Washington Post details vast growth of US domestic spying

Your Local Cops Now Use Iraq's Iris Scanners
In Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. Troops use handheld devices to take iris scans and thumb prints off of Detainees and put them in vast databases to distinguish Insurgents from civilians. Now your local cops are getting in on the action. L-1 Identity Solutions, a four-year-old company, makes the Handheld Interagency Identity Detection System (HIIDE), a Mobile Device that digitally records someone’s iris, fingerprint and facial characteristics “to create a comprehensive database on the enro...

Foreign troop deaths in Afghanistan top 700 in 2010: site
The number of international Troops killed in Afghanistan this year, already by far the deadliest in the nine-year campaign against the Taliban, has passed 700, an independent website said Tuesday. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is fighting an increasingly deadly and expanding Taliban Insurgency and the majority of the dead -- 493 -- are US troops, followed by Britons with 101, the website added. When asked about the figures, an ISAF spokesman highlighted increased pu...

Washington Post details vast growth of US domestic spying
© Michael S. Williamson / The Washington Post In Memphis, police license plate readers scan nearby vehicles with Military-grade infrared cameras. The Washington Post published Monday the second installment of an investigation into the enormous scale of the US domestic intelligence apparatus built up since the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks. The article brings together valuable information about the police buildup, presented in both written and graphical form, including an interactive Web-based m...

US military chiefs 'are pushing for Special Operations raids on Pakistan
Senior US Military commanders in Afghanistan are pushing for an expanded campaign of Special Operations ground Raids across the border into Pakistan's Tribal Areas, a risky strategy reflecting the growing frustration with Pakistan's efforts to root out Militants there. The proposal, outlined by American officials in Washington and Afghanistan, would escalate Military activities inside Pakistan, where the movement of American forces has been largely prohibited because of fears of provoking a b...

Emerging role for Jordanians in al-Qaida
A prominent Jordanian-Palestinian Militant recently killed in Afghanistan was a medical school dropout, who joined al-Qaida after his heart was broken in an failed love affair, his friends and a Counterterrorism official said Wednesday. Haitham Mohammed al-Khayat, 26, better known in Extremist circles as Abu Kandahar al-Zarqawi, was an administrator of the online Jihadi forum, Al Hesbah, according to Islamist Militant websites. The sites announced that he was killed by U.S. forces Friday. He was...

Time honors AFP photographer for Afghan work
Time Magazine said Wednesday it had honored Agence France-Presse photographer Mauricio Lima with its "Wire Photographer of the Year" award, hailing his "remarkable body of work" from the Afghan war. Embedded for four weeks with US Marines in Helmand Province earlier this year, Lima also spent a month working alone, based in Kabul, capturing intimate portraits of Military forces in the conflict-scarred country, and civilians living in the war zone. Based in Sao Paulo, Lima has worked on assignmen...

Time honors AFP photographer for Afghan work
Time Magazine said Wednesday it had honored Agence France-Presse photographer Mauricio Lima with its "Wire Photographer of the Year" award, hailing his "remarkable body of work" from the Afghan war. Embedded for four weeks with US Marines in Helmand Province earlier this year, Lima also spent a month working alone, based in Kabul, capturing intimate portraits of Military forces in the conflict-scarred country, and civilians living in the war zone. Based in Sao Paulo, Lima has worked on assignme...

The Huffington Post Thinks That the Washington Post Has a Federal False Claims Act Problem
Chris Kirkham: At Kaplan University, 'Guerilla Registration' Leaves Students Deep In Debt: Arlen Castillo had just begun an online associate's degree program at Kaplan University when a family emergency forced a change of plans. Her mother in Florida learned she needed extensive surgery that entailed months of recuperation. Only two weeks into her First Term, Castillo promptly withdrew to lend her mother support. As Castillo recalls, a Kaplan academic advisor told her she could simply fill out...

Rally targets Mass. immigration checks plan
Immigrant rights advocates plan a rally outside the Massachusetts Statehouse to Protest a decision by Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration to join a Federal Program that checks the Immigration status of people who are arrested. A coalition of advocates, religious groups and legal experts are scheduled to hold the rally on Wednesday. Critics say the program, known as Secure Communities, discourages immigrants from reporting crimes and encourages Racial Profiling. The program allows arrestee...

Rally targets Mass. immigration checks plan
Immigrant rights advocates plan a rally outside the Massachusetts Statehouse to Protest a decision by Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration to join a Federal Program that checks the Immigration status of people who are arrested. A coalition of advocates, religious groups and legal experts are scheduled to hold the rally on Wednesday. Critics say the program, known as Secure Communities, discourages immigrants from reporting crimes and encourages Racial Profiling. The program allows arrestee...

Afghanistan Misson Creep Watch Redux
Senior American Military commanders in Afghanistan are pushing for an expanded campaign of Special Operations ground Raids across the border into Pakistan’s Tribal Areas, a risky strategy reflecting the growing frustration with Pakistan’s efforts to root out Militants there. The proposal, described by American officials in Washington and Afghanistan, would escalate Military activities inside Pakistan, where the movement of American forces has been largely prohibited becau...

Foreign troop deaths in Afghanistan top 700 in 2010
Stumble This! Kabul — The number of international Troops killed in Afghanistan this year, already by far the deadliest in the nine-year campaign against the Taliban, has passed 700, an independent website said Tuesday. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is fighting an increasingly deadly and expanding Taliban Insurgency and the majority of the dead -- 493 -- are US troops, followed by Britons with 101, the website added. When asked about the figures, an ISAF spoke...

Afghanistan Mission-Creep Watch, Redux
Senior American Military commanders in Afghanistan are pushing for an expanded campaign of Special Operations ground Raids across the border into Pakistan’s Tribal Areas, a risky strategy reflecting the growing frustration with Pakistan’s efforts to root out Militants there. The proposal, described by American officials in Washington and Afghanistan, would escalate Military activities inside Pakistan, where the movement of American forces has been largely prohibited becaus...

Venturing Into Pakistan
by Conor Friedersdorf David Boaz passes along that chart, and remarks upon it: Now it’s true that when Candidate Barack Obama vowed, “I will bring this war to an end in 2009,” he was talking about Iraq. In July 2008 he suggested that he would send two more brigades — about 8000 Troops — to Afghanistan. He has far exceeded that, and we can only wonder whether the voters who responded to his antiwar message anticipated that he would increase the number of Troops in Afghanistan

US Military Expand Pakistan Operations
The New York Times reports: WASHINGTON — Senior American Military commanders in Afghanistan are pushing for an expanded campaign of Special Operations ground Raids across the border intoPakistan’s Tribal Areas, a risky strategy reflecting the growing frustration with Pakistan’s efforts to root out Militants there. The proposal, described by American officials in Washington and Afghanistan, would escalate Military activities inside Pakistan, where the movement of American forces has been

Groups launch petition against Metro security theater (Daily Caller)
The voice of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano echoing in tunnels of the Washington, D.C. Metro system may make riders feel that they are living in a scene from Brave New World, but the recently announced bag searches have given Civil Liberties groups something more tangible to worry about. Two groups have announced a petition drive aimed at heading off random bag searches, which they consider “security theater.” The DC Bill of Rights Coalition and the Mont...

DHS Uncovers Plot to Poison Food in U.S. Hotels and Restaurants
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has discovered a plot to poison food in U.S. hotels and restaurants, CBS News reports. The plot, uncovered earlier this year, involved the simultaneous poisoning of food served in hotels and restaurants across the U.S. over a single weekend. Two different poisons, ricin and cyanide, would be slipped into Salad Bars and buffets. According to CBS, a "key intelligence source" confirmed that the threat was "credible." So credible, in fact, that the DHS, Dep...

Intelligence Officials: Al-Qaida Learns From Mistakes
This past fall, al-Qaida's arm in Yemen tried its hand at a new kind of attack: cargo bombs. The details of that plot are familiar by now. There were two bombs hidden in computer printer toner cartridges. They were then placed into boxes with clothing and other souvenirs from Yemen and shipped to Chicago. That's what has been made public about the incident. What intelligence officials are saying privately is that al-Qaida's arm in Yemen, the group that took responsibility for the attack, may hav...

Think tank plans study of how US treats detainees
Eleanor J. Hill is one of three chairpersons on The Constitution Project's new panel. (AP photo) NEW YORK — A nonpartisan legal Think Tank plans to study U.S. treatment of Terrorism Detainees, partly out of concern that the country's policies lack clarity and can be manipulated to permit abuse or Torture in dangerous times, members of a Task Force appointed to conduct the study said Friday. Eleanor J. Hill, one of three chairpersons on The Constitution Project's new panel, said events afte...

U.S. official: Al Qaeda in Yemen bigger threat than in Pakistan
John Brennan, the U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser, says al Qaeda threat in Yemen growing. Washington (CNN) -- The administration's top Counterterrorism adviser said Friday that the al Qaeda group based in Yemen poses a greater threat to Americans than Osama bin Laden's group based in Pakistan. John Brennan, assistant to the president for Homeland Security and counterterrorism, said the Yemen-based group, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, is "increasingly active" in reaching out ...

Stark challenges ahead for Iraq's new government
BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraq seated a freely elected government Tuesday after nine months of haggling, bringing together the main ethnic and religious groups in a fragile balance that could make it difficult to rebuild a nation devastated by war as American Troops prepare for their final withdrawal. One of the government's first priorities will be to decide whether to ask the Obama Administration to keep thousands of U.S. Soldiers in Iraq after their scheduled departure in December 2011. Prime Minister...

Iraq Approves New Government
The New York Times reports: Baghdad — Iraq’s Parliament approved a new government on Tuesday, ending nine months of infighting that threatened to throw the nation into a constitutional crisis but leaving many festering problems unresolved. The delay in forming a government led to growing Unemployment, worsening services and rising cynicism among voters who risked their lives to participate in the March election. But the new government rests on jury-rigged alliances that may make it too unw...

Stark challenges ahead for Iraq's new government
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq seated a freely elected government Tuesday after nine months of haggling, bringing together the main ethnic and religious groups in a fragile balance that could make it difficult to rebuild a nation devastated by war as American Troops prepare for their final withdrawal. The new government led by Shiite Incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki got off to a shaky start as disagreements among coalition partners prevented al-Maliki from naming 13 of his 42 Cabinet ministers...

Counterterrorism and You
Mon Dec. 20, 2010 11:56 AM PST Dana Priest and William Arkin have a big piece in the Washington Post today about the vast expansion of local Counterterrorism efforts in the United States since 9/11. An excerpt: At the same time that the FBI is expanding its West Virginia database, it is building a vast repository controlled by people who work in a top-secret vault on the fourth floor of the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building in Washington. This one stores the profiles of tens of thousands of American...

Man Exposed Self To Teenage Girl At Busy Walmart
OCOEE, Fla. -- Ocoee police are expected to release Surveillance video Monday of a man they are looking for who exposed himself to a girl inside a Walmart. Investigators say the suspect opened his trench coat in front of a teenager at the store on West Colonial Drive ( see map ) in Ocoee on Sunday afternoon. According to police, the young girl who is younger than 16-years-old was shopping with her mother when the incident happened. After the suspect exposed his sexual organs to the girl, the vic...