Among other unprecedented steps, President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration includes a temporarily ban on immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries -- Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya, and Somalia -- with the ostensible goal of preventing terrorism. For a variety of reasons, however, close observers of Islamist extremism say that Trump's plan will only … Continue reading Trump’s Muslim ban is the recruiting tool ISIS has dreamed of, experts say
Month: January 2017
Every year the Federal Bureau of Investigation issues tens of thousands of "National Security Letters." These demands for information from communications service providers are a key component in the U.S. government's domestic surveillance apparatus, yet the details of how they are used were long kept largely secret from the public. This has begun to change … Continue reading Critics question FBI use of National Security Letters
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump outlined the first concrete details of his controversial new immigration plans. Already, the initial steps announced so far appear poised to disrupt the lives of millions of people living in the U.S. They include the beginning of work on Trump's long-promised border wall, cutting federal funding to "sanctuary" states and … Continue reading Trump says nation needs border wall, perhaps also CIA black sites beyond borders
Last summer, as he rallied supporters at the Republican National Convention, Donald Trump declared himself the "law and order candidate," echoing the (somewhat ironic) claims of Richard Nixon before him. Yet given the rapid development of technology available to law enforcement in the decades since Nixon occupied the Oval Office, President Trump's use of the … Continue reading Carnage, violence, law and order, biometric profiling and predictive policing under Trump
Amidst ongoing criticism of President Donald Trump's attitude towards Russia, a fear has reportedly emerged in some segments of the US intelligence community that America's longstanding intelligence sharing relationships with other countries could suffer. Recent events seem to indicate, however, that this is unlikely. Historically, America has had its strongest intelligence sharing relationships with its … Continue reading UKUSA surveillance ‘special relationship’ likely to survive, expand in Trump era
In response to public pressure, the Central Intelligence Agency has finally posted more than 12 million pages of documents online, which, though declassified years ago, have up until now only been accessible at the National Archives in Maryland. While many of the programs described in the documents have long been known, the ability to easily … Continue reading CIA posts millions of pages of documents online, shedding light on past activities
On Jan. 3, just weeks before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, outgoing Attorney General Loretta Lynch signed off on an expansion of inter-agency intelligence sharing, allowing the National Security Agency to share raw "signals intelligence" data with other intelligence community members without "scrubbing" it first. A fact sheet released by the Office of the Director … Continue reading Outgoing Obama administration gives Trump’s intelligence community expanded data sharing powers
The U.S. reached some new military milestones last year. America dropped at least 26,171 bombs in 2016, for example -- over 3,000 more than the year before, averaging about one bomb every 20 minutes. And that number includes only bombs dropped in some of the better known conflict areas where the U.S. is involved -- … Continue reading Trump promises more for less military spending, experts expect budget hikes
During the election campaign, nearly all of Silicon Valley's biggest tech executives backed Hillary Clinton. But following Donald Trump's victory in November and a meeting last month between the president-elect and tech leaders, Silicon Valley appears to be largely embracing the incoming administration as the political landscape shifts. Eric Schmidt, chairman of Alphabet, parent company … Continue reading Silicon Valley warms up to Trump
Well, it's 2017, and in less than three weeks, Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 45th president of the United States. This surreal situation still has many scratching their heads, wondering how it came to be. While some are coming to terms with Trump's election as a symptom of a broken system that … Continue reading Weaponizing the narrative in the information war with Russia
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