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 »


  • Team of Rivals or Kettle of Hawks?

    ROBERT DREYFUSS Editor of The Dreyfuss Report and author of Devil’s Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam, Dreyfuss just wrote the piece “Still Preparing to Attack Iran: The Neoconservatives in the Obama Era,” which states: “A familiar coalition of hawks, hardliners, and neoconservatives expects Barack Obama’s proposed talks with Iran to fail…

  • India: * Reaction to Attacks * Nuclear Policy

    VIJAY PRASHAD Prashad just wrote the piece “The Fires in South Asia.” He said today: “Disoriented, the [Indian] state seeks easy solutions: more draconian legislation, more fiery rhetoric, and more warmongering. The Congress [Party]-led government is pushed from the right by the [Hindu nationalist] BJP, which seems to want an instant attack on Pakistan, a…

  • Change on Economy?

    TIMOTHY CANOVA Canova is professor of international economic law at the Chapman University School of Law in Orange, California. He said today: “The selections of Larry Summers as chair of the National Economic Council and Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary are disappointing. Although President-elect Obama has referred to their ‘sound judgment and fresh thinking,’ when…

  • Top UN Official: Apartheid by Israel

    The Jerusalem Post reports: “General Assembly President Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann said the international community should consider sanctions against Israel including ‘boycott, divestment and sanctions’ similar to those enacted against South Africa two decades ago.” In his remarks, d’Escoto said: “Israeli policies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories appear so similar to the apartheid of an earlier…

  • Report: Spending on Bailouts 40 Times Other Crises

    SARAH ANDERSON JOHN CAVANAGH Anderson is director of the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies and Cavanagh is IPS director. They are co-authors of a new report titled “Skewed Priorities: How the Bailouts Dwarf Other Global Crisis Spending.” They write: “The financial crisis is only one of multiple crises that will affect…

  • The Economy and Transition

    CRAIG HOLMAN Holman is government ethics lobbyist for Public Citizen. He said today: “Bolstered with enthusiastic public support, Obama has a great opportunity for breaking the grip of special interests over Washington. But his transition to the White House — marked with the appointment of several lobbyists and big-money bundlers — is cause for concern.…

  • The End of Racism?

    BARBARA SMITH Author of The Truth That Never Hurts: Writings on Race, Gender, and Freedom and other books, Smith said today: “In the wake of Barack Obama’s historic election there is a lot of talk about racism suddenly becoming a thing of the past. It is true that millions of white people voted for an…

  • Bush Administration Purging Whistleblowers?

    The Washington Post on Tuesday published a piece titled “Administration Moves to Protect Key Appointees: Political Positions Shifted to Career Civil Service Job.” Parallel to this process, some whistleblowers and government workers are apparently being forced out. MARSHA COLEMAN-ADEBAYO Coleman-Adebayo is a senior policy analyst and whistleblower at the EPA. She has recently received a…

  • The Trouble with Eric Holder

    Media reports indicate that President-elect Obama will be nominating Eric Holder, a former Clinton administration official, as attorney general. The following are available for interviews: JOHN NICHOLS A columnist with The Nation magazine, Nichols just wrote the piece “The Trouble With Eric Holder.” The piece states that “Holder was part of the legal team that…

  • Anti-War Candidate, Pro-War Cabinet?

    “I don’t want to just end the war; I want to end the mindset that got us into war.” — Barack Obama Feb. 19, 2008 ROBERT PARRY Parry is editor of ConsortiumNews.com, a reader-supported investigative webpage. His recent pieces include “The Danger of Keeping Robert Gates” and “Obama Risks Clinton-Era Mistakes,” which states: “After a…

Mastodon