CLibertyC

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 →

Continue ReadingDonald Trump eyeing ‘building swap’ for FBI headquarters

(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 →

Continue Reading(Surveillance) Times have Changed

Is This Why Obama is So Desperate for a Nice Little War?

"Why the desperation to focus our attention externally, to monsters abroad in need of slaying? Could it be the mushrooming NSA scandal, that all of a sudden has grown exponentially more serious with today’s Guardian Snowden-leak sourced report that the 'NSA shares raw intelligence including Americans’ data with Israel.' According to Glenn Greenwald, the National Security Agency routinely sends raw intelligence information to Israeli intelligence without first removing information about American citizens. In effect, rather than serving to protect the safety of Americans and national security of the United States the NSA has seemingly become an agent of Israeli intelligence." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIs This Why Obama is So Desperate for a Nice Little War?

NSA shares raw intelligence including Americans’ data with Israel

"Details of the intelligence-sharing agreement are laid out in a memorandum of understanding between the NSA and its Israeli counterpart that shows the US government handed over intercepted communications likely to contain phone calls and emails of American citizens. The agreement places no legally binding limits on the use of the data by the Israelis. The disclosure that the NSA agreed to provide raw intelligence data to a foreign country contrasts with assurances from the Obama administration that there are rigorous safeguards to protect the privacyof US citizens caught in the dragnet. The deal was reached in principle in March 2009, according to the undated memorandum." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNSA shares raw intelligence including Americans’ data with Israel

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 →

Continue ReadingNSA routinely spied on phone records unrelated to terrorism cases

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 →

Continue ReadingDocuments Shed Light on Border Laptop Searches

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 →

Continue ReadingFeds Abused Anti-Terrorism Database To Track Chelsea Manning Supporter

Syrian President Bashar al Assad Charlie Rose Interview (full)

"PBS' Charlie Rose interviews Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday, September 9, at 9 p.m. in a special presentation of CHARLIE ROSE. In this global television exclusive, Assad gives his only television interview since President Barack Obama asked Congress to approve the use of force against the Syrian regime for alleged use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSyrian President Bashar al Assad Charlie Rose Interview (full)

What Putin Has to Say to Americans About Syria

"It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States. Is it in America’s long-term interest? I doubt it. Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan 'you’re either with us or against us.' But force has proved ineffective and pointless. Afghanistan is reeling, and no one can say what will happen after international forces withdraw. Libya is divided into tribes and clans. In Iraq the civil war continues, with dozens killed each day. In the United States, many ask why their government would want to repeat recent mistakes." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhat Putin Has to Say to Americans About Syria

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 →

Continue ReadingThe U.S. Is Getting “Played” In Syria