News Items

  • Calls to Suspend Syrian Refugee and Other Recent Anti-Muslim Statements by Government Officials

    Compiled by the Institute for Public Accuracy with Arun Kundnani and Deepa Kumar. Kundnani said: “While it’s very easy to denounce Trump’s recent repugnant, bullying statements — and much of the political class has — it’s important to keep several things in mind: First, as the compilation of statements by elected officials makes clear, he made these statements after many officials from across the country made scores of statements playing on unfounded fears against Syrian refugees and other Muslims.”

    Read more »


  • Classified Politics: A System and a Clinton in Disrepute

    It is most unlikely, however, that Hillary Clinton will fall victim to accusations that rely on improper over-­classification. The State Department and White House, including President Obama himself, sought to protect her and to minimize the effects of her behavior. The case is extremely high­-profile, Democrats in Congress would attack any borderline classification, and a host of well-­paid lawyers would rise to her defense. Improperly classified items or those deemed Sensitive but Unclassified may be redacted from publicly released documents, but it is hard to imagine that Mrs. Clinton would be falsely accused of felonies.

    Read more »


  • Video of Sterling News Conference

    Please enjoy the full video of Holly Sterling’s news conference, which was her first such appearance since her husband’s trial and imprisonment. The news conference also featured Thomas Drake, Delphine Halgand, Ray McGovern, and Jesselyn Radack.

    Read more »


  • Open Letter to President Obama from Holly Sterling

    Does the government have no shame in destroying one man’s life and wasting tens of millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money to punish a man who had the audacity to do two things: Stand up for his constitutional rights and utilize proper channels provided to him to express concern for the citizens of our country? I am deeply saddened by our lives’ events that Jeffrey and I have suffered and endured. You publicly committed to a transparent government led by your administration, yet it has been shrouded in mistruth and secrecy.

    Read more »


  • Unprecedented News Conference: Wife of Imprisoned CIA Whistleblower to Speak Out

    Jeffrey Sterling was convicted under the Espionage Act as a source for New York Times reporter James Risen’s book State of War. He began serving his three-and-a-half year prison sentence in June. His wife’s news conference will be the first time the spouse of a CIA whistleblower has made such an appearance.

    Read more »


  • Cultural Shift Needed on Police Militarization

    Police militarization is a 25 year long trend that has only grown in momentum over time. The restrictions on militaristic gear directed by the White House while important symbolically, will certainly not substantively impact this trend in and of itself. Police militarization at this point is as much a cultural problem as it is a material one, and reversing the cultural trend toward police militarization will require more far reaching efforts.

    Read more »


  • Watch the Short Documentary “The Invisible Man: CIA Whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling”

    “‘The federal courtroom in northern Virginia where Holly and Jeffrey Sterling returned for the sentencing on May 11 was the scene of a disturbing, though scantly reported, simulation of justice in late January. At the outset, covering the trial, I noted that ‘prospective jurors made routine references to ‘three-letter agencies’ and alphabet-soup categories of security clearances.’ Steeped in a local atmosphere of deference to mega-employers like the CIA and Pentagon along with numerous big contracting firms nearby, ‘the jury pool was bound to please the prosecution.’”

    Read more »


  • On Jeffrey Sterling: From the Filmmaker of “Invisible Man”

    “The most shocking element of this story it that Jeffrey Sterling seems to be punished because he ‘pulled on Superman’s cape’ first with a racial discrimination suit they were able to squash and then by reporting what he considered a dangerous CIA operation to the proper government channels for hearing such a concern.”

    Read more »


  • News Conference: Whistleblowers Weigh In on Policy

    William Binney (NSA), Thomas Drake (NSA), Daniel Ellsberg (Pentagon Papers), Raymond McGovern (CIA), Jesselyn Radack (Justice Department), Coleen Rowley (FBI) and Kirk Wiebe (NSA) spoke at this news conference, sponsored by ExposeFacts.org, a project of the Institute for Public Accuracy.

