For most watchers of the CIA, the return of Steven Kappes to Langley as the agency's number 2 man is a welcome development. Fluent in Farsi and Russian, the 23-year veteran of the clandestine service can bring a renewed focus on the CIA's core intelligence-gathering mission. Unfortunately, Kappes' return almost certainly signals the resumption of […]

In a bizarre Washington Post op-ed ("Surveillance We Can Live With") pitching his ill-conceived NSA eavesdropping compromise, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) shows all of the hallmarks of a man in the throes of severe cognitive dissonance. While essentially pronouncing the illegality of George Bush's illegal domestic surveillance program, he cannot bring himself […]

Back in May, Perrspectives described how inquiries by both the FCC and the DOJ into illegal domestic surveillance by the Bush NSA had been blocked. With Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' testimony today before the Senate Judiciary Committee, we have a much clearer picture as to why. In a nutshell, President Bush personally insisted that the […]

The New York Times reported Tuesday that the CIA has shut down its Bin Laden unit late last year. The unit, called "Alec Station," had been in place for over a decade to hunt down Osama Bin Laden and his leading Al Qaeda lieutenants. As I wrote in January, President Bush's on-again, off-again emphasis on […]

The Supreme Court's ruling today in the Hamdan case wasn't merely a defeat for the Bush administration's system of military tribunals for the detainees at Guantanamo Bay. As ThinkProgress describes, the majority's explicit rejection of broad presidential powers claimed by the White House to be inherent in the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military […]

This weekend, the United States launched "Operation Mountain Thrust" in Afghanistan. Featuring 10,000 U.S. troops and American aircraft targeting the peaks along the border with Pakistan, the spring offensive seeks to decimate a resurgent and emboldened Taliban. Sadly, that would be the same Taliban President Bush declared non-existent two years ago. This weekend's fighting in […]

During his opening comments in the CIA confirmation hearings of General Michael Hayden, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) returned to a favorite Republican sound bite in defense of illegal domestic surveiilance by the NSA. Roberts proclaimed: "I am a strong supporter of the First Amendment, the Fourth Amendment and civil liberties. But you […]

The CIA confirmation hearings for General Michael are underway and the Bush administration is pulling out all the stops for their man. Yesterday, the White House flip-flopped and provided briefings on its illegal NSA domestic surveillance programs to the full Senate and House intelligence committees. And today, General Hayden showed he did his homework and […]

With the confirmation hearings for his CIA director nomination set to begin on Thursday, General Michael Hayden will no doubt be grilled on the broadening scope and dubious legality of the domestic surveillance programs during his tenure at the NSA. As we learned last week, Hayden's NSA not only conducted warrantless electronic eavesdropping on Americans, […]

A new poll from the Washington Post suggests that the President Bush may be winning