Espionage

Earlier this week, we wrote about the accusations that the CIA was spying on Senate staffers on the Senate Intelligence Committee as they were working on a massive $40 million 6,300 pages report condemning the CIA’s torture program. The DOJ is apparently…

CIA

Rachel Maddow: CIA spying on Congress ‘is death of the Republic stuff’

Juan Cole

A dispute between the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Senate Intelligence Committee may have spilled into dangerous territory, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow said on Wednesday, following a New York Times report that agency operatives gained access…

censorship

The Deep State is Vulnerable to People Power

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) My remarks below were published at Bill Moyers’ site this weekend. They came in response to Mike Lofgren’s important essay, “Anatomy of the Deep State” . Lofgren is a former congressional staffer. Mike Lofgren’s long experience on the Hill has given him a small window, he might say only an aperture, into […]

CIA

The Day the 5th Amendment was Droned to Death

contributors

(By Peter van Buren via Tomdispatch) Terrorism (ter-ror-ism; see also terror) n. 1. When a foreign organization kills an American for political reasons. Justice (jus-tice) n. 1. When the United States Government uses a drone to kill an American for political reasons. How’s that morning coffee treating you? Nice and warming? Mmmm. While you’re savoring […]

CIA

Assassination by Leak: US floats Trial Balloon of Droning an American to Death

contributors

(By Tim Cushing) Administration Officials Perform Some Very Public Handwringing Over Extrajudicial Drone Killing (via Techdirt) The administration has sort of painted itself into a corner with its new rules on drone strikes. It’s apparently seeking to take out a US citizen who has joined al-Qaeda and is “actively plotting” against the US. Multiple issues […]

Afghanistan

Top Ten Things Bob Gates was Wrong about, Some Criminal

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in his new memoir is said to have slammed Vice President Joe Biden for having been consistently “wrong” on foreign policy matters over the past four decades. Gates’s petty gossip about his former colleagues should put an end to the pusillanimous Democratic Party tradition of appointing […]

Africa

The Year in Drone Strikes: As Many as 35 Civilians Dead, 5 Children

contributors

(By Alice K Ross and Jack Serle) In 2013 the number of drone strikes to hit Pakistan fell to the lowest levels of Obama’s presidency: 27 strikes reportedly hit the country’s tribal areas, down from a peak of 128 in 2010. And for the first time since Pakistan strikes started in 2004, there were no […]

Bush

Uygur: Bush Targetting of Juan Cole proves that NSA can’t be trusted with our Personal Data

Juan Cole

Cenk Uygur at Young Turks makes the point that the National Security Agency and other US intelligence (services who are ending up with massive amounts of electronic surveillance information on Americans –whether that is what they were mainly going for or not) keep saying we should trust them with the information. They maintain that they […]

CIA

Tony Blair let the American NSA Spy on Millions of Britons and Store their Private Data

Juan Cole

The Guardian and Channel 4 News report that Tony Blair allowed the US National Security Agency to spy on millions of Britons, and to record and store their browser history and email. In 2005, the US had gone ahead and initiated the spying without British permission. Subsequent Prime Ministers, including the current one, David Cameron, […]