The Obama administration‘s war on leaks and, by extension, the work of investigative reporters, has been unrelenting

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#freebrad

Ägyptens Militär gibt sich weitere Sondervollmachten / Geheimpolizei wieder da

An Army judge on Tuesday acquitted Pfc. Bradley Manning of aiding the enemy by disclosing a trove of secret U.S. government documents, a striking rebuke to military prosecutors who argued that the largest leak in U.S. history had assisted al-Qaeda.

More details to follow ASAP.

„France calls for the rejection of violence and for the release of political prisoners, including former president Mursi,“ Fabius told journalists in Paris.

Speaking alongside interim Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei, Ashton said EU diplomats would be in Egypt to continue the effort. „I will come back,“ she said, adding it was up to Egyptian politicians to „make the right decisions“.

In einer aktuellen Umfrage des Pew Research Institutes steigt die Zustimmung der Bevölkerung zu ihrer faktischen Totalüberwachung durch den Staat auf 50 Prozent. Vor einem Monat hatte die Zustimmung der U.S.-Amerikaner zu der “Sammlung von Telefon und Internet Daten durch die Regierung im Zuge von Anti-Terrorismus-Maßnahmen” noch bei 48 Prozent gelegen.

Der Rest der Umfrageergebnisse ist irrelevant.

Protests aimed at ousting the government intensified last week after the second assassination of a politician from the secular opposition in six months. The government blamed hardline Salafist militants for both attacks, but the opposition holds Ennahda responsible

„I am deeply troubled that the U.S. military can pursue, attack and even kill terrorists and their supporters, but that some in the U.S. government believe we cannot prevent these same people from receiving a government contract,“ Sopko wrote in an introduction to his office‘s quarterly report on the U.S. reconstruction effort in Afghanistan.

The U.S. Army Suspension and Debarment Office has declined to act in 43 such cases, John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, said today in a letter accompanying a quarterly report to Congress.

If the National Security Agency monitored phone conversations between a New Zealand journalist and his Afghan sources, as reported this weekend, it was more likely to have been done under standard military intelligence monitoring of enemy communications in war zones, intelligence officials and experts said Monday.

You may recall that, back in June, 26 Senators had teamed up to send Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, a series of rather direct questions about the NSA‘s surveillance efforts. Clapper took his sweet time (nearly a month) to get back to them, but finally did so on Friday (always have to avoid the news cycle, I guess). T

The national survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted July 17-21 among 1,480 adults, finds that 50% approve of the government’s collection of telephone and internet data as part of anti-terrorism efforts, while 44% disapprove. These views are little changed from a month ago, when 48% approved and 47% disapproved.

A year ago, we wrote about a Russian law that introduced a blacklist designed to block access to information on drugs, suicide and child pornography (all for the children, of course.) Strangely, that same law was then used to silence leading reporters who dared to criticize the government (bet nobody saw that coming….)

The Michigan congressman determined to stop the NSA’s abuses wins a battle against House GOP leaders.

For many years now, we‘ve pointed out that so much of what drives the fear-mongering about the „intelligence-industrial complex“ is pretty simple: money.

Überraschender Besuch in der Einzelhaft: Die EU-Außenbeauftragte Catherine Ashton ist mit dem ägyptischen Ex-Präsidenten Mohammed Mursi zusammengetroffen. Das Gespräch an einem geheimen Ort dauerte zwei Stunden.