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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  • Two Years After “Shock and Awe”

    GREG PALAST Author of a BBC report which airs today, “Secret U.S. Plans for Iraq’s Oil,” Palast is available for a limited number of interviews. More Information ANTONIA JUHASZ A Foreign Policy In Focus scholar, Juhasz wrote the article “Of Oil And Elections” and is author of a forthcoming book, about the Bush administration’s global…

  • The Wolfowitz Nomination: “Emblematic of Misplaced Priorities”

    ROBERT WEISSMAN Co-director of Essential Action, Weissman said today: “Wolfowitz brings no apparent development experience to the job, but does offer a record of unabashed militarism and unilateralism that represents exactly the wrong direction for the World Bank. Militarism and wasteful spending on weaponry is a huge problem in the developing world. The nomination of…

  • Administration Agenda on Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

    The New York Times published a front-page story yesterday related to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference coming in May. The piece, entitled “Bush Seeks to Ban Some Nations From All Nuclear Technology,” stated that “Behind President Bush’s recent shift in dealing with Iran’s nuclear program lies a less visible goal: to rewrite, in…

  • Stories from Soldiers

    This weekend marks the beginning of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The following people can provide perspectives on some of the experiences of U.S. soldiers who have been in Iraq. MICHAEL HOFFMAN Hoffman is a co-founder and national coordinator of Iraq Veterans Against the War. He was in the U.S. Marine Corps for over four…

  • With More Funding for Iraq War, Grim Echoes of Vietnam War

    The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote Tuesday (March 15) on the White House request for a supplemental appropriation for the war in Iraq. The following analysts are available for interviews: DANIEL HALLIN The author of the landmark book The “Uncensored War”: The Media and Vietnam, Hallin is professor of communication and adjunct professor…

  • The Significance of John Bolton; Anticipating Impacts at the U.N.

    While diplomats assess the appointment of John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, the following analysts are available for interviews: EMAD MEKAY Mekay is the chief correspondent in Washington for Asharq Alawsat, an Arabic-language newspaper based in London. He said today: “Bolton’s appointment sends a strong signal that the Bush administration wants to…

  • * The Right to Vote as a Constitutional Right * Barred for Life: Felon Disenfranchisement

    JAMIN RASKIN Last week, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. introduced House Joint Resolution 28 with 54 original co-sponsors. The resolution proposes to add a new “right to vote” amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Congressman Jackson said today: “I first introduced the Voting Rights Amendment on November 6, 2001, during the first session of the 107th Congress.…

  • Democracy on the March * Egyptian Election * Vermont War Vote * Iraq Labor Rights

    NAWAL EL SAADAWI Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has recently indicated that he would allow some sort of challenger in Egypt’s presidential elections this year. Nawal El Saadawi is founder and president of the Arab Women Solidarity Association and a writer and medical doctor. She has stated her intention to seek the Egyptian presidency. She said…

  • The Money Behind Social Security Privatization Push

    LAURA MILLER Editor of PR Watch, Miller said today: “The Bush administration ventriloquists are out in full force these days, breathlessly hyping ‘Personal Retirement Accounts’ as a way to save Social Security by destroying it. For the average voter, getting a handle on what the Bush administration is proposing to do to Social Security is…

  • Responses to Supreme Court Ban of Death Penalty in Juvenile Cases

    BRYAN STEVENSON Executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama, a nonprofit organization that provides legal representation to indigent defendants and prisoners who have been denied fair and just treatment in the legal system, Stevenson said today: “About 8 percent of the death penalty cases here in Alabama are juvenile cases, so for us…

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