Espionage

More than 100 former top generals and admirals signed a letter urging senators to reject Haspel

CIA Cables detail New Director’s Role in Torture at Thailand Black Site (Redacted)

Correction: Trump’s Pick to Head CIA Did Oversee torture at Thai black site but Not of Abu Zubaydah On Feb. 22, 2017, ProPublica published a story that inaccurately described Gina Haspel’s role in the treatment of Abu Zubaydah, a suspected al-Qaida leader who was imprisoned by the CIA at a secret “black site” in Thailand […]

FBI

Congressional Efforts to Expand NSA Spying on Americans are still a Danger

contributors

By David Ruiz | (Electronic Frontier Foundation) | – – The debate over how to reauthorize certain NSA surveillance authorities has seen a whirlwind of activity, culminating in the major news that the House Rules Committee postponed a vote today to potentially expand NSA spying powers. As we wrote yesterday: “According to reports published Tuesday […]

CIA

JFK Files Reveal US Mulled Use of Biological Weapons in Cuba

contributors

TeleSur | – – During a top-level meeting, U.S. officials warned against the possibility of it being traced back to the United States. The recently published JFK files have shed further light on U.S. plans to use biological weapons as part of its Cuban Project, an agricultural sabotage plot against the socialist country. During a […]

Bill of Rights

Shadowy US Covert Ops & Surveillance Abroad always Come Home

contributors

By Alfred W. McCoy | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – [This piece has been adapted and expanded from the introduction to Alfred W. McCoy’s new book, In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power.] In the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks, Washington pursued its elusive enemies across the […]

Bashar al-Assad

Trump hands Putin gift, cancels Support for Syrian Rebels

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Greg Jaffe and Adam Entous at WaPo report that Trump cancelled the CIA program to support the remnants of the Free Syrian Army a month ago. The decision was made in a meeting of Trump with CIA director Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser H. R. […]

CIA

Is Trump Sign or Cause of US Imperial Meltdown?

contributors

By Alfred W. McCoy | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – The superhighway to disaster is already being paved. From Donald Trump’s first days in office, news of the damage to America’s international stature has come hard and fast. As if guided by some malign design, the new president seemed to identify the key pillars […]

Espionage

Was Chelsea Manning trying to stop the Endless War? Whistleblowing and Morality

Juan Cole

By Peter Van Buren | (Tomdispatch.com) | <p>“My guilt will never go away,” former Marine Matthew Hoh explained to me. “There is a significant portion of me that doesn’t believe it should be allowed to go away, that this pain is fair.”</p> <p>If America accepts the idea of fighting endless wars, it will have to […]

Donald Trump

GOP not the party of ‘Security’ as Intel Allies Flee Trump

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Globally, US security partners are beginning to rethink sharing sensitive intelligence with the United States. That decisio should worry all Americans, since it puts the US at greater risk of being blindsided. The Republican Party has long claimed to be the party of security, in large […]