Aug 18 2008 - Reason
by Damon W. Root
Prior to September 11, 2001, few Americans had any reason to know the name John Yoo. A law professor and former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Yoo was just two months into his job as assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel when the terrorist attacks occurred. In the years since, however, his handiwork has become impossible to ignore.
Most notably, Yoo drafted the infamous 2002 "torture memo," which, among other things, maintained that the president could not be constitutionally prohibited from ordering torture during wartime, no matter what existing American law had to say about it. More generally, Yoo emerged as a highly effective advocate of the so–called unitary executive, the theory that by vesting "the executive power" in the presidency, the Constitution equipped the commander in chief with the "inherent" authority to go to war without congressional approval, nullify treaties, ignore the courts, and much more.
Aug 06 2008 - Town Hall
by Jacob Sullum
If someone develops a practical mind–reading device, you can expect the Department of Homeland Security to argue that skulls are merely another "closed container" that officers guarding the border may search at will. After all, government agents have long been allowed to read documents in briefcases carried by Americans returning from abroad. Why should the medium in which information is stored make a constitutional difference?
That argument is only slightly more far–fetched than the one DHS uses to justify its policy regarding border searches of laptop computers. Given the nature and quantity of the data they contain, portable computers are in many ways extensions of our brains. Yet DHS is treating them as if they were no different from purses or fruitcake tins.
Jul 22 2008 - The Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland
After having begun a series of investigative stories criticizing the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in May 2008, CNN reporter Drew Griffin reports being placed with more than a million other names on TSA’s swollen terrorism watch list. Although TSA insists Griffin’s name is not on the list and pooh–poohs any possibility of retaliation for Griffin’s negative reporting, the reporter has been hassled by various airlines on 11 flights since May. The airlines insist that Griffin’s name is on the list. Congress has asked TSA to look into the tribulations of this prominent passenger.
In a recent op–ed in the Washington Post, probably responding to the controversy over Griffin, Leonard Boyle, the director of the Terrorist Screening Center, defended the watch list, claiming that because terrorists have multiple aliases, the names on the list boiled down to only about 400,000 actual people. If there are 400,000 terrorists lying in wait to attack the United States, we are all in trouble.
But wait a minute. There has been no major terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11—almost seven years ago. Where are all these nefarious evildoers?
Jul 21 2008 - Times Union, Albany NY
by Marie Cocco
It is sadly amusing, that small part of Steven Wax's book that brings us back to the bizarre color–coded system of homeland security alerts; the breathlessness with which the media would announce each day's threat level and the way the Bush administration enlisted local police –– untrained and almost certainly unaware of what they were supposed to do if they stumbled over a terrorist –– in the early years of the so–called war on terror.
Wax, the federal public defender for the district of Oregon, recalls driving over a Willamette River bridge with his young son, who wondered what police cruisers were doing on each end of the span. The boy asked questions an innocent would ask: Was there a real danger? If so, why were they driving over the bridge?
I chuckled out loud at that paragraph in Wax's "Kafka Comes to America," but that is its only humor.
Editor's Comments:
Hmmm. Marie, you may argue but the facts are clear. We've not had another terrorist attack on our soil. bbm
May 13 2008 - Town Hall
by Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.
There is something unique about what has come to be called the War on Terror. In this conflict, as the U.S. government struggles to defeat the enemy and keep our people safe, it is up against not only those who overtly and unambiguously seek to destroy us. It also confronts those who are prepared to reveal classified information and programs, even when doing so makes it harder to vanquish our foes and protect this country.
May 04 2008 - In These Times
by Brian Beutler
A Senate Committee looks to rein in one of the FBI’s favorite tools: the national security letter
There’s a move afoot on Capitol Hill to rein in some of the vast powers conferred upon government investigators by the PATRIOT Act, the infamous, hastily crafted law written in response to the September 11th attacks. New legislation has been introduced in both Houses of Congress intended to curb the FBI’s ability to collect private data on virtually anybody using a tool called a national security letter (NSL). The bills come in the wake of yet another damaging FBI inspector general report on the bureau’s abuse of its expanded authorities.
Apr 29 2008 - Seattle PI
by BABAK PASDAR
In October 2003, I led a rapid deployment team for a major wireless carrier responsible for overhauling its security system. For the past year and a half, I have anonymously briefed Congress and nongovernment organizations about my observations, going public last month with crucial public interest information: An unknown third party using a mysterious "Quantico Circuit" has provided the federal government with unfettered access to everything on the carrier's network.
Recognizing this critical security breach and taking preliminary correction steps, my attempts at implementing controls and logging were blocked and rebutted with threats and admonishments by carrier executives. Despite ready capabilities, the company had opted not to protect itself and its customers.
Apr 16 2008 - Town Hall
by Jacob Sullum
According to John Yoo, the president's powers under the Constitution are so broad that the Constitution itself cannot restrain them. In a recently declassified 2003 memo, the former Justice Department official asserted that Congress, despite its Article I powers to "make rules concerning captures on land and water" and "for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces," has no business regulating the treatment of military prisoners. Yoo also cited a 2001 memo in which he had concluded that "the Fourth Amendment had no application to domestic military operations."
Mar 08 2008 - The Independent Institute
by Donald A. Downs
Washington commissions typically elicit little more than a yawn. Their numerous unread reports gather dust on shelves all over the city, from Foggy Bottom to Capitol Hill. So why should we be concerned about legislation, approved by the U.S. House of Representatives in October and now pending in the Senate, to establish a bipartisan “National Commission on the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism”? Don’t we want to prevent these things?