    Read more »


  • Netanyahu Victory Opens Door for One-State Solution

    Just before the election, Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu ruled out the creation of a Palestinian State, which means that he repudiated the two-state solution to the dispute between the Israelis and the Palestinians. This has been the pronounced objective of American foreign policy since the Madrid Conference and the Middle East Peace Negotiations in 1991 held under the auspices of the United States government and with the full support of the international community.

    Read more »


  • Major Protests: * Greece * Egypt

    CNN is reporting: “Greek lawmakers Wednesday approved a package of austerity measures demanded by international lenders, despite protests outside Parliament as they were voting.” JOSEPH DANA, joseph.dana at gmail.com Dana is a reporter in Greece. He recently tweeted: “The main protests in Athens are taking place on the Athenian 5th Avenue. Imagine an HSBC bank…

  • Prosecuting Gadhafi, Prosecuting U.S. Leaders

    The Washington Times editorialized Tuesday: “The Obama administration is backing the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. It is a dangerous precedent for the United States to rush to affirm the jurisdiction of this relatively new international body, particularly with a president whose counterterrorism strategy has made his name synonymous with…

  • Study Estimates Costs of U.S. Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan at $3.7 Trillion, 225,000 Killed

    Reuters reports: “When President Barack Obama cited cost as a reason to bring troops home from Afghanistan, he referred to a $1 trillion price tag for America’s wars. “Staggering as it is, that figure grossly underestimates the total cost of wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan to the U.S. Treasury and ignores more imposing costs…

  • Propaganda on Libya

    BRUCE FEIN, bruce at thelichfieldgroup.com Obama legal adviser Harold Koh is scheduled to testify on Libya and war powers this morning before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Koh maintains that the attack on Libya is legal because it does not amount to “hostilities,’ a position reportedly at odds with virtually every other legal view from…

  • Save the Budget, Cut the Military?

    The Washington Post’s lead story today is “GOP Compromise on Debt: Cut Military Spending?” which reported: “As President Obama prepares to meet Monday with Senate leaders to try to restart talks about the swollen national debt, some Republicans see a potential path to compromise: significant cuts in military spending. “Senior GOP lawmakers and leadership aides…

  • Gaza Flotilla Under Threat

    KATHY KELLY, kathy at vcnv.org Coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, Kelly just wrote the piece “Staying Human: Preparing to Sail to Gaza,” which states: “Last week, newly-arrived in Athens as part of the U.S. Boat to Gaza project, our team of activists gathered for nonviolence training. We are here to sail to Gaza, in…

  • NYT: “Insiders Sound an Alarm Amid a Natural Gas Rush”

    Today the New York Times published a piece titled “Behind Veneer, Doubt on Future of Natural Gas.” On Saturday it ran the article “Insiders Sound an Alarm Amid a Natural Gas Rush,” which reported: “Gas may not be as easy and cheap to extract from shale formations deep underground as the [drilling] companies are saying,…

  • House Rejects Libya War; Administration Embraces Torture

    Reuters reports: “House rejects measure authorizing Libya mission.” JULES LOBEL, lobel at law.pitt.edu Vice president of the Center for Constitutional Rights and professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh Law School, Lobel said today: “The House refusal to authorize the Libya war makes clear the president doesn’t have any authority under the Constitution or…

  • Denied Right to Vote in Michigan: “Democracy Emergency”

    The New York Times reports: “More than two dozen residents of Michigan filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against top officials in the state, contending that a new law broadly expanding the powers of emergency managers in the most financially troubled cities violates Michigan’s Constitution. The lawsuit, filed in Ingham County Circuit Court, contends that the…

  • More Warnings on Nuclear Dangers

    AP IMPACT began running a series of investigations into the safety of nuclear energy this week. The first part was titled “U.S. nuke regulators weaken safety rules” and stated: “Federal regulators have been working closely with the nuclear power industry to keep the nation’s aging reactors operating within safety standards by repeatedly weakening those standards,…

Mastodon