Showing posts with label State Dept. Show all posts
Showing posts with label State Dept. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
New Passport Regulations May Ground Us Forever
Don't believe me? Check out the proposed new passport requirements: "Form DS-5513 asks for all addresses since birth; lifetime employment history including employers’ and supervisors names, addresses, and telephone numbers; personal details of all siblings; mother’s address one year prior to your birth; any 'religious ceremony' around the time of birth; and a variety of other information," reports Consumer Traveler, which adds that only "some" citizens will have to fill out the questionnaire. Who of us counts as "some" is a complete and total mystery, as the State Department's proposed rule does not include a handy chart for determining which level of hell applicants must travel to in order to be able to go to Cancun for spring break. Consumer Traveler also reports that "the State Department estimated that the average respondent would be able to compile all this information in just 45 minutes."
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
SVtate Dept Well Aware of Imam Rauf's Rhetoric
State Department “Aware” of Ground Zero Mosque Imam’s Controversial Remarks Fox News hat tip Katherine
WASHINGTON - State Department officials say they are aware of the controversial remarks Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf made in 2005. Rauf is the Imam of the controversial so-called Ground Zero mosque and is presently on a State Department funded outreach tour of Middle Eastern countries.
During a 2005 conference in Australia, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf compared the United States to Al Qaeda and said, "We tend to forget, in the West, that the United States has more Muslim blood on its hands than Al Qaeda has on its hands of innocent non-Muslims."
Rauf made the comments while speaking at the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Center during a question and answer session, as part of what sponsors say was a dialogue to improve relations between America and the Muslim world.
Rauf added, "You remember that the U.S. led sanctions against Iraq led to the death of over half a million Iraqi children. This has been documented by the United Nations."
"We are aware of those remarks," said State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley. "I would just caution any of you that choose to write on this that once again you have a case where a blogger has pulled out one passage from a very lengthy speech, if you read the entire speech, you will discover exactly why we think he is rightfully participating in this international speaking tour."
On the substance of Rauf's 2005 accusations, none other than former President Bill Clinton has defended the sanctions, some of which took place during his years in the White House. Clinton and other diplomats assert that Saddam Hussein's regime corrupted the sanctions and denied humanitarian aid to his own people.
Crowley also revealed Rauf's activities over the next few days, which the State Department had been reluctant to do before Tuesday.
WASHINGTON - State Department officials say they are aware of the controversial remarks Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf made in 2005. Rauf is the Imam of the controversial so-called Ground Zero mosque and is presently on a State Department funded outreach tour of Middle Eastern countries.
During a 2005 conference in Australia, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf compared the United States to Al Qaeda and said, "We tend to forget, in the West, that the United States has more Muslim blood on its hands than Al Qaeda has on its hands of innocent non-Muslims."
Rauf made the comments while speaking at the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Center during a question and answer session, as part of what sponsors say was a dialogue to improve relations between America and the Muslim world.
Rauf added, "You remember that the U.S. led sanctions against Iraq led to the death of over half a million Iraqi children. This has been documented by the United Nations."
"We are aware of those remarks," said State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley. "I would just caution any of you that choose to write on this that once again you have a case where a blogger has pulled out one passage from a very lengthy speech, if you read the entire speech, you will discover exactly why we think he is rightfully participating in this international speaking tour."
On the substance of Rauf's 2005 accusations, none other than former President Bill Clinton has defended the sanctions, some of which took place during his years in the White House. Clinton and other diplomats assert that Saddam Hussein's regime corrupted the sanctions and denied humanitarian aid to his own people.
Crowley also revealed Rauf's activities over the next few days, which the State Department had been reluctant to do before Tuesday.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Espionage Charged Dept of State Cables
Fearing disclosure of State Dept. secrets leaked by an Army intel analyst, the feds took the hard drive of the man who turned him in. Will Bradley Manning be charged with espionage?
Defense Department investigators are weighing espionage charges against a 22-year-old Army intelligence specialist accused of leaking highly classified documents to the website Wikileaks. On Saturday, the investigators took custody of electronic records from a former computer hacker based in California who has emerged as the Pentagon's key informant in the case, the informant tells The Daily Beast.
The former hacker, Adrian Lamo, first alerted the Defense Department to the leaks by Army Specialist Bradley Manning—including a 2007 video of an American helicopter attack in Baghdad, which created a sensation when posted recently by Wikileaks, as well as a cache of sensitive State Department cables.
Lamo said in an interview Saturday night that he had voluntarily turned over his computer records, including contents of one of his hard drives, to the Pentagon earlier in the day. He said criminal investigators from the Defense Department were scheduled to interview him again on Sunday near his home in California.
