The Agonist - USA: Homeland Security

Feds detain nearly 600 in Miss. plant raid

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:44:51 -0700

Laurel, MS | August 26

AP - Sweep of suspected illegal immigrants is the largest single-workplace raid

The largest single-workplace immigration raid in U.S. history has caused panic among Hispanic families in this small southern Mississippi town, where federal agents rounded up nearly 600 plant workers suspected of being in the country illegally.

One worker caught in Monday's sweep at the Howard Industries transformer plant said fellow workers applauded as immigrants were taken into custody. Federal officials said a tip from a union member prompted them to start investigating several years ago.

Leaderless Counterterrorism Strategy

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 08:50:12 -0700

"Public Eye" -

The “War on Terror,” Civil Liberties, and Flawed Scholarship
By Chip Berlet

(Opening Pars of a lengthy and interesting article. I'm thinkin' everybody needs to learn much more about these two incredibly influential actors, Sageman and Hoffman. Ever heard of either of them before? Me neither. Frequently felt their influence without knowing its source? Oh yeah.)

Citizens' U.S. Border Crossings Tracked

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:02:23 -0700

Ellen Nakashima | August 20

WaPo - Data From Checkpoints To Be Kept for 15 Years

The federal government has been using its system of border checkpoints to greatly expand a database on travelers entering the country by collecting information on all U.S. citizens crossing by land, compiling data that will be stored for 15 years and may be used in criminal and intelligence investigations.

Officials say the Border Crossing Information system, disclosed last month by the Department of Homeland Security in a Federal Register notice, is part of a broader effort to guard against terrorist threats. It also reflects the growing number of government systems containing personal information on Americans that can be shared for a broad range of law enforcement and intelligence purposes, some of which are exempt from some Privacy Act protections.

FBI to get freer rein to look for terrorism suspects

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 08:16:16 -0700

Marisa Taylor | Washington | August 14

McClatchy - Attorney General Michael Mukasey confirmed plans Wednesday to loosen post-Watergate restrictions on the FBI's national security and criminal investigations, saying the changes were necessary to improve the bureau's ability to detect terrorists. Mukasey said he expected criticism of the new rules because "they expressly authorize the FBI to engage in intelligence collection inside the United States." However, he said the criticism would be misplaced because the bureau has long had authority to do so.

FBI Apologizes to Post, Times - Phone Records Were Breached

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 07:09:44 -0700

Carrie Johnson | August 9

WaPo - FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III apologized to two newspaper editors yesterday for what he said was a recently uncovered breach of their reporters' phone records in the course of a national security investigation nearly four years ago.

Mueller called the top editors at The Washington Post and the New York Times to express regret that agents had not followed proper procedures when they sought telephone records under a process that allowed them to bypass grand jury review in emergency cases.

The Justice Department's inspector general, who is reviewing the bureau's procedures in such cases, uncovered lapses that allowed FBI agents in 2004 to obtain telephone records of Post staff writer Ellen Nakashima, who was based in Jakarta, Indonesia, at the time. The FBI also obtained telephone records of an Indonesian researcher in the paper's Jakarta bureau, Natasha Tampubolon.

Records of New York Times reporters Raymond Bonner and Jane Perlez, who worked in Jakarta in 2004, also were compromised, the Times confirmed yesterday.

U.S. revokes visas for 3 Gaza Fulbright scholars

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 09:59:11 -0700

Gaza City | August 5

MSNBC - Three Palestinian Fulbright scholars have had their American entry visas revoked after "new information" was received about them, a U.S. diplomat said on Tuesday.

Visas for the trio, along with a fourth Palestinian student from Gaza who had hoped to come to the U.S. under a different program, were approved after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice intervened in June after Israel refused to let them leave Gaza for interviews.

"There were four Palestinians who were issued visas about whom we then received additional information," State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said. "We decided that we needed to take a closer and harder look at them in light of the additional information we received."

Travelers' Laptops May Be Detained At Border

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 23:22:33 -0700

Ellen Nakashima | August 1

WAPO - Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed.

SNIP

Civil liberties and business travel groups have pressed the government to disclose its procedures as an increasing number of international travelers have reported that their laptops, cellphones and other digital devices have been taken -- for months, in at least one case -- and their contents examined.

Would you rather pay for: .04 seconds of war, or 25 days of health care?

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:34:19 -0700

A couple of weeks ago, over at the Progressive Future headquarters, a couple of us started wondering out loud how much of of our taxes went to fund the Iraq War. My colleague did a little research and found a formula for how to figure this out. After discovering that in 2007, I paid for $204 of war, my first thought was, “Dang. That money could have gone to pay a month of my health care premium.”

So then, as a fun little game (yes, we over at Progressive Future have an interesting take on what's fun), we decided to make an internet tool that would not only calculate someone's contribution to the war from their 2007 income, but would also tell that person how many days that money could have covered their health care, education, powered their home with renewable energy, or paid for a veteran to receive higher education.

Turns out, any of those last four options would be the more lucrative investment.

Political Parties, Corporations and the Truth

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:06:55 -0700

In this article I am going to make an attempt to clarify my views on this presidential race, U.S. foreign policy, the economy and what we are experiencing in this new era as far as our civil liberties, the constant threats (real and perceived) to our “security” and the increasing gap between the rich and the not so rich in this country. One could write a book about each of these subjects, putting everything in one article is a daunting task. I’m not an expert nor am I an economist, diplomat or a military genius. What I am attempting to do is separate fact from fiction as I see it. I’m sure that many will take exception to what I have to say and that’s understandable, we all can’t be mirror images of each other. I ask your indulgence beforehand.

Suicidal Vet "Was Begging For Help, and They Kicked Him to the Curb."

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:07:20 -0700

A few months ago, when I interviewed Josh, an Iraq War veteran, about his struggles with a traumatic brain injury and PTSD that he was affected with in Iraq, and which followed him home to Wisconsin, he told me that it had taken him 2 years to receive treatment for his conditions. His girlfriend told me that she was grateful that Josh was not one of the approximate 1,000 veterans who attempt suicide a month.

"Hundreds of thousands of soldiers who need it aren't even getting taken care of by the VA, and thousands more are attempting to commit suicide under their care. Not only that, but when I went there as 'a danger to myself and other people,' they said it was in the past and that it didn't mean that I was still. They didn't want me to be there and they didn't know what to do with me. It's no wonder they wanted to 'Shhh...' the numbers of veterans attempting to commit suicide under their care."

Chertoff admits his department is inept

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:23:55 -0700

Eileen Sullivan | Washington | July 18

AP - European terrorists are trying to enter the United States with European Union passports, and there is no guarantee officials will catch them every time, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Thursday.

(Story headline changed pursuant to AP restrictions.)

1985 in 2008

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:27:14 -0700

An editorial in The New York Times, No Friend of the Workers, today http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/18/opinion/18fri2.html?ref=opinion was a scathing indictment of the Labor Department. Now I don’t want to lecture anyone about what they should be paying attention to, but this one was too hard to ignore. The editorial was spot-on in it’s reporting, and that was gratifying in itself. The New York Times has published a number of editorials that could come under the banner of “dissent”.

In the article, there were clear indictments of the Labor Department. In one paragraph of the editorial the Times stated:

8,763 Disabled Veterans Died Without Receiving Benefits

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:30:26 -0700

For a long time now, I have been following the KBR corruption storyline: the dirty water, the electrocutions, the rape cover ups and the tax dodging.

KBR was turned loose on our troops because the Bush administration's blind adherence to right-wing dogma — "government bad, private industry good" — drove it to outsource the management of the war to dozens of private contractors. And, no surprise, the abuses don't end with KBR.

Terrorism Suspect May Petition Civilian Court

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:47:06 -0700

R. Jeffrey Smith & Del Quentin Wilber | Richmond, VA | July 16

WaPo - Holding Accused Without Trial Is Upheld

A federal appellate court issued a new setback to the Bush administration on the treatment of terrorism suspects yesterday, declaring that the only accused "enemy combatant" apprehended and held on U.S. soil can petition a civilian court to review the evidence against him.

At the same time, the divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit affirmed the president's wartime power to hold accused combatants apprehended in the United States without trial, reversing a previous ruling by a panel of its own judges.

Forget Morality, Humanity or Legality: Torture DOESN'T WORK

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:54:25 -0700

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

A recent poll showed that 44% of Americans support torture on "terrorist suspects".

Why so many?

A key architect of America's torture program, Doug Feith, testified under oath to Congress today that torture is necessary because - otherwise - we couldn't get any information out of the "bad guys". Several Congress people agreed.

Why do any Congress people support this argument?

Because many people mistakenly assume that torture works, and is thus a necessary evil.

Let's put aside questions of morality, humanity, and legality . . . Let's just focus on one question: does torture work?