Panetta: US needs to keep up drone war

"The assassination of Al-Qaeda figures in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia with unmanned, robotic aircraft has provoked widespread criticism from human rights groups and some US allies, but Panetta said the US campaign has been effective. Asked if the CIA 'targeted killings' should be curtailed in coming years, Panetta told AFP in an interview that there was still a need to continue the drone strikes more than a decade since the attacks of September 11, 2001. 'I think it depends on the nature of the threat that we’re confronting. We are in a war. We’re in a war on terrorism and we’ve been in that war since 9/11.'" Continue reading

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Military judge orders government to stop censoring 9/11 hearings

"A military judge ordered the US government Thursday to stop censoring September 11 pre-trial hearings from outside his courtroom. Judge James Pohl said the government must 'disconnect the outside feed or ability to suspend the broadcast' from outside his court. Proceedings are heard in the press room, and in a room where human rights groups and victims families sit, with a 40 second delay. This is done so that a security officer sitting next to the judge can block anything deemed classified. The ruling means classified information could still be blocked, but only by order of the judge and not from outside the courtroom." Continue reading

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Secret NSA cybersecurity program to protect power grid confirmed

"Newly released documents confirm that the National Security Agency (NSA), America's top cyberespionage organization, is spearheading a cloaked and controversial program to develop technology that could protect the US power grid from cyberattack. Of the 188 pages of documents released by the agency, roughly half were redacted to remove classified information. Even so, the documents show Perfect Citizen to be in the fourth year of a five-year program begun in 2009. Valued at up to $91 million, the Perfect Citizen technology is being developed by Raytheon, the Waltham, Mass., defense contractor that won it." Continue reading

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Expatriation Can Save You From the Not-So-Free America

"The terrorist attacks of 9/11, 2001 have been used as a twisted justification by the U.S. Congress and by two presidents to enact unconstitutional laws that sacrifice the very principles they claim to be defending, all in the name of an elusive national security. This is a list of illegal and unconstitutional actions on which I recently spoke to a group of 50 Sovereign Society members who visited Uruguay last month. Many in the group seemed genuinely surprised when they saw the list, unable to believe such things were possible in America." Continue reading

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Big Brother Spying Didn’t Stop Connecticut School Shooter … Or 9/11

"The separation between spy agencies and military operations has disappeared … to the point where the same unaccountable government agency which spies on all Americans also decides who gets assassinated by drones. And anyone who questions government actions or policies may be labeled a potential terrorist. And yet – even with Big Brother sticking his nose in every aspect of our lives – that total surveillance didn’t stop the Connecticut school shooter. Or the Batman shooter, the shooter of Congresswoman Giffords, Columbine, Virginia Tech, etc. etc. etc." Continue reading

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TSA opens museum to inspire its mission

"In 2010, armed with a master's degree in history and experience working at several museums, Smith was hired for the newly created position of TSA historian. Since then he's been filming oral histories of current and past TSA employees, creating exhibits and organizing a growing cache of objects related to the agency's history. In 2011, to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy, the TSA gave the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History several artifacts relating to TSA history. Among those items are images, oral histories, internal planning documents, a uniform and other objects relating to the first airport to get TSA screeners." Continue reading

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