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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  • Major International Issues: * G-8 * Nuclear Policy * Indonesia

    NEIL WATKINS Watkins, a project coordinator for the Center for Economic Justice, is scheduled to return to Washington from Genoa at 4 p.m. ET today (Monday). He said today: “The real story in Genoa, where the largest anti-corporate globalization protests yet took place, is the failure of the G-8 to cancel the debt of the…

  • Bush at Six Months: Big Picture Issues

    THEODORE LOWI Professor of American Institutions at Cornell University and author of The End of the Republican Era, Lowi said today: “The most serious issue in the Bush administration is that there is a stigma in his election…. The Supreme Court aborted the election process. This was unprecedented. To try to overcome this lack of…

  • G-8 and Genoa: Key Issues

    As leaders of the G-8 countries gather in Genoa, the following policy analysts are available for interviews: ELLEN FRANK Author of the forthcoming book Money Illusion and a professor of economics at Emmanuel College in Boston, Frank said today: “The U.S. is sliding into a recession, Europe is stagnant, Japan is in a depression. Argentina…

  • Global Military Issues: * Russia, China and ABM * UN Small Arms Conference

    ROBERT WEIL Author of Red Cat, White Cat: China and the Contradictions of “Market Socialism,” Weil said today: “The new Sino-Soviet Friendship Treaty signed today, though largely economic in focus, is also a response to the strategic goals of the Bush administration, and especially its anti-missile program. Despite its supposed ‘rogue nation’ rationale, the effort…

  • Assessing Bush’s Pharmaceutical Cards

    Responding to George W. Bush’s announcement today supporting discount cards for more Medicare recipients to use while buying pharmaceutical drugs, the following board members of Physicians for a National Health Program are available for interviews: DON McCANNE, M.D. A retired family physician, McCanne said today: “White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer claims that ‘the president is…

  • ExxonMobil: Under Fire

    On Wednesday (July 11), an array of groups will be protesting the policies of ExxonMobil. Many are calling for a boycott of the oil giant. The following activists and policy analysts are available for interviews: CHRIS DORAN Doran is campaigns director for PressurePoint, an organization launching its first major campaign directed at ExxonMobil on Wednesday.…

  • U.S. Preparing to Resume Nuclear Tests?

    Critics are expressing dismay in response to published reports that the White House is exploring options for resumption of American nuclear blasts. The Knight Ridder news service reported Thursday that “the Bush administration has asked U.S. nuclear weapons scientists to examine ways that nuclear test explosions beneath the Nevada desert could resume more quickly if…

  • Mideast Issues: *Iraq Sanctions * Sharon’s Record * Algeria

    DENIS HALLIDAY The UN Security Council is conducting a rare open meeting on Iraq today. Halliday is a former assistant secretary general of the UN and ex-head of the UN’s oil-for-food program in Iraq. He just returned from a visit to Iraq along with Hans von Sponek, who subsequently was head of the oil-for-food program.…

  • U.S. Decision on Brazil and AIDS Drugs: Global Implications?

    With the Associated Press reporting Monday afternoon that “the United States has withdrawn a complaint with the World Trade Organization over a law used by Brazil to ensure cheap drugs to fight AIDS,” public health advocates are assessing the implications. The following policy analysts are available for interviews: MARIA LUISA MENDONCA Director of the Global…

  • Talks on Tobacco Lawsuit: Set Up for a Sellout?

    While the Justice Department moves ahead to arrange settlement talks with major tobacco firms, critics are speaking out. The following tobacco policy advocates are available for interviews: JEANNETTE NOLTENIUS Noltenius, executive director of the Latino Council on Alcohol and Tobacco, said today: “Too many people have died of tobacco-related diseases for the Justice Department not…

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