News Items

  • Media Advisory: Whistleblowers to Speak About Surveillance and Cyber Issues

    “President Barack Obama is set to sign an executive order on Friday aimed at encouraging companies to share more information about cybersecurity threats with the government and each other, a response to attacks like that on Sony Entertainment. … Obama will sign the order at a day-long conference on cybersecurity at Stanford University in the heart of Silicon Valley.”

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  • Delegation of U.S. and UK Whistleblowers in London: News Conference on “Special Surveillance Relationship” — News Advisory

    Whistleblowers from four American and British “national security” agencies will hold a news conference in London on November 21 in a direct challenge to surveillance policies of the U.S. and UK governments. The whistleblowers — from the NSA, FBI, State Department and GCHQ — will speak about the effects of their governments’ policies on freedom of the press and democracy. They are traveling as a delegation co-sponsored by the U.S.-based organizations RootsAction.org and ExposeFacts, a project of the Institute for Public Accuracy. The news conference is being hosted by the Foreign Press Association.

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  • In Response to the Government’s Lynching of James Risen

    It has been a sharp learning curve for Jim Risen, but by having numerous grand juries and two administrations relentlessly hounding him, he has learned how deeply the government’s malevolence descends. But there was always one steadfast assertion he wound not compromise, Jim Risen assured his sources, from the very start of their first encounter, that he would never divulge their identities nor what information they provided him with.

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  • Militarization of U.S. Police: Ferguson, Mo.

    Community policing reforms came about as a corrective to the 1950-60s professional police model which created a large gulf between police and citizens. Few noticed that underlying all the CP rhetoric was a little noticed yet foretelling trend of para-militarism as found in SWAT teams. What we’re witnessing today, though, with the influence of the Dept. of Homeland Security since 9/11 — along with growing emphasis on military hardware and tactics — is the expansion of police militarization throughout entire police departments — and indeed, the entire police institution.

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  • Unconstitutional acts of war in Iraq

    President Obama ignored the wise direction of President George Washington when he casually told the nation — and Congress — that U.S. military forces will engage in acts of war in Iraq for an extended period of weeks and maybe months. Bombing, he said in a brief statement last week, is needed here and there, but he promised there will be no U.S. boots on the ground. … The announcement seemed almost an afterthought as the president headed for vacation in Martha’s Vineyard. He neglected to seek approval of Congress before authorizing bombardment of the military forces of ISIS, the…

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  • News Conference: Edward Snowden’s Passport, Political Asylum and Related Issues

    Ray McGovern, Coleen Rowley and Norman Solomon spoke at this news conference, sponsored by RootsAction.org and hosted by the Institute for Public Accuracy.

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  • NSA Veterans and Whistleblowers Respond to Obama Speech

    Minutes after President Obama’s major address on NSA surveillance on Friday, Jan. 17, the Institute for Public Accuracy held a news conference with noted NSA veterans and whistleblowers.

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  • The War on Poverty at Fifty

    Fifty years after Lyndon B. Johnson made it the centerpiece of his first State of the Union address on January 8, 1964, the War on Poverty remains one of the most embattled—and least understood—of Great Society initiatives.

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  • Edward Snowden: Profile in Courage

    Edward Snowden may go down in history as one of this nation’s most important whistleblowers. He is certainly one of the bravest.

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  • Obama’s Economic Race Legacy

    From the start, President Barack Obama has shown little interest or loyalty in the issues that affect the poor, working class and people of color in the United States. For almost his entire first term he didn’t utter the words poor or poverty. Early on he reminded African Americans: ‘I’m not the president of black America. I’m the president of the United States of America…’

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  • Time Magazine, U.S. Government Using Afghan Women to Sell War?

    The new Time magazine cover featuring a young Afghan woman with her nose missing and the headline “What Happens If We Leave Afghanistan?” has been challenged by many critics, including: * FAIR — “Time Magazine: We Cannot Leave Afghanistan” * Greg Mitchell — “What ALSO Happens If We Leave Afghanistan” * Feminist Peace Network —…

  • WikiLeaks: A Soldier and a Veteran Comment

    BROCK McINTOSH An Army specialist who did a recent 10-month tour in Afghanistan, McIntosh said today: “It is a surreal experience looking at the WikiLeaks reports. I searched on date and region and then our unit, Dragon Hammer, unit 333. You can follow our steps as we sent out SITREPs [situation reports] as a situation…

  • Obama Going After Whistleblowers

    COLEEN ROWLEY Rowley, whose May 2002 memo described some of the FBI’s pre-9/11 failures, was named one of Time Magazine’s people of the year in 2002 along with Enron and WorldCom whistleblowers Sherron Watkins and Cynthia Cooper. Rowley said today: “The Obama administration is detaining Bradley Manning in Kuwait. It is prosecuting Thomas Drake [formerly…

  • After the Big Leak: More Escalation?

    NORMAN SOLOMON Solomon today wrote the piece “State of Denial: After the Big Leak, Spinning for War,” which states: “Washington’s spin machine is in overdrive to counter the massive leak of documents on Afghanistan. Much of the counterattack revolves around the theme that the documents aren’t particularly relevant to this year’s new-and-improved war effort. ……

  • Wikileaks and Realities of Afghanistan War

    Wikileaks (if overloaded, http://wardiary.wikileaks.org) on Sunday released more than 90,000 internal records of U.S. military actions in Afghanistan from over the past six years. The group’s founder Julian Assange spoke earlier today at the Frontline Club in London; video is available. Information based on portions of the Wikileaks data was published simultaneously by The New…

  • “Breaking the Gordian Knot on Climate Legislation”

    Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Thursday effectively killed the Kerry-Lieberman climate bill for this legislative session, saying: “We know we don’t have the votes.” PETER BARNES Co-author of “Climate Solutions: A Citizen’s Guide,” Barnes said today: “Now that the ‘pragmatic’ approach of buying off special interests hasn’t worked, it’s time to try the…

  • NAACP and Tea Party

    KEVIN GRAY Gray is author of the books The Decline of Black Politics: From Malcolm X to Barack Obama and Waiting for Lightning to Strike: The Fundamentals of Black Politics. He argues that the real needs of African Americans, including dealing with unemployment, inadequate housing and wars, are being unmet. BRUCE DIXON Dixon is managing…

  • 87 Senators vs. the Facts on Turkish Group IHH?

    IARA LEE Available for a limited number of interviews, Lee is recently back from Turkey. She wrote the piece (and produced accompanying video) “Slandering the Good Guys: Some Basic Facts About IHH,” which states: “In the immediate aftermath of the massacre aboard the Mavi Marmara on May 31, 2010, while journalists and activists were detained…

  • “BP’s Scheme To Swindle The ‘Small People’”

    DAHR JAMAIL Currently in Tampa, Florida, independent journalist Jamail has been in the Gulf region for three weeks. His recent pieces include “BP’s Scheme To Swindle The ‘Small People’” and “BP Oil Poisons the Gulf of Mexico’s Food Chain.” More Information For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy: Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020

  • “Amiri Told CIA Iran Has No Nuclear Bomb Program”

    GARETH PORTER Porter just wrote “Amiri Told CIA Iran Has No Nuclear Bomb Program” for Inter Press Service. The piece states: “Contrary to a news media narrative that Iranian scientist Shahram Amiri has provided intelligence on covert Iranian nuclear weapons work, CIA sources familiar with the Amiri case say he told his CIA handlers that…

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