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 »


  • * Aceh Peace Accords * Sudan

    * ACEH This week, the government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement signed a peace deal in Finland. ASNA HUSIN Husin is the director of the Peace Education Program of Aceh, funded by UNICEF and Nonviolence International. Currently visiting the U.S., she said today: “Peace benefits both sides. The Acehnese are hopeful yet skeptical.…

  • Law Professors Scrutinize Roberts * Quid Pro Quo? * Guantánamo Ruling * Federalist Society

    DAVID LUBAN The Washington Post reports today that “Judge John G. Roberts Jr. was interviewing for a possible Supreme Court nomination with top Bush administration officials at the same time he was presiding over a terrorism case of significant importance to President Bush.” Professor of law at Georgetown University, Luban co-authored the recent article “Improper…

  • Rising Gas Prices and Big Oil’s Agenda

    WENONAH HAUTER TYSON SLOCUM Hauter is director of Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program; Slocum is the group’s research director. Hauter said today: “Since Bush became president, the largest five oil companies operating in the U.S. — ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips, BP and Shell — have enjoyed profits of $254 billion, with ExxonMobil leading…

  • Voices from Crawford

    CELESTE ZAPPALA DANTE ZAPPALA Celeste Zappala and her son Dante have just returned from Crawford to their home in Philadelphia. Celeste’s eldest son, Sgt. Sherwood Baker, was the first Pennsylvania National Guardsman to die in combat since World War II. He was killed in action in Baghdad on April 26, 2004, while searching for weapons…

  • * Gaza “Disengagement” * Ruling Against Taking Medicine to Iraqis

    ALI ABUNIMAH Abunimah is founder of the Electronic Intifada. He said today about the Gaza “disengagement” plan: “This is a giant theater piece designed to convince the world that Israel is taking steps towards peace, that it’s making enormous sacrifices. I have no doubt that there are settlers who genuinely don’t wish to leave Gaza;…

  • Media Advisory: “Over 2 Million Imprisoned Is Too Many”

    Events are taking place this weekend in Washington, D.C., organized by groups seeking to reform the U.S. prison system. The Alabama-based group Families and Friends of People Incarcerated, which is leading the protests and other events, points to over 2 million people currently behind bars in the United States. The group says: “The United States…

  • Interviews Available on Iraqi Constitution * Occupation * Women’s Rights * Economic Agenda * Kurdish Role

    RAED JARRAR Jarrar is an Iraq blogger currently in Jordan. He said today: “The situation with the constitution is similar to that of the election earlier this year. Iraq needs to have elections, it needs a constitution, but you can’t have these things done successfully under occupation. The basis of how things are proceeding is…

  • * Military Families Gathering in Crawford * Letter to Bush from Jailed Soldier’s Wife * Assessing Withdrawal of Troops from Iraq

    CELESTE ZAPPALA Celeste Zappala’s oldest son, Pennsylvania National Guardsman Sgt. Sherwood Baker, was killed in Baghdad in April 2004 while helping with the search for weapons of mass destruction. She is a co-founder, with Cindy Sheehan and others, of Gold Star Families for Peace and is now in Crawford. She said today: “It is good…

  • * Oil-for-Food * Mideast Nukes * Energy Bill * Hiroshima Cover-Up

    DENIS HALLIDAY Halliday is a former assistant secretary general of the United Nations and headed the UN “oil-for-food” program until resigning in protest over the continued sanctions on Iraq. He said today: “By not tackling the real UN failure — i.e., the role of the Security Council in Iraq — Volker’s new Oil for Food…

  • Military Loved Ones Converging on Crawford

    CINDY SHEEHAN Cindy Sheehan, co-founder of the group Gold Star Families for Peace, is the mother of Casey Sheehan, a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq on April 4, 2004. Cindy Sheehan is in Crawford and is determined to meet with President Bush. She said today: “I met with Bush two and a half months after…

Mastodon