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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  • Scrutinizing Claims on Iran

    MILAN RAI Rai wrote a recent briefing paper titled “IED Lies: The U.S. claims that Iran supplies Improvised Explosive Devices to Iraqi insurgents. No serious evidence has been provided[PDF].” Rai is author of the book 7/7: The London Bombings, Islam and the Iraq War. More Information STEPHEN ZUNES Professor of politics at the University of…

  • The Watada Case: Blow to the Government?

    The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is reporting today: “The Army court-martial of 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, which ended in a mistrial Wednesday, may have stranger turns ahead: Prohibitions against double jeopardy may keep prosecutors from having a second trial, his lawyer and another legal expert say.” Lt. Watada is the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse orders…

  • Budget Priorities

    BEN COHEN WARREN LANGLEY President of Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities, Cohen said today: “Spending on weapons rose nearly 20 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, and President Bush is continuing to demand more funding for exorbitantly priced Cold War weapons. It’s time to provide a strong foundation for growth for the American…

  • Soldiers Refusing to Go to Iraq

    In a story headlined “Watada lawyer rebukes judge,” the Seattle Times reports today: “First Lt. Ehren Watada’s court-martial verdict could hinge on the Fort Lewis officer’s own testimony when he takes the stand later this week to testify about why he refused to go to war.” The following veterans and military family members are among…

  • Anti-War Movement Begins “Extralegal Lobbying”

    As President Bush submits his budget today, various peace groups are launching what they are calling the “Occupation Project,” an eight-week-long campaign to end funding for the Iraq war. This will include citizens around the country nonviolently occupying their representatives’ offices. Among the organizers of this campaign available for interviews are: GAEL MURPHY Co-founder of…

  • Iran Threats: Evidence and Legality

    MARJORIE COHN Cohn is a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law. Her most recent piece is “Cruise Missile Diplomacy: Bush Targets Iran,” which states: “Bush is rattling the sabers and opting for gunboat diplomacy by pledging to ‘seek out and destroy’ Iranian networks ‘providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies’ in Iraq. But…

  • The Iraq War and Free Speech: The Pentagon vs. Lt. Watada

    “The U.S. government agreed to drop two counts of conduct unbecoming an officer from its case against the Army lieutenant who called the Iraq war illegal and refused to deploy,” the Associated Press reports. “1st Lt. Ehren Watada, whose court-martial is scheduled Feb. 5, still faces a maximum of four years imprisonment if he is…

  • Funding the Iraq War: Congress at a Crossroads

    ANTHONY ARNOVE Arnove, the author of the recent book Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal, spoke yesterday on Capitol Hill at a forum of the congressional “Out of Iraq” Caucus. “There are differences between Vietnam and Iraq,” he said. “But there are all too many similarities. I fear we are in a moment analogous to the…

  • State of the Union · War · Oil · Healthcare · Immigration · Education

    GARETH PORTER Author, most recently, of the book Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam, Porter said today: “If Bush were really focused on the problem of worsening sectarian violence in Iraq, he would have learned that continuing to make war against Sunni insurgents while supporting a largely Shiite…

  • Pending Iraq Oil Law

    The issue of the pending Iraqi oil law was raised this morning at a news conference with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at the National Press Club. In a question, Sam Husseini of the Institute for Public Accuracy quoted from a January 16 article in Britain’s Guardian newspaper written by an…

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