In a memo to President Obama, former National Security Agency insiders explain how NSA leaders botched intelligence collection and analysis before 9/11, covered up the mistakes, and violated the constitutional rights of the American people, all while wasting billions...
Is Domestic Surveillance Today Less Intrusive Than the Age of COINTELPRO?
Charles Pierce at Esquire says the new look at the 1971 burglary of FBI offices that revealed systematic abuses "says a lot about why the whole debate over what the NSA has been up to should not be wholly concerned about one's opinion of Edward Snowden...and why any...
Lesson of History: Stealing From the Gov’t, Publishing Secrets, is Legitimate
A new book has been published today that reveals for the first time the identities of a group of American activists who burgled FBI offices, stole sensitive documents, and leaked them to journalists. The fact that the burglary took place is hardly remembered by most...
Sheldon Richman and Jacob Hornberger on the Failure of Foreign Interventionism
Arguments for Continued US Meddling in Egypt Are Bogus
In a New York Times Op-Ed, two former U.S. officials, Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon warn of the potential for Egypt's crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood to engender Islamic extremism. "Egypt’s crisis threatens to add fuel to the ongoing terrorist activity across...
The Danger of Entangling Alliances
Historian Margaret MacMillan has published a lengthy report for the Brookings Institution exploring the "lessons of the Great War" and drawing parallels between the state of international affairs prior to WWI and today. In one section, she discusses "The Temptations...
Israel’s Red Herring: A Military Presence in the Jordan Valley
I've predicted failure for Secretary of State John Kerry's push for peace negotiations and a settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. One of the (many) reasons past efforts to "broker" a deal have failed is because Israel makes a handful of demands that are...
Views On Snowden: Are the Times A-Changin’?
It's rare that I write about good news. But the editorial from yesterday's New York Times is really good news. Entitled "Edward Snowden, Whistle-Blower," the Times editorial board praises and defends Snowden's decision to leak information about the NSA and argue he...
Poor Saudi Arabia Unhappy With US Foreign Policy
Much has been made recently of the apparent tension between the U.S. and its longtime ally, Saudi Arabia. The thinking essentially goes like this: Washington hasn't sufficiently bowed to Saudi interests on issues like post-Mubarak Egypt, the Syrian civil war, and the...
