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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  • Recruitment “Stand-Down”

    OSCAR CASTRO Castro is coordinator of the National Youth and Militarism Program for the American Friends Service Committee, which is organizing teach-ins and demonstrations around the country about recruitment today. He said: “The Army plans to suspend all recruiting on May 20. This follows reports of serious recruiter improprieties — including fraud and coercion —…

  • Scrutinizing Iraq Scandals: * Policy * Profiteering

    George Galloway, a member of the British Parliament who has been accused by Sen. Norm Coleman of profiting from the UN oil-for-food program, yesterday addressed the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which is chaired by Coleman. Said Galloway: “I have met Saddam Hussein exactly the same number of times as Donald Rumsfeld met him. The…

  • Ousted Haitian Prime Minister Fasting to Death?

    BILL FLETCHER Fletcher, president of TransAfrica Forum, is available for a limited number of interviews. He said today: “Yvon Neptune, the prime minister of the duly elected government of Haiti, has been jailed for 10 months without charge. He stopped eating on April 17 and is said by his family to be in very bad…

  • Behind and Beyond the Media Reform Movement

    JOHN NICHOLS Nichols is co-founder of Free Press, which organized the three-day National Conference for Media Reform that began today in St. Louis. Nichols said today: “The conference is taking place at an interesting time. The public is becoming more aware of the administration’s attempts to manipulate the media, Congress has begun to move against…

  • Media Reform

    The three-day National Conference for Media Reform begins Friday in St. Louis. The following media analysts, who will be attending the conference, are available for interviews: PETER HART Hart is with Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting. He said today: “We have documented a pattern of bias in major media over the years in a number…

  • Nonproliferation Realities: * McNamara * Ellsberg

    With the review conference on the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) continuing at the United Nations, commentators available for interviews include: ROBERT McNAMARA Former Secretary of Defense McNamara said today: “The NPT was signed by a president. It was submitted to the Senate; it was ratified by the Senate. It is today the law of the land.…

  • Bush in Tbilisi: Why Is Georgia on His Mind?

    President Bush’s schedule in Tbilisi on Tuesday includes meeting with Georgian government officials and speaking to a crowd in the city’s Freedom Square. Why is Bush in Georgia? RONALD GRIGOR SUNY Suny, a professor of political science and history at the University of Chicago, is author of The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the…

  • After Blair’s Weak Victory, Key Issues Remain

    Many observers note that Tony Blair’s support for the Iraq war did significant damage to the Labor Party’s showing in yesterday’s British election. ANURADHA MITTAL Mittal is founder and executive director of the Oakland Institute, a progressive think tank that focuses on economic and social policy issues. She said today: “Anti-war sentiment and lack of…

  • Non-Proliferation and the Nuclear Shadow

    With the review conference on the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) now underway at the United Nations, commentators include independent policy analysts and Americans who have direct experience with nuclear weapons tests. JOHN BURROUGHS Burroughs, executive director of the New York-based Lawyers’ Committee on Nuclear Policy, is monitoring the Non-Proliferation Treaty conference in New York. Burroughs presented…

  • Nuclear Obligations: Iran and the United States

    A long-awaited review conference on the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) got underway at the United Nations today, with the talks scheduled to last until May 27. The NPT treaty obliges existing nuclear powers to dismantle their arsenals and non-nuclear powers to refrain from obtaining nuclear weapons. ROSS POURZAL A Washington-based political analyst who is on the…

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