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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  • Big Picture on Immigration Reform

    ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ Rodriguez writes the syndicated Column of the Americas with Patrisia Gonzales. His most recent piece is titled “What Is It About Illegal You Don’t Understand?” More Information OSCAR CHACON Chacon is the director of Enlaces America, a support center for Latino and Caribbean immigrant organizations based in Chicago. He is co-author of the…

  • Mother’s Day and War

    Mothers and their families will gather in front of the White House from 3 p.m. on Saturday until 3 p.m. on Sunday to call for an end to the war in Iraq and stand against a military attack on Iran. Cindy Sheehan and Elaine Johnson will be among those there; both had sons killed in…

  • · Behind Medicare Problems · DOD Funds: No One Accountable? · Impact of Tax Cuts

    CLAUDIA FEGAN, MD Co-author of the book Universal Health Care: What the United States Can Learn from the Canadian Experience, Fegan is past president of Physicians for a National Health Program. She said today: “The current problem with Medicare Part D is unfortunate because some of us believe that the way it was designed virtually…

  • · Iraq · Iran · Sudan

    SAMIR ADIL Adil is co-founder and president of the Iraqi Freedom Congress. He is one of several Iraqis on a speaking tour in the U.S. organized by the American Friends Service Committee. The Iraqi Freedom Congress states that it intends to be “an independent, democratic, secular, non-ethnic and mass organization, which is founded to guarantee…

  • The CIA and Hayden

    WILLIAM and KATHY CHRISTISON William Christison was with the CIA for 27 years, retiring when he was director of the CIA’s Office of Regional and Political Analysis; Kathy Christison is a former CIA political analyst. William Christison said today: “Much of the current discussion focuses on internal squabbling between various factions around Goss, Hayden, Rumsfeld,…

  • Paying the Price for Big Oil

    DAPHNE WYSHAM Wysham is director of the Sustainable Energy and Economy Network and a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. She is co-author of the report “Wrong Turn from Rio: The World Bank’s Road to Climate Catastrophe.” She said today: “The price we are paying at the pump will only grow higher, and our…

  • Gas Prices: Behind the Pain at the Pump

    With gas prices rising for drivers across the country and Chevron reporting today that it posted $4 billion in profits for the first quarter, consumers are fuming while politicians are scrambling. These energy-policy analysts are available for interviews: STEVE KRETZMANN Kretzmann, executive director of Oil Change International, said today: “As politicians of both parties scramble…

  • Seeking Accountability for Bloody Attacks: · Fallujah, Iraq — 2004 · U.N. Compound in Lebanon — 1996

    MARTI HIKEN COLLEEN FLYNN W. GORDON KAUPP Hiken, a spokesperson and co-chair for the National Lawyers Guild Military Law Task Force, is the plaintiff in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit that has just been filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Flynn and Kaupp are among the attorneys representing the Task Force. The…

  • The Politics of Leaks

    ROBERT PARRY Parry, a former reporter for The Associated Press and Newsweek, has written a number of books about Washington politics including, most recently, Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq. He said today: “The Bush administration is cracking down on leaks and dissent inside the government not to protect…

  • Rising Oil Prices: Two Perspectives

    SAM STEIN Stein is a spokesperson at the Center for Public Integrity. He said today: “Our nation’s ‘addiction’ to oil did not happen by accident; far from it. For the past decade, the oil industry has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in its attempts to influence our political system. In the process it has…

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