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White House Threatens Veto of Intelligence Bill

ShadowMonkey — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:47:04 +0000

The White House expressed strong opposition to the Fiscal Year 2009
Intelligence Authorization Act that is pending before the House of
Representatives today, in part because it includes provisions for
increased disclosure of classified information to the congressional
intelligence oversight committees.

One of the provisions, the White House complained, "would withhold 75
percent of requested funding for covert action programs until the
Administration provides much greater access to highly sensitive
national security information to all members of the congressional
intelligence committees."

"Such a provision is inconsistent with the statute that expressly
authorizes limited notice to Congress in exceptional cases and would
undermine the fundamental compact between the Congress and the
President on reporting highly sensitive intelligence matters -- an
arrangement that for decades has balanced congressional oversight
responsibility with the need to protect intelligence information," the
White House said.

The President's advisors would recommend a veto if "any" of the
objectionable provisions were adopted, today's statement said.

See "Statement of Administration Policy on Intelligence Authorization
Act for FY 2009," July 16:

http://www.fas.org/irp/news/2008/07/wh071608.pdf

Reprinted from the Secrecy News Blog with permission.

July 2008: Court upholds presidential powers of tyranny

ShadowMonkey — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:34:59 +0000

From a July 16, 2008, article on Salon.com:

Yesterday, the full Fourth Circuit appellate court, in a 5-4 ruling (.pdf), expanded that Draconian power even further. This ruling was issued in al-Marri's case, whose extraordinary plight I've previously written about in detail. Al-Marri is a citizen of Qatar who, in 2001, was in the United States legally, on a student visa. He was a computer science graduate student at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, where he had earned an undergraduate degree a decade earlier. In Peoria, he lived with his wife and five children. Shortly after the 9/11 attack, al-Marri was detained as a material witness and subsequently charged in a civilian court with a variety of crimes relating to credit card fraud and making false statements as part of the 9/11 investigation. He vehemently denied those accusations, and -- in June, 2003 -- he was preparing for his criminal trial, scheduled to begin the following month.

Suddenly -- a month before his trial was to begin -- George Bush declared him to be an "enemy combatant" and ordered the U.S. military to seize him from civilian officials and transfer him to military custody. There -- in a South Carolina military brig -- al-Marri has remained for the last five years, with no criminal charges having been brought against him and no meaningful opportunity to contest his guilt in a court of law. He has been kept in solitary confinement and denied any contact with the outside world other than his lawyers.
The Fourth Circuit's 5-4 ruling yesterday upheld the President's authority to detain al-Marri in a military prison as an "enemy combatant." What makes the ruling so striking is that -- unlike Hamdi and Padilla -- not even the Bush administration claims that al-Marri fought alongside the Taliban, fought against U.S. forces, or had even been to Afghanistan. He's simply a civilian accused by the President of being involved in a terrorist plot.

Read the full, extensive article on Salon.com and be afraid. Be very afraid. Cry for your country. Then pick yourself up and do something about it.

FISA. Failure.

ShadowMonkey — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:59:00 +0000

I'm too disgusted to write, so I'll just point you to some of those who still have the stomach to do so. ~sm

Senate completes its total capitulation to the Bush administration

challenge the FISA Amendments Act in court

69 spineless, clueless, terminally overrated and over-paid US Senators sell us out on FISA

The Problems With This FISA Bill

Senate Approves Bill to Broaden Wiretap Powers

Senate bows to Bush, approves surveillance bill

Roll Call On Passage of the Bill (H.R. 6304 )

Telecom Amnesty Opponents Back New Amendment

ShadowMonkey — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:38:58 +0000

"With the telecoms all but assured of amnesty for their participation in illegal spying, there's now one last amendment in their way — the Bingaman amendment. Because President Bush is unwilling to sign FISA reform without immunity, and because Blue Dog Democrats fear for their reelection unless FISA reform as a whole passes, most compromise positions are already off the table. So the new amendment seeks to sidestep part of the problem by moving it to a later date."

View full story, links and comments on Slashdot

Congress to Continue to Bury Head in the Sand

ShadowMonkey — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:06:27 +0000

In a not-too-surprising move, Congress apparently plans to re-write the rules for the government’s wiretapping powers, and would provide what amounts to limited immunity to telephone companies that took part in the Bush administration's warrantless eavesdropping program.

Big Brother... meet Small Sister

ShadowMonkey — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:15:42 +0000

"Maybe you noticed it too, but over the last couple of years there has been a movement towards less anonymity on the Internet. People obtaining documents they shouldn't, attackers stealing information and governments (sometimes not even yours) obtaining information that you didn't volunteer to give in the first place. All these things undermine the trust people have in technology and make it harder for you to maintain your personal space on-line. SmallSister is meant to do something about that by helping you find the much needed tools, by explaining technologies and the issues at hand and last but not least: by creating solutions to help you increase your own privacy and put you back in the driver seat."

Visit SmallSister.org to learn more about online privacy tools.

FBI wants widespread monitoring of 'illegal' Internet activity

ShadowMonkey — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:41:59 +0000

WASHINGTON--The FBI on Wednesday called for new legislation that would allow federal police to monitor the Internet for "illegal activity."

The suggestion from FBI Director Robert Mueller, which came during a House of Representatives Judiciary Committee hearing, appears to go beyond a current plan to monitor traffic on federal-government networks. Mueller seemed to suggest that the bureau should have a broad "omnibus" authority to conduct monitoring and surveillance of private-sector networks as well.

The surveillance should include all Internet traffic, Mueller said, "whether it be .mil, .gov, .com--whichever network you're talking about."

Visit CNet.com for the full story and a transcript of the Congressional hearing.

Questions

ShadowMonkey — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:15:28 +0000

What do you expect of a nation? Of a land that you call your own? Of a community of which you are a part?

What is it, really, that matters? What is it at the end of the day that speaks to your heart and tells you that this nation or person or belief is one that you're proud of?

What makes this a nation worth dying for? What makes this a nation for which millions have sacrificed over the course of our short history? What makes these United States of America important and strong enough to hold a place in our hearts through civil strife and economic downturns and partisan bickering?

And when was the last time you asked yourself these questions?

And what were your answers?

And what did you do about them?

Did you do anything?

Did you?

Smile! Your privacy is becoming non-existent

ShadowMonkey — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 17:15:19 +0000

Privacy International ranks the U.S. as having really crappy privacy protections in the following areas: legal protections, privacy enforcement, use of identity cards and biometrics, visual surveillance, communications interception, workplace monitoring, medical, financial and movement surveillance, and border and trans-border issues.

The War on the Unexpected

ShadowMonkey — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 15:26:18 +0000

Schneier on Security: "We've opened up a new front on the war on terror. It's an attack on the unique, the unorthodox, the unexpected; it's a war on different. If you act different, you might find yourself investigated, questioned, and even arrested -- even if you did nothing wrong, and had no intention of doing anything wrong."