from allgov.com:
Congressional Democrats, the media and civil libertarians are continuing their fight with President Barack Obama over his administration’s secret interpretations of the Patriot Act. Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Mark Udall of Colorado, who sit on the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder last week claiming a classified intelligence operation based on the Patriot Act interpretation is not as critical to national security as the administration says.
Wyden and Udall also wrote that Americans would be “stunned” if they knew what the government was really doing based on the legal theory being employed through the Patriot Act. In October, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) said that the government’s use of “Section 215 is unfortunately cloaked in secrecy. Some day that cloak will be lifted, and future generations will ask whether our actions today meet the test of a democratic society: transparency, accountability, and fidelity to the rule of law and our Constitution.”
The Department of Justice has insisted that revealing anything about the secret spy program could “cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security of the United States.” Federal lawyers are trying to dismiss two lawsuits, one by The New York Times and the other by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, that seek to force the administration into disclosing how the Patriot Act has been interpreted.
from oregonian:
Rep. David Wu announced his resignation from Congress today, moments after U.S. senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden called for his resignation. The Democrat said in a statement that he would leave office after Congress resolves the debt ceiling crisis. "With great sadness, I therefore intend to resign effective upon the resolution of the debt ceiling crisis. This is the right decision for my family, the institution of the House, and my colleagues." The Oregonian reported on Friday that Wu had been accused of an unwanted sexual encounter with the 18-year-old daughter of a childhood friend. The incident occurred in Orange County last year. Wu's announcement came only minutes after Oregon's two Democratic senators - Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley - called on him to resign, saying the embattled lawmaker had lost his ability to effectively serve in the wake of accusations of improper sexual conduct that "are both jarring and exceptionally serious." The joint statement from the two senators came four days after reports that Wu engaged in unwanted sexual activity with the 18-year-old daughter of a childhood friend and contributor. The incident allegedly took place last November in Orange County, Calif.
in oregon, we do sex scandals right... remember sen. bob packwood, mayor sam adams & gov. neil goldschmidt?
update: tiger suit congressman finally resigns*
related oregon oddities:
former salem police officer pleads guilty to misconduct*
old town's drug problems continue, frustrating business owners*
ken 'death' mieske dies in prison at 45;
racist skinhead behind 1988 baseball bat killing*
gasoline spilled in tanker crash has been 'safely removed'*
west virginia worry:
manchin, colleagues warn obama:
arms treaty must not infringe on gun rights*
rockefeller, manchin won't talk about mountaintop removal's impacts on public health*
mother takes immunization fight to US supreme court*
evidence of meth use closes west virginia technical school*
logan county man advances on "america's got talent"*
from autopia:
Next month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is expected to declare that all vehicles must contain an event data recorder, known more commonly as a “black box.” The device, similar to those found in aircraft, records vehicle inputs and, in the event of a crash, provides a snapshot of the final moments before impact. That snapshot could be viewed by law enforcement, insurance companies and automakers. The device cannot be turned off, and you’ll probably know little more about it than the legal disclosure you’ll find in the owner’s manual. The pending mandate looks to some like a gross overreach of government authority, or perhaps an effort by Uncle Sam, the insurance industry and even the automakers to keep tabs on what drivers are doing. But if you’re driving a car with airbags, chances are there’s already one of these devices under your hood... How much it affects you depends upon where you live and what data points it records. How much it will affect you in the future may depend on a new set of standards that spell out exactly what data is collected and who can access it.
related: car seat monitors driver's heart activity*
police state updates:
as complicit congress extends 'patriot act' & obama signs 4yr patriot act extension in france;
oregon senator reveals secret government surveillance grid*
outside the box #250
from blip.tv:
Alex Ansary talks with Marc Delphine about his campaign to unseat Ron Wyden's and gain his seat in the Oregon Senate as a Libertarian candidate. Marc discusses our current economic system's problems with a Federal Reserve System combined with total lack of oversight or accountability.
from total411/
the hill:
The CIA has been ordered to release by Labor Day a declassified summary of an internal report on the agency’s performance prior to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, possibly shedding light on whether senior officials made fundamental lapses in judgment.
Under the 9/11 bill that President Bush signed into law Friday, the agency must release a public summary within 30 days of the law’s enactment, along with a classified annex for Congress that explains the report’s redactions.
CIA spokesman George Little told The Hill in an e-mail Monday that the agency “will, of course, comply with the law.”
Until now, the CIA had refused to disclose any part of the report since its former inspector general (IG), John Helgerson, completed the final draft more than two years ago. The 9/11 bill, which addresses most of the 9/11 Commission’s unfulfilled recommendations, is the first successful legislation to mandate a declassified summary.
According to previous media accounts, the IG report is more hard-hitting about the CIA’s internal failings than the 9/11 Commission’s 2004 account, and points fingers at specific senior individuals at the agency. Those reportedly include former CIA Director George Tenet, former Deputy Director of Operations James Pavitt, and former CIA Counterterrorism Center Chief Cofer Black. All have left the agency.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a member of the Intelligence panel, told The Hill shortly before the bill’s signing that “No one has come even close to giving a good national security argument as to why the public should be denied access to this information.”
Wyden long had pushed for this and other transparency provisions, including declassification of the intelligence budget total and a more defined role for the independent Pubic Interest Declassification Board, both of which also were codified by the 9/11 legislation. He and other Intelligence panel members have seen the classified CIA report, but are barred by committee rules from discussing its content.
“All I can say is that it’s an extraordinarily important, independent assessment, written with a specific purpose to learn how we can improve our security,” he said.
Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Kit Bond (R-Mo.), who has backed Wyden and Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) on this issue, said he hoped that the bill’s passage sends “a sufficient signal” to the CIA.
“Everyone else has taken their lumps, and this should have been declassified a long time ago,” Bond said.
Congress ordered the report in late 2002, and Helgerson completed the bulk of the work in 2003 and 2004, when Tenet was still CIA director. Following Tenet’s resignation in July 2004, his successor, Porter Goss, reportedly stalled an internal distribution of the report’s draft and asked Helgerson to make changes before it was sent to Congress.
In August 2005, the congressional intelligence committees received the report as well as responses from the officials cited in the text. Two months later, however, Goss declined to follow the report’s recommendation that the CIA convene “accountability boards” or reprimand specific individuals, according to media reports.
Tenet, Pavitt and Black did not return calls from The Hill asking for comment. But when Tenet appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” last May, he charged that there are “many pieces of this report that many of us felt were terribly flawed.”
Questions remain as to how much the CIA will declassify. The agency held lengthy negotiations with Congress over the 2003 release of the congressional 9/11 inquiry report and the 2004 report by the Senate Intelligence Committee on prewar intelligence, both of which contained substantial redactions.
When the Senate Intelligence panel released in September 2006 two further chapters of its prewar intelligence inquiry, Wyden argued that too much had been redacted. “Parts of these reports read like a dictionary with the definitions cut out,” he said at the time in a press release.
Wyden asked the Public Interest Declassification Board, which reviews classification procedures and disputes, to take up the matter. The board said it would defer until it received clarification on whether it could launch a review ordered solely by Congress. The 9/11 bill stipulated that the panel did indeed have that authority.
from raw story:
A group composed of widows of 9/11 victims are demanding the release of a key CIA report.
"The report, prepared by the CIA's inspector general, is the only major 9/11 government review that has still not been made publicly available," Michael Isikoff reported in January. "When it was completed in August 2005, Newsweek and other publications reported that it contained sharp criticisms of former CIA director George Tenet and other top agency officials for failing to address the threat posed by Al Qaeda, as well as other mistakes that might have prevented the attacks."
In a statement obtained by Raw Story, September 11th Advocates Patty Casazza, Monica Gabrielle, Mindy Kleinberg, and Lorie Van Auken write:"Almost six years have passed since the attacks of September 11, 2001, yet critical information continues to be withheld from the American public regarding the attacks.
In 2002, after reviewing the evidence produced by the Joint Inquiry of Congress into the 9/11 Attacks, both Republican and Democratic Congressmen agreed that a CIA Inspector General review into individual responsibility was necessary... Faced with the facts, these Congressmen understood that accountability in the Intelligence Community was crucial.
Their intent was that a final declassified CIA/IG report be released to the public and where deemed appropriate by the report, for personnel at all levels to be held accountable for any omission, commission, or failure to meet professional standards in regard to the events of September 11, 2001. To date, despite enormous efforts from the Senate Intelligence Committee, nothing has happened."
According to 9/11Truth.org, a petition entitled "The Public's Right to Know - Declassification and Release of Documents" garnered over 15,000 signatures and was "hand delivered...to lawmakers in Washington, DC."
from ap/yahoo:
The Pentagon said Tuesday it had stopped selling surplus F-14 parts, announcing the step after congressional criticism of security weaknesses that had given buyers for countries including Iran access to the aircraft parts and other valuable gear.
Sales of parts from the recently retired fleet were halted last Friday, Defense Logistics Agency spokesman Jack Hooper said, adding that marketing of the parts will remain suspended until a "comprehensive review" is completed. He did not immediately elaborate.
The decision comes as a Democratic senator moves to cut off all Pentagon sales of surplus F-14 parts, saying the military's marketing of the spares "defies common sense" in light of their importance to Iran.
Sen. Ron Wyden's bill came in response to an investigation by The Associated Press that found weaknesses in surplus-sale security that allowed buyers for countries including Iran and China to surreptitiously obtain sensitive U.S. military equipment including Tomcat parts.
The Oregon Democrat's legislation would ban the Defense Department from selling surplus F-14 parts and prohibit buyers who have already acquired surplus Tomcat parts from exporting them. Wyden's bill, the Stop Arming Iran Act, is co-sponsored by the Senate's No. 2 lawmaker, Democratic Whip Richard Durbin of Illinois.
The surplus sales are one of the first national security issues to be addressed by the new Democratic-controlled Congress.flashback: weapons for iran & china traced to pentagon
Welcome to New World Next Week - the video series from Corbett Report and Media Monarchy that covers some of the most important developments in open source intelligence news. This week:
Visit NewWorldNextWeek.com to get previous episodes in various formats to download, burn and share. And as always, stay up-to-date by subscribing to the feeds from Corbett Report here and Media Monarchy here. Thank you.