Yes, we do. But we also want to prevent the government from engaging in ideological witch hunts or violating civil liberties, simply on the basis of what people believe.
Under the First Amendment, people enjoy the right to hold extreme beliefs so long as those beliefs are not used to incite unlawful action, or are not demonstrably connected to illegal or harmful action. Unfortunately, the language in the legislation establishing the new commission could jeopardize this right.
Feb 25 2008 - In These Times
by Colin Meyn
In New York City, the Department of Homeland Security is training New York City firefighters to assist in gathering intelligence information during routine inspections and emergencies.
In November, the Associated Press reported that in New York, Homeland Security was testing a program called the Fire Service Intelligence Enterprise (FSIE) to help identify “material or behavior that may indicate terrorist activities.”
Feb 21 2008 - Seattle PI
by AMY GOODMAN
Nearing 87 years old, Yuri Kochiyama lives in a small room in an Oakland, Calif., senior living facility. Her walls are adorned with photos, posters, postcards and mementos detailing a living history of the revolutionary struggles of the 20th century. She is quiet, humble and small, and has trouble at times retrieving the right word. Yet, with a sparkle in her eyes, she has no trouble recalling the incredible history of the struggle for social justice in the 20th century. She recalls the history not from books, not from documentaries, but from living it, on the front lines.
February marks a coincidence of anniversaries in Kochiyama's incredible life: 66 years ago, on Feb. 19, 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, authorizing the mass internment of Japanese–Americans. Then there is Feb. 21, 1965, the day Malcolm X was assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City.
Editor's Comments:
Not much logic in comparing internment in WWII with Muslim extremist prisoners or from illegal immigrants. Too much of a stretch to be worth much. bbm
Feb 17 2008 - Times Union, Albany NY
by BEN WIZNER
Of the myriad tactics the Bush administratio uses to prevent oversight of its controversial anti–terror policies, none has been more successful, or more far–reaching, than the state secrets privilege. On Wednesday, the Senate considered, at long last, bipartisan legislation that would place reasonable limits on the executive branch's use of the privilege to terminate lawsuits on dubious grounds. But for some –– like my client, Khaled El–Masri, who was mistakenly kidnapped, imprisoned and tortured by the CIA –– Congress' interest, though welcome, comes too late.
The state secrets privilege, first recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court half a century ago, permits the government to block the release during litigation of information or evidence that poses a national security risk. No one seriously disputes the validity of the underlying doctrine: Litigants should not be permitted to use the discovery process to expose the identity of the next Valerie Plame.
Feb 17 2008 - San Francisco Chronicle
A technical glitch gave the FBI access to the e–mail messages from an entire computer network – perhaps hundreds of accounts or more – instead of simply the lone e–mail address that was approved by a secret intelligence...
Sep 21 2007 - Seattle PI
by SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
Senate Democrats on Wednesday lost the fight to restore habeas corpus rights to imprisoned "illegal enemy combatants" when the procedural motion fell four votes shy of the 60 needed to cut off debate.
The rights, which were eliminated by the implementation of the Military Commissions Act last year, allowed detainees to challenge the evidence against them –– and therefore the legality of their detention –– before a federal judge.
Most of the detainees are held at Guantanamo Bay –– more than 95 haven't been charged with anything and those who have are entitled only to a closed military hearing.
Sep 20 2007 - San Francisco Chronicle
by Jonathan Weisman
A Republican filibuster in the Senate Wednesday shot down a bipartisan effort to restore the right of terrorism suspects to contest in federal courts their detention and treatment, underscoring the Democratic–led...
Sep 12 2007 - The Independent Institute
by Robert Higgs
September 11, 2001, has become an exceptionally memorable date, and a great deal more, for Americans. Not simply the date on which the infamous terrorist attacks took place and the great World Trade Center towers collapsed with horrific loss of innocent life, 9/11 has become a compelling ideological symbol as only a few other dates in our history, such as July 4, 1776, and December 7, 1941, have become. A visual representation of the burning skyscrapers brings a plethora of 9/11 associations instantly to mind and triggers a suite of strong emotions.
Aug 06 2007 - American Enterprise Institute
by Jack Landman Goldsmith
A senior government official, discussing the possibility of using targeted killings, combatant detentions and aggressive computer surveillance to fight terrorism, recently said: "The old categories no longer apply. The fight against international terrorism cannot be mastered by the classic methods of the police. . . . We have to clarify whether our constitutional state is sufficient for confronting the new threats."
Bold, controversial stuff––the sort of comments that human rights groups have come to expect from Dick Cheney, the U.S. vice–president, and Alberto Gonzales, attorney–general. Except that the speaker was neither man. He was not even American. He was the German interior minister, Wolfgang Schauble, speaking recently to Der Spiegel.
Jun 19 2007 - Times Union, Albany NY
by KENNETH D. ACKERMAN
What created J. Edgar Hoover? He reigned with an iron fist as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for 48 years, until the day he died, in 1972. By then, Hoover had evolved into an untouchable autocrat, a man who kept secret files on millions of Americans over the years and used them to blackmail presidents, senators and movie stars. He ordered burglaries, secret wiretaps or sabotage against anyone he personally considered subversive. His target list included the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Albert Einstein, even Eleanor Roosevelt.
May 16 2007 - San Francisco Chronicle
by Ellen Nakashima
The Department of Homeland Security is breaking privacy laws by failing to tell the public all the ways it uses personal information to target passengers boarding flights entering or leaving the United States, according...