Lamo said he first learned that Manning might face espionage charges, a crime that could carry the death penalty, when the word "espionage" appeared on a formal release form that he was asked to sign by the Pentagon criminal investigators who took custody of his electronic records. "It's one of the statutes that was written down on a piece of paper that I signed to authorize the search," Lamo said. Calls to the Pentagon press office were not immediately returned Saturday night.
Philip Shenon, The Daily Beast
Defense Department investigators are weighing espionage charges against a 22-year-old Army intelligence specialist accused of leaking highly classified documents to the website Wikileaks. On Saturday, the investigators took custody of electronic records from a former computer hacker based in California who has emerged as the Pentagon's key informant in the case, the informant tells The Daily Beast.
The former hacker, Adrian Lamo, first alerted the Defense Department to the leaks by Army Specialist Bradley Manning—including a 2007 video of an American helicopter attack in Baghdad, which created a sensation when posted recently by Wikileaks, as well as a cache of sensitive State Department cables.
Lamo said in an interview Saturday night that he had voluntarily turned over his computer records, including contents of one of his hard drives, to the Pentagon earlier in the day. He said criminal investigators from the Defense Department were scheduled to interview him again on Sunday near his home in California.
Lamo said he first learned that Manning might face espionage charges, a crime that could carry the death penalty, when the word "espionage" appeared on a formal release form that he was asked to sign by the Pentagon criminal investigators who took custody of his electronic records. "It's one of the statutes that was written down on a piece of paper that I signed to authorize the search," Lamo said. Calls to the Pentagon press office were not immediately returned Saturday night.
Philip Shenon, The Daily Beast
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Spy Downloaded 260,000 State Dept Cables
An Army intel analyst charged with leaking classified materials also downloaded sensitive diplomatic cables. Are America's foreign policy secrets about to go online? Philip Shenon reports.
The State Department and American embassies around the world are bracing for what officials fear could be the massive, unauthorized release of secret diplomatic cables in which U.S. diplomats harshly evaluate foreign leaders and reveal the inner-workings of American foreign policy.
Diplomatic and law-enforcement officials tell the Daily Beast their alarm stems from the arrest of a 22-year-old Army intelligence analyst based in Iraq who has reportedly admitted that he downloaded 260,000 diplomatic cables from government computer networks and was prepared to make them public.
Specialist Bradley Manning of Potomac, Md., who is now under arrest in Kuwait, is also accused of having leaked—to Wikileaks, a secretive internet site based in Sweden—an explosive video of an American helicopter attack in Baghdad in 2007 that left 12 people dead, including two employees of the news agency Reuters. The website released the video in April.
"If he really had access to these cables, we've got a terrible situation on our hands," said an American diplomat. "We're still trying to figure out what he had access to. A lot of my colleagues overseas are sweating this out, given what those cables may contain."
Philip Shenon, The Daily Beast
The State Department and American embassies around the world are bracing for what officials fear could be the massive, unauthorized release of secret diplomatic cables in which U.S. diplomats harshly evaluate foreign leaders and reveal the inner-workings of American foreign policy.
Diplomatic and law-enforcement officials tell the Daily Beast their alarm stems from the arrest of a 22-year-old Army intelligence analyst based in Iraq who has reportedly admitted that he downloaded 260,000 diplomatic cables from government computer networks and was prepared to make them public.
Specialist Bradley Manning of Potomac, Md., who is now under arrest in Kuwait, is also accused of having leaked—to Wikileaks, a secretive internet site based in Sweden—an explosive video of an American helicopter attack in Baghdad in 2007 that left 12 people dead, including two employees of the news agency Reuters. The website released the video in April.
"If he really had access to these cables, we've got a terrible situation on our hands," said an American diplomat. "We're still trying to figure out what he had access to. A lot of my colleagues overseas are sweating this out, given what those cables may contain."
Philip Shenon, The Daily Beast
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Anybody Can Become a Nuclear Power
Anybody Can Be a Nuclear Power
Twenty millions dollars can buy a suitcase nuclear bomb. Hard to detect, it is difficult to determine the owner.Against whom does the offended nation retaliate?Somebody in law enforcement should have tracked down the FBI and the State Department employees who sold our nuclear secrets in the Middle East.
Twenty millions dollars can buy a suitcase nuclear bomb. Hard to detect, it is difficult to determine the owner.Against whom does the offended nation retaliate?Somebody in law enforcement should have tracked down the FBI and the State Department employees who sold our nuclear secrets in the Middle East.
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