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.”

    Read more »


  • 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.

    Read more »


  • 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.

    Read more »


  • 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.

    Read more »


  • 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…

    Read more »


  • 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.

    Read more »


  • 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.

    Read more »


  • 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.

    Read more »


  • 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.

    Read more »


  • 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…’

    Read more »


  • BP: * “Corporate Criminal” * Beneath the Surface

    RUSSELL MOKHIBER President Obama is scheduled to meet with the chair of BP on Wednesday. Mokhiber is editor of Corporate Crime Reporter. He said today: “BP is a recidivist corporate criminal. BP has three convictions and one deferred prosecution agreement in the last ten years. In his speech [Tuesday night] Obama did not once mention…

  • Afghanistan’s $1 Trillion “Resource Curse”

    MICHAEL KLARE Klare is author of Resource Wars and Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet. In response to recent reports of $1 trillion in mineral resources found in Afghanistan, he said today: “The discovery and development of these mineral reserves in Afghanistan — described as a potential boon to that country by General [David] Petraeus — would…

  • Egyptian Crackdown on Protests Following Activist’s Beating Death

    Pro-democracy protesters in Egypt were beaten at a protest Sunday following the death last week of Khaled Said. Family, supporters, witnesses and rights groups say that Said was killed by Egyptian government forces last week outside an internet cafe. AP is reporting in a piece titled “Egyptians beaten while protesting police brutality” that “the Egyptian…

  • “What’s Wrong With This Picture?”: Prosecuting Torture Protesters — Not Perpetrators

    The group Witness Against Torture states that beginning Monday, 27 individuals “will face trial stemming from arrests at the U.S. Capitol on January 21, 2010 — the date by which President Obama had promised the closure of the Guantanamo detention camp.” BILL QUIGLEY Available for a limited number of interviews, Quigley is legal director for…

  • Just Back From Afghanistan and Pakistan

    KATHY KELLY JOSHUA BROLLIER Kelly and Brollier are with the group Voices for Creative Nonviolence. They are just back from over a month in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Several articles they have written are on the group’s web page. Kelly said today: “As violence escalates and the war prolongs, the question isn’t what does the U.S.…

  • Israeli Critic “Witch Hunt”

    HANEEN ZOABI, via Shada Zoabi A member of the Israeli Knesset, Zoabi, who was born in Nazareth, is a board member and co-founder of the I’lam Media Center for Arab Palestinians in Israel. She was aboard the Mavi Marmara, the lead ship in the Gaza flotilla where nine activists were killed, and she witnessed some…

  • National Intelligence Director Nominee

    Over the weekend, President Obama nominated James Clapper to replace Dennis C. Blair as U.S. Director of National Intelligence. MELVIN A. GOODMAN Goodman just wrote the piece “Pentagon Tightens Grip on the Obama Administration and the Intelligence Community.” Now a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, Goodman was with the CIA for 41…

  • Actually, the Ship Was Not Turkish-Flagged

    JOHN QUIGLEY Professor of international law at Ohio State University, Quigley said today: “Contrary to what many are claiming, including the New York Times in a front-page article on the Gaza flotilla, the Mavi Marmara, the vessel on which deaths occurred, is not Turkish-flagged. Although formerly Turkish-flagged, the Mavi Marmara was Comoros-flagged by the time…

  • “Can Israel Be Trusted with Nuclear Weapons?”

    NORMAN FINKELSTEIN Author of “This Time We Went Too Far”: Truth and Consequences of the Gaza Invasion, Finkelstein said today: “It’s important to understand that the Israeli cabinet deliberated before deciding on a nighttime commando raid [against the Free Gaza ships]. This wasn’t a rash decision by low-level people. Last week, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation conference…

  • Israel and Free Gaza Flotilla

    CINDY and CRAIG CORRIE Cindy and Craig Corrie are the parents of Rachel Corrie, who was killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in the Gaza Strip on March 16, 2003, while trying to prevent the demolition of the home of a Palestinian pharmacist, his wife and three young children. A Free Gaza boat that is…

Mastodon