CNN reported over the weekend that the Justice Department is seeking new powers in the wake of the COVID19 plague and Politico added some valuable detail New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Utah Republican Michael Lee have criticized the proposal. One provision is scary, according to civil liberties lawyers. The proposal would also grant those...
Tag: Justice Department
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After a Harsh IG Report, FISA Reform Is on the Agenda
One the revelations of the report of Michael Horowitz, inspector general of the Justice Department, was the abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) The act was passed by Congress in 1978, after revelations that CIA counterintelligence chief James Angleton had presided over two massive program of spying on Americans. FISA requires the FBI...
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Why Trump’s Investigation of the Investigators Is Failing
For months, the names of Michael Horowitz and John Durham have figured in the pounding rhythms of right-wing media in which a heroically afflicted president faces down his perfidious enemies. A steady drumbeat of reports from Fox News, echoed by President Trump, Republican loyalists in Congress and media mouthpieces, proclaimed these two obscure Justice Department...
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Privacy Group Says DOJ Agrees to ‘Expedite’ Release of Mueller Report
While social media chatter about the Trump-Russia investigation continues with the usual ratio heat to light, the report (300 pages, 400 pages, 687 pages?) remains secret, thanks to Attorney General Bill Barr. Congress wants a copy. So does the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), which has sued for the release of the report. On...
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Sunshine Week: Freedom of Information and Its Enemies
It’s Sunshine Week in Washington, a week to celebrate the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and other open government laws that enable the public to see what their government is doing. The FOIA, passed in 1966, is a powerful tool for the public interest. Even our most secret agency, the CIA, has provided online access to...