Category: National Security
American Torturers on Trial, But Not in the United States
by James A. Goldston | Feb 1, 2013 | Foreign Policy, National SecurityAlmost a decade after he was kidnapped and forcibly disappeared by Macedonian officials acting at the behest of the CIA, Khaled El-Masri has finally secured a measure of redress. After years of denial in Skopje (capital of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), stonewalling in Berlin and silence in Washington, the European Court of Human […]
How Rove Became Rove
by WS Editors | Dec 1, 2012 | National Security, Politics1970 Poses as a volunteer for a Democratic Senate candidate in Illinois and circulates a letter to homeless people, advertising “free food, beer, girls and a good time for all” at the candidate’s campaign event. 1974–77 The Washington Post reports Rove taught Nixon- style “dirty tricks” to College Republicans. Rove is investigated and cleared by the […]
Intelligence Contractors’ Complex
by Barbara Koeppel | Jun 15, 2012 | National SecurityIn our May 15, 2012 issue, National Security Agency executive turned whistleblower Thomas Drake described the agency failures that led to 9/11. In part two of Barbara Koeppel’s interview with Drake, the ex-spy reveals the agency’s corrupt practices. Let’s talk about the corruption. What kinds of numbers were involved? Billions. I have prima facie knowledge […]
SAIC Scandals
by WS Editors | Jun 15, 2012 | Foreign Policy, National SecurityThomas Drake’s revelations about National Security Agency’s contracts with SAIC — the (mostly) defense contractor Science Applications International Corporation — read like a how-to on purging the public purse. But there is more in SAIC’s four-decade history. This past March, New York City fined SAIC half a billion dollars for what a prosecutor described as […]
Redefining Terrorism
by WS Editors | Sep 15, 2010 | Legal Affairs, National SecurityRedefining Terrorism—Long before right-wing opportunists began using the building of an Islamic center in Lower Manhattan to inflame public passions, federal law-enforcement was focused on a less conspicuous address. The “prayer house” on 1257 Siskiyou Blvd. in Ashland, Oregon, was owned by the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation of Oregon, a Muslim charity that in 2001 was […]