Category Archives: National Security

Decreasingly Hypothetical Questions

Posted on February 10, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

Here are three genuine, not utterly hypothetical, questions inspired by the revelation that Libby fingered Cheney as the person who instructed him to leak information from a National Intelligence Estimate hyping Iraq’s supposed efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction. I really don’t know the answers; all I have are guesses at best.

  1. Does Vice-President Cheney have the legal authority to declassify material single-handedly?
  2. And even if he does, if Cheney proved also to be the source of an instruction to leak information about Valerie Plame, does his legal authority extend to the exposing the identity of a covert CIA agent?
  3. And if the answer to either question above is “no” does that amount to an impeachable offense?

My guesses–and they are only guesses–below. Make your own before peeking.

Continue reading →

Posted in National Security | 13 Comments

Values Clarification

Posted on January 16, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

Miami Herald, Groups unite to defy military recruiting efforts,

Over the last five years, schools such as Central, which is in a lower-income area, saw twice as many military recruiters as college recruiters.

I don’t begrudge the military the chance to recruit (as long as there’s no trickery); indeed, I’m still waiting for GW Bush to make a nationally televised speech banging the drum. But wouldn’t it be nice if we as a society were as assiduous about promoting education as a means of upward mobility.

Of course, once upon a time, state college tuition was almost free; now it’s much more expensive (Update: here are some stats on declining public funding of community colleges). And we’re making loans more difficult too.

I suppose it helps military recruiting….

Posted in National Security | 1 Comment

Time to Think the Unthinkable

Posted on January 5, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

It used to be that having the NSA spy domestically was one of the unthinkable acts that one believed administrations understood were out of bounds. Sort of like the indefinite detention of US citizens in military prisons, or the torturing and killing of prisoners, or ‘rendering’ them to countries that torture.

Well, all bets, gloves, illusions are off.

It is time, therefore, to start asking if this administration is doing other things that were previously ‘unthinkable’.

Today brings suggestions that the administration spied on one or more journalists, and perhaps also on an occasional Democratic candidate and party operative. But don’t stop there. For example, someone should ask whether the new ‘anything goes without a warrant if it’s important enough’ standard for snooping extends to tax returns and to census data. It’s hard, after all, to imagine a legal theory that would allow the NSA to ignore FISA that would not also apply to all that delicious data just sitting there, even if it is hedged with statutory protections. That’s just Congress, after all, nothing serious.

Suggestions for other previously unthinkable questions that should be asked — not that we can trust any statement we get from this administration — painfully welcomed.

Posted in Law: Privacy, National Security, Politics: The Party of Sleaze | 4 Comments

More Illegality & Cover-up at the FBI

Posted on December 3, 2005 by Michael Froomkin

Not only did the FBI bungle a terrorism investigation and drive the whistle-blower out of the agency, but the FBI is unable to determine who among its staff falsified a report with correction fluid. Is this incompetence, or willful ignorance, and does either answer mean anything less than a thorough house-cleaning is in order? (I mean, wouldn’t SOP be to polygraph the lot of them?)

Report Finds Cover-Up in an F.B.I. Terror Case – New York Times: Officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation mishandled a Florida terror investigation, falsified documents in the case in an effort to cover repeated missteps and retaliated against an agent who first complained about the problems, Justice Department investigators have concluded.

In one instance, someone altered dates on three F.B.I. forms using correction fluid to conceal an apparent violation of federal wiretap law, according to a draft report of an investigation by the Justice Department inspector general’s office obtained by The New York Times. But investigators were unable to determine who altered the documents.

Posted in Law: Criminal Law, National Security | 5 Comments

Big Lies

Posted on October 29, 2005 by Michael Froomkin

Marty Schwimmer is not a happy camper: The government has been lying to him. (It’s not about the Plame affair despite the title)

Posted in National Security | Comments Off on Big Lies

William Arkin Pulls No Punches

Posted on October 5, 2005 by Michael Froomkin

William Arkin, pungently:

Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers retired this week as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and received the usual platitudes from the President and others about his leadership of the military since September 2001. He’s off to Kansas State University in his home state, according to some reports with a possible role with the school’s Institute for Military History and 20th Century Studies. I’m not sure I could say, as a watcher of Myers for five years, what unique contribution he’s made, or what philosophy he holds about military matters, or even what he has contributed. Two memories stick in my head: Myers’ vociferous defense of the Iraq war plan — he’s not known for public expressions of emotion — after others criticized the size of the U.S. ground force early in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The other memory is one of Myers standing next to or behind President Bush at various White House and Crawford events that just happened to occur during the 2004 Presidential campaign. His appearance in uniform with Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Rice, and Powell suggested that he was some kind of political appointee, and that the military somehow endorsed the President is his campaigning mode. Maybe the new Chairman could be a little more mindful of the fact that he is a military advisor to the President and not a member of the administration.

Arkin certainly calls ’em like I see ’em.

In fact, this Early Warning by William M. Arkin blog that the Washington Post is running reminds me why I read newspapers.

Except. Wait. You can’t read Arkin’s blog in your newspaper. It’s only at Washingtonpost.com. (Kinda like this.) As Jay Rosen notes, Washingtonpost.com is much livelier than the online offering by the NYT. Plus the print NYT has other problems too these days.

Posted in National Security | 1 Comment