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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  • Advocating Tax Reform

    CHUCK COLLINS Yesterday the House voted to repeal the estate tax. Senior fellow at Responsible Wealth, Collins said today: “Estate tax opponents are fighting to preserve every last dime of Paris Hilton’s inheritance. … Under current law, the tax affects 1.5 percent of the people who die each year, yet will generate more than a…

  • As World Bank Begins Wolfowitz Era …

    The World Bank, International Monetary Fund and G7 will all be meeting this weekend in Washington, D.C. The following are available for interviews: BERNICE ROMERO Romero is international advocacy director for Oxfam. He said today: “Since the G7 met in February, another 2 million people have died due to poverty. … As G7 finance leaders…

  • “Why I Interrupted John Negroponte”

    ANDRES THOMAS CONTERIS Conteris is a Latin America human rights activist. He spoke out during John Negroponte’s Senate confirmation hearing today (and was handcuffed and detained.) Negroponte was U.S. ambassador to Honduras during the Nicaragua Contra war in the early 1980s. Conteris said today: “I spoke up at the hearing just as they were talking…

  • The Bankruptcy Bill: Opening Doors to Debt Slavery?

    ELIZABETH WARREN Warren is a professor at Harvard Law School and coauthor of The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Parents Are Going Broke. She directed the National Bankruptcy Review Commission’s study of federal bankruptcy laws and drafted its report to Congress. In her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in February, she said: “Overwhelmingly, American families…

  • Perspectives on Bush-Sharon Meeting

    NASEER ARURI Author of the book Dishonest Broker: The U.S. Roles in Israel and Palestine, Aruri is chancellor professor emeritus of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. He said today: “At the rhetorical level, both leaders pay lip service to the creation of a Palestinian state. And yet, both are committed to…

  • Views on Legacy of John Paul II

    MARK ENGLER Engler, a commentator for Foreign Policy in Focus, wrote the recent article “John Paul II’s Economic Ethics.” He said today: “A steady feature in Pope John Paul II’s obituaries has been mention of his unwaveringly conservative stances on issues such as abortion, birth control, gay rights, and the ordination of women. While these…

  • Two Views on Kurdish Iraqi Leader

    EDMUND GHAREEB Professor of Kurdish and Middle East Studies at American University, Ghareeb is author of The Historical Dictionary of Iraq. He said today: “Along with Massoud Barzani, Jalal Talabani has been the most prominent Kurdish leader for decades. This is a landmark step for the long-suppressed Kurdish minority. It signals the unity and territorial…

  • PATRIOT Act Under Scrutiny

    Congress has begun a series of hearings on the PATRIOT Act. The following critics of the Act are available for interviews: KIT GAGE Gage is director of the First Amendment Foundation. She said today: “We applaud the conversation now taking place in the Congress regarding both the PATRIOT Act and many non-legislative changes enacted since…

  • Who is John Bolton?

    John Bolton’s Senate confirmation hearing as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations will be held Thursday. TOM BARRY Barry is policy director of the International Relations Center and author of the recent article “UN Basher as UN Ambassador: Bolton’s Baggage.” He said today: “In early 2001 Bolton observed: ‘It is a big mistake…

  • Choices Ahead at the Vatican

    MARK CHMIEL Chmiel wrote the new article “A Young Woman’s Challenge to the Pope (and the Rest of Us).” He is a member of the Center for Theology and Social Analysis and teaches at St. Louis University. He said today: “The Pope’s successor will inherit [a] position in a structure that provides for security, protection…

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