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.”

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  • 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.

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  • 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.

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  • 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.

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  • 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.

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  • 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.

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  • 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.’”

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  • 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.”

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  • 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.

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  • 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.

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  • Carlyle Buying Booz Allen Hamilton’s Intel Outsourcing

    AP is reporting: “Privately held consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton … plans to sell a majority stake in its U.S. government business to private equity firm Carlyle Group for $2.54 billion, and spin off its commercial business into a separate company.” TIM SHORROCK Available for a limited number of interviews, Shorrock is author of the…

  • Resigned Lobbyist “Tip of Iceberg” in McCain Campaign

    CLIFF SCHECTER Schecter is the author of the new book The Real McCain. He said today: “Lobbyist Tom Loeffler’s exit from the McCain campaign is only the tip of the iceberg in a candidacy swimming with conflicts of interest. McCain has now asked all of his staffers to fill out a form listing any conflicts.…

  • Bush in the Mideast: A Big Charade?

    NIR ROSEN Currently in Beirut, Rosen is a fellow at New York University’s Center on Law and Security. He witnessed much of the recent fighting in Lebanon and can assess the role of the army and various groups in Lebanon. He said today: “A big part of what is driving events is the creation of…

  • Are Neglected Dams Time Bombs?

    JACQUES LESLIE Leslie’s latest book, Deep Water: The Epic Struggle Over Dams, Displaced People, and the Environment, won the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award and was named one of the top science books of the year by Discover magazine. He said today: “Reports indicate that there are 391 small dams in the vicinity of the…

  • Winter Soldier on the Hill

    Boots-on-the-ground veterans are testifying before Congress on Thursday about the effects of the Iraq occupation. This testimony, presented by veterans who have witnessed firsthand the devastation of Iraq and its people, comes on the same day that Congress is expected to debate a bill extending funding for the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan through 2009.…

  • $175 Billion Toward $3 Trillion War

    The House of Representatives is expected to have a full chamber debate on the war supplemental bill on Thursday. THEODORE LOWI Lowi is professor of American Institutions at Cornell University and author of several books including The End of Liberalism. He said today: “Supplementals are supposed to be for real emergencies — like Katrina. The…

  • Israel’s 60th

    AP is reporting: “President Bush on Wednesday opened a celebratory visit to Israel … ‘We consider the Holy Land a very special place, and we consider the Israeli people our close friends,’ Bush said. … The Palestinians are marking the 60th anniversary of the ‘nakba,’ or catastrophe…” ALICE ROTHCHILD Currently in Washington, D.C., Rothchild is…

  • Voter ID Battle

    The lead story in today’s New York Times reports: “The battle over voting rights will expand this week as lawmakers in Missouri are expected to support a proposed constitutional amendment to enable election officials to require proof of citizenship from anyone registering to vote. “The measure would allow far more rigorous demands than the voter…

  • Mother’s Day

    The first Mother’s Day proclamation, an impassioned plea for peace, was written by Julia Ward Howe in 1870. MEDEA BENJAMIN BAN ADIL SARHAN Benjamin is a founder of the women’s peace group CodePink and is just back from Jordan and Syria, where she met with many Iraqi refugees and grassroots organizations working with them. A…

  • Focus on Whistleblowers

    MARSHA COLEMAN-ADEBAYO Coleman-Adebayo is president of the No Fear Institute, which is organizing Whistleblower Week in Washington next week. A conference there will seek “to protect individuals’ civil rights and justice as well as the rights of truth tellers who report hazardous, illegal and unsafe conditions, and waste, fraud and abuses of authority in government…

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