Suspicionless Searches at the US Border: A Growing Problem for Press Freedom

On The Media’s coverage of the subject started when US Customs and Border Protection detained their own producer Sarah Abdurrahman, her family, and her friends for hours on their way home from Canada last year. But this week’s program expanded on her experience to document, as they put it, some of the “countless stories of inhumanizing intrusions and detentions at the border that would seem to be unconstitutional anywhere else.”

Ms. Abdurrahman is far from the only journalist this has happened to in recent years. Huffington Post journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin wrote a powerful piece last month about his experiences repeatedly being detained while going over the border for the crime of having a Muslim name.

Drone War in Yemen: Three Killed in Latest Strike, UN Report Demands Facts on Civilian Deaths

While United States leaders lecture Russian President Vladimir Putin on respecting sovereignty and international law by not waging a war of aggression on Ukraine, the sovereignty of Yemen continues to be undermined by US drone strikes.

Reportedly, at least one drone strike, the first in over a month, occurred in Yemen early in the morning on March 3 or in the night on March 2. It killed three people, including an alleged al Qaeda fighter.

Three US Drone Strikes Kill Four ‘Suspects’ in Yemen

A US drone strike was confirmed against the Shabwa Province of Yemen today, destroying a car and killing three people, wounding two others. All were labeled “terrorist suspects,” though none were identified.

Yemen: At Least 3 Killed by U.S. Drone Strike

How Droning American Citizens Damages Our Laws

So far as we know, Al-Shami isn’t on the verge of a suicide bombing or self-immolation. If he dies in the coming weeks, it will likely be at the hand of another. Well, hand might be putting it strongly, since the hand that presses the button that looses the missile from the drone that kills him may be halfway across the globe. But if the bomb lands true, al-Shami will be the fifth American citizen assassinated by his government in the War on Terror.

Death Without Due Process

This extrajudicial killing program should make every American queasy. Based on largely secret legal standards and entirely secret evidence, our government has killed thousands of people. At least several hundred were killed far from any battlefield. Four of the dead are Americans. Astonishingly, President Obama's Justice Department has said the courts have no role in deciding whether the killing of U.S. citizens far from any battlefield is lawful.

Sacramento Veterans for Peace Anti-Drone Demonstration

Members of the Sacramento group Veterans for Peace demonstrated quietly outside the federal courthouse in downtown Sacramento this morning ahead of an arraignment hearing for Shirley Osgood of Nevada County. She is being charged with trespassing onto Beale AFB property during an anti-drone protest.

CIA snoops snooped on Senate to spy spy torture report – report

CIA Accused Of Spying On Senate Intelligence Committee Staffers

The Senator's Letter that Suggests the CIA Spied on Staffers Writing a Torture Report

Probe sought of CIA conduct in Senate study of secret detention program

Report: CIA may have monitored preparation of Senate torture study

Probe sought of CIA conduct in Senate study of secret detention program

The CIA Inspector General’s Office has asked the Justice Department to investigate allegations of malfeasance at the spy agency in connection with a yet-to-be released Senate Intelligence Committee report into the CIA’s secret detention and interrogation program, McClatchy has learned.

The criminal referral may be related to what several knowledgeable people said was CIA monitoring of computers used by Senate aides to prepare the study. The monitoring may have violated an agreement between the committee and the agency.

AAP founding member revolts, says party has CIA links

Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, a member of the AAP National Council, suspects his party — or its leadership at least — has connections with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Limit spying to the FBI and CIA: Letter

I agree with the editorial (“NYPD’s spies get a pass,” Feb. 24) about the fallacies inherent in a federal judge’s ruling, dismissing a lawsuit against the NYPD over its domestic spying operation.

First Pakistani to sue CIA over drones freed after kidnapping, torture

A Pakistani man known for his vocal opposition to the U.S. drone program whose kidnapping outraged activists throughout the world has been returned home after being tortured and interrogated, his lawyer announced Friday.

Kareem Khan was last seen in the early morning hours of Feb. 5 outside his home approximately nine miles from Islamabad. He is said to have been abducted by 15–20 men, some of whom were wearing police uniforms, and taken away.

Obama Is Complicit in Suppressing the Truth About Torture

On his watch, the CIA has been permitted to keep secret a report on its own misconduct, even as misleading information was released to the public.

Stephen Colbert spoke at the boycotted RSA conference, poked fun at security

AT&T Exec Claims EFF's Mocking NSA Logo Creates A 'Chilling Effect'

You might notice the AT&T logo in the middle there. That's not there just for show. Many years before the world knew of Ed Snowden, an AT&T technician by the name of Mark Klein literally walked in the front door of the EFF's old offices, and revealed how the NSA was installing hardware directly on AT&T's premises to tap directly into the internet backbone, in order to collect basically all internet traffic.

Salesforce To Open Its First UK Data Centre In August

Police hid use of cell phone tracking device from judge because of NDA

A police department in Florida failed to tell judges about its use of a cell phone tracking tool "because the department got the device on loan and promised the manufacturer to keep it all under wraps," the American Civil Liberties Union said in a blog post today.

NSA chief criticises media and suggests UK was right to detain David Miranda

The outgoing director of the National Security Agency lashed out at media organizations reporting on Edward Snowden’s surveillance revelations, suggesting that British authorities were right to detain David Miranda on terrorism charges and that reporters lack the ability to properly analyze the NSA’s broad surveillance powers.

Anti-leaks legislation coming within weeks, says NSA chief

NSA Director’s Comments Suggest Anti-Leaks Legislation Being Secretly Developed in Response to Snowden

Journalist: NSA won’t give me a secure channel to communicate on

Barton Gellman, one of the few journalists that has been given access to the entire trove of documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden, told the RightsCon conference Tuesday that American federal authorities have declined to provide him with a secure means to communicate with them.

Edward Snowden, South by Southwest Festival: NSA leaker to speak via teleconference

SXSW Interactive lands high-profile speaker: NSA leaker Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden to talk NSA spying and security at SXSW

SURVEILLANCE WHISTLEBLOWER Edward Snowden will appear before an audience via a live video link for the first time at next week's South by Southwest (SXSW) technology conference.

Snowden will be hosted by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and he'll be talking with ACLU technology leader Christopher Soghoian and Ben Wizner, a First Amendment advocate and director of the ACLU speech, privacy and technology project.

Animated PSAs Offer A Satirical Look At The NSA

Supreme Court Declines to Hear Case That Would Have Challenged NSA Warrantless Surveillance of Lawyers

Whether the warrantless surveillance program carried out by the National Security Agency (NSA) under President George W. Bush was legal is a question the United States Supreme Court is not going to answer.

In a case very similar to a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) against warrantless surveillance made “legal” by the FISA Amendments Act (FAA) of 2008, which the Supreme Court declined to grant “standing” in February 2013, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) announced the Court had rejected their lawsuit against Bush-era warrantless surveillance.

Letter: Dismantle the NSA

President Barack Obama promised the American people the National Security Agency wasn't reading the content of their emails.

Well, why not? Obama and NSA Chief Keith Alexander have never been deterred by the Constitution's Fourth Amendment, nor by our right to privacy, as recognized by the Supreme Court.

So why isn't the NSA tracking and recording the movements of every U.S. citizen who owns a mobile phone via cell-tower triangulation? Why isn't it recording all our phone conversations? Why isn't it keeping track of every Web search we make?

Why don't government officials recruit spies from among us to report on our suspicious activities? Why don't they generate a file on everyone they believe has a deviant political or religious philosophy? Why don't they round them up?

The Unsecured State Part 3 - 2,000+ NHS Security Vulnerabilities (Disclosed)

Britain's National Health Service is riddled with old and insecure WordPress-based websites. Many of these sites have severe flaws including being vulnerable to XSS attacks.

Lawmakers probe CIA failure in Ukraine

There are many on both the left and right who see the CIA as a monolithic, all knowing, all powerful entity. Many overseas see the agency in more apocalyptic terms - an evil force capable of mind control and other flights of fancy.

CIA reportedly says Russia sees treaty as justifying Ukraine moves

Ukraine was coup d'état by the CIA – David Shayler

What has occurred in Ukraine was not a popular revolution, it was a carefully orchestrated coup d’état. The "demonstrators" with the metal barricades, bullet proof vest, army helmets, weapons, shield and masks were very well organized and trained. The whole affair was orchestrated by the West in an attempt to bring Ukraine into NATO and split Russia. Mr. David Shayler a former MI5 officer spoke to the Voice of Russia on the activities of the intelligence services and on what the forces behind the scenes are doing. He says President Putin is merely protecting his country and his people and is in a strong position.

US 'plotted, abetted' ouster of Ukraine’s president: Retired CIA officer

The Obama administration “plotted” and “abetted” the ouster of Ukraine's Russian-backed president to install a “puppet regime,” a retired CIA officer and political activist says.

“Never before in my 50 years in Washington has it been so clear that the United States has plotted, has aided and abetted and tried to put in the new premier or the new prime minister of the Ukraine,” said Ray McGovern.

Double-Think over Ukraine

Secretary of State Kerry, who voted for George W. Bush’s Iraq invasion in 2003 and wanted to bomb Syria last year, and President Obama, who’s crossed borders regularly to kill enemies, are outraged that Russia has intervened in Ukraine, a case of double-talk and double-think, says Norman Solomon.

Security and State Power

A leading principle of international relations theory is that the state's highest priority is to ensure security. As Cold War strategist George F. Kennan formulated the standard view, government is created "to assure order and justice internally and to provide for the common defense."

The proposition seems plausible, almost self-evident, until we look more closely and ask: Security for whom? For the general population? For state power itself? For dominant domestic constituencies?

Heard the One About Obama Denouncing a Breach of International Law?

Obama issues Ukraine statement from an alternative universe

Putin and International Law

The Fashion for Hypocrisy

Hypocrisy seems to be massively in fashion. This from William Hague renders me speechless: “Be in no doubt, there will be consequences. The world cannot say it is OK to violate the sovereignty of other nations.”

Then today we have the British Establishment at a closed event in Westminster Abbey in memory of Nelson Mandela. Prince Harry, David Cameron, all the toffs. I was never more than a footsoldier in the anti-apartheid movement, but I trudged through the rain and handed out leaflets in Dundee and Edinburgh. I suspect very few indeed of the guests at this posh memorial service did that. David Cameron was actively involved in Conservative groups which promoted precisely the opposite cause.

Staged Opposition Violence in Venezuela. Towards a “Colored Revolution”?

Violent opposition groups attacked government buildings and civilians, and clashed with police and government supporters following peaceful marches commemorating the Day of Youth.

Venezuela: Regime Change, Destabilization and the Hidden Hands of U.S. Capitalism

The latter are hoping that the recent unrest in their country signals the end of the Bolivarian process and the overthrow of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, successor to the late President Hugo Chavez. The protest they staged at the Embassy was to help this become so.