Search Results for “https:” – Page 649

Donald Trump eyeing ‘building swap’ for FBI headquarters

“Flamboyant New York property developer and reality TV star Donald Trump is casting his eye on what some Washingtonians consider an architectural eyesore in the US capital — FBI headquarters. He told The Washington Post in an interview posted online Wednesday that he might take an opportunity to acquire the Brutalist-style premises on Pennsylvania Avenue in return for erecting a new and bigger home for the storied federal law enforcement agency. Inaugurated in the mid-1970s, the 11-floor J. Edgar Hoover Building houses more than half of the 10,000 employees of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the greater Washington area.” Continue reading →

(Surveillance) Times have Changed

“It was only a year ago when the UK Home Office repeatedly made statements about how their capability to collect intelligence was degrading, and how new laws such as the Communications Data Bill were necessary to protect citizens. In hindsight, given the revelations about the UK domestic mass surveillance programs, these once desperate cries for more crime- and terrorism-fighting tools now look like nothing more than attempts to illegitimately spy more on all citizens. Quotes from those debates look rather different now.” Continue reading →

NSA routinely spied on phone records unrelated to terrorism cases

“US intelligence officials declassified documents Tuesday revealing the National Security Agency violated privacy rules for three years when it sifted phone records of Americans with no suspected links to terrorists. The government was forced to disclose the documents by a judge’s order after a Freedom of Information lawsuit. The NSA had been permitted by the court to only search phone numbers that had ‘reasonable articulable suspicion’ of having links to terrorism. But out of more than 17,000 numbers on a NSA list in 2009, the agency only had reasonable suspicion for about 1,800 of the numbers, two senior intelligence officials told reporters on Tuesday.” Continue reading →

Documents Shed Light on Border Laptop Searches

“Today we are releasing new government documents that provide rare insight into how the government uses its powers at the border to search and seize Americans’ electronic devices. The government’s own records indicate that 4,957 passengers had their electronic devices searched between October 1, 2012 and August 31, 2013, and an additional 4,898 individuals were subject to electronic device searches the previous year. We have no way of knowing how many of those searches may have been carried out not to search for contraband—which is the reason ICE has been granted such broad search powers—but to exploit border search powers to evade the Constitution.” Continue reading →

Feds Abused Anti-Terrorism Database To Track Chelsea Manning Supporter

‘Keeping our borders secure apparently means allowing federal agents to delve as deeply as they want into electronics that cross the border, even if it’s someone who just went to Mexico on vacation. Presumably, David House wasn’t a threat to national security when he left for Mexico, but by the time he landed at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, he was. House worked with the Bradley Manning Support Network and this was all the ‘evidence’ ICE needed to alert DHS agents that House would be returning from Mexico through Chicago — and the wide-open policy on electronic searches was all the agents needed to seize and search House’s phone and laptop.” Continue reading →

The U.S. Is Getting “Played” In Syria

“Even if the U.S./NATO is going to wage war, is this how you do it? Do you telegraph your moves days ahead of time? I must have missed that class when I studied at the Naval War College. By comparison, little E-1 Pvt. Bradley Manning (or is it Chelsea?) will rot for many decades in prison (the women’s wing?) after being convicted of releasing a pile of classified emails. And young Ed Snowden is a hunted man because he told the world that the National Security Agency sucks signals out of the ether. I’m shocked to know that! But Obama administration officials are holding press conferences — Press! Conferences! — to offer up the tactical details of any attack that’s set to hit Syria.” Continue reading →

Iran’s new U.N. nuclear envoy gets harsh reception

“Western envoys gave Iran’s new ambassador to the UN atomic agency a frosty welcome Wednesday, saying Tehran’s new government should waste no time proving to the world it does not want the bomb. Speaking at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s board of governors, US envoy Joseph Macmanus said Iran was refusing to comply with UN Security Council and IAEA resolutions demanding it suspend key parts of its nuclear programme. Iran denies seeking or ever having sought nuclear weapons and argues that the six UN Security Council resolutions passed against it since 2006 — four with sanctions attached — are illegal.” Continue reading →

American Banksterism Through the Ages

“The Bank of the United States ‘ran into grave difficulties through mismanagement, speculation, and fraud.’ — James J. Kilpatrick, The Sovereign States; ‘[Henry Clay’s] income from this business [general counsel to the Bank of the United States] apparently amounted to what he needed: three thousand dollars a year from the bank as chief counsel; more for appearing in specific cases; and a sizable amount of real estate in Ohio and Kentucky in addition to the cash . . . . When he resigned to become Secretary of State in 1825, he was pleased with his compensation.’ –Maurice Baxter, Henry Clay and the American System” Continue reading →