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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  • Knight Ridder Deal

    AP is reporting that “the McClatchy Co. has reached a deal to buy Knight Ridder Inc., the second-largest U.S. newspaper publisher, for about $4.5 billion in cash and stock.” The following analysts are available for interviews: BEN H. BAGDIKIAN Author of the groundbreaking book The Media Monopoly and professor emeritus and former dean of the…

  • Iran Standoff at the UN

    SELIG HARRISON Available for a limited number of interviews, Harrison is director of the Asia program at the Center for International Policy and author of five books on nonproliferation and Asian affairs. He wrote recently: “The nuclear negotiations between Iran and the European Union were based on a bargain that the European Union, held back…

  • Another $70 Billion for War

    On Wednesday the House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to take up the Bush administration’s “emergency supplemental” request for approximately $70 billion more for war in Iraq and Afghanistan. MIKE FERNER JEFF LEYS Ferner is a Vietnam War veteran and author of the forthcoming book Inside the Red Zone: A Veteran for Peace Reports from Iraq.…

  • Impeachment: A Debate

    The Wall Street Journal published a story Monday featuring a graphic which noted that 51 percent of respondents in a recent national poll said yes when asked: “If the president didn’t tell the truth about the reasons for the Iraq war, should Congress consider impeachment?” In 1998, in contrast, 27 percent said yes to the…

  • Iraqi Women

    A delegation of Iraqi women has recently arrived in the United States. Their visit is timed to coincide with International Women’s Day (March 8). FAIZA AL-ARAJI Amnesty International released a new report Monday, “Beyond Abu Ghraib: Detention and Torture in Iraq,” saying: “Thousands of detainees being held by the U.S.-led Multinational Force (MNF) in Iraq…

  • Bush in Pakistan

    ANITA WEISS Co-editor of the book Power and Civil Society in Pakistan and professor of international studies at the University of Oregon, Weiss said today: “It’s not clear if the bombing of the Marriott hotel was to protest Bush’s visit or if it was more agitation over the cartoon issue, which is really a proxy…

  • · Afghan Warlords · Iraqi Death Squads · Palestinian Cutoff

    MALALAI JOYA SONALI KOLHATKAR At 27, Joya is one of the youngest members of the Afghan Parliament. She arrived in the U.S. yesterday and will tour the country until March 24. Kolhatkar, co-director of the Afghan Women’s Mission, said today: “Joya first rose to international prominence in 2003 when she openly denounced the warlords at…

  • India: Crucial Issues

    VINEETA GUPTA, M.D. Gupta is director of the Stop HIV/AIDS in India Initiative. She said today: “As a physician and human rights lawyer who worked in the slums and rural areas for 18 years, I want legal and policy changes that would make medicines more affordable and accessible to poor people, especially those suffering from…

  • Bush to “Honor” Gandhi?

    White House National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley announced that, while in India, President Bush plans to participate in a “wreath-laying ceremony in honor of Mahatma Gandhi.” ARUN GANDHI Co-founder (with his wife, Sunanda Gandhi) of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, Arun Gandhi said today: “India is seeking business from the U.S.; the U.S. wants…

  • Zogby: Troops Want Out

    JOHN ZOGBY Pollster John Zogby, president and CEO of Zogby International, said today: “A first-ever survey of U.S. troops on the ground fighting a war overseas has revealed surprising findings, not the least of which is that an overwhelming majority of 72 percent of American troops in Iraq think the U.S. should exit the country…

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