is also taking an expansive view of “state secrets” which could prevent the American public from learning of federal abuses across the board.
National debt seen heading for crisis level →
For all their railing against the Bush tax cuts that contributed to the current dilemma, Obama intends to extend almost all of them. That will cost $2.5 trillion, said the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Obama also escalated the war in Afghanistan. And he joined Republicans in sabotaging the deficit commission by creating a substitute commission by executive order that seems designed...
US administration to block vote on Turkey... →
The Obama administration has said it will seek to block a controversial bill describing as genocide the World War I killing of Armenians by Turks.
Obama Oil Drilling Plan Draws Critics →
President Barack Obama has lifted a ban on drilling for oil off the coast of the eastern U.S. Critics say the move won’t meet the stated goal of achieving energy independence, while proponents say this is only the first step that needs to be taken.
Federal Judge Finds N.S.A. Wiretapping Program... →
A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the National Security Agency’s program of surveillance without warrants was illegal, rejecting the Obama administration’s effort to keep shrouded in secrecy one of the most disputed counterterrorism policies of former President George W. Bush.
March 2010
6 posts
US deaths double in Afghanistan as troops pour in →
The number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan has roughly doubled in the first three months of 2010 compared to the same period last year as Washington has added tens of thousands of additional soldiers to reverse the Taliban’s momentum.
Afghan war remains 'absolutely essential,' Obama... →
Obama told the troops they were making progress against al Qaeda and its allies in the Taliban, the Islamic fundamentalist militia that ruled most of Afghanistan before the 9/11 attacks. “All of that makes America safer, and we are going to keep them on the run,” he said. “Because that is what is going to be required in order to ensure that our families back home have the...
Obama Sides with RIAA, MPAA; Backs ACTA →
Since Obama was the young newcomer, technically savvy, many of us were hoping that he might support patent and/or copyright reform. In case our story earlier on this subject didn’t already tip you off, this certainly will: Obama has sided squarely with the RIAA/MPAA lobby, and backs ACTA. No copyright and/or patent reform for you, American citizens!
Preservationists Outraged As Obama Cancels... →
President Obama [cancelled] two programs, Save America’s Treasures and Preserve America, that cost $220 million over ten years. The White House says “Both programs lack rigorous performance metrics and evaluation efforts so the benefits are unclear.” Except that isn’t true, there are performance metrics that prove that the programs created jobs at 1/18th the cost of last...
Obama Adminstration Withholds FoIA Requests More... →
One year into its promise of greater government transparency, the Obama administration is more often citing exceptions to the nation’s open records law to withhold federal records even as the number of requests for information decline, according to a review by The Associated Press of agency audits about the Freedom of Information Act.
February 2010
10 posts
Justice task force recommends about 50 Guantanamo... →
A Justice Department-led task force has concluded that nearly 50 of the 196 detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, should be held indefinitely without trial under the laws of war, according to Obama administration officials.
New law allows loaded guns in national parks →
Loaded guns will be allowed in Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon and other national parks under a new law that takes effect Monday.
Top DOJer Overruled Finding Of Misconduct For... →
The Justice Department has released the long-awaited report on the torture memos and the conduct of Bush Administration lawyers including John Yoo. While the final report by the department’s internal watchdog, the Office of Professional Responsibility, found that attorneys John Yoo and Jay Bybee engaged in professional misconduct, top DOJ official David Margolis overruled that finding in a...
Obama moves to back nuclear power →
President Barack Obama announced $8.3 billion US in loan guarantees on Tuesday to help build the first U.S. nuclear power plants in nearly three decades, a move he says “is only the beginning.”
Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide... →
Glover reports Aristide wants to come back to his country five years after his ouster in a US-backed coup, but the Obama administration hasn’t dropped the US stance of blocking Aristide’s return to the Western hemisphere.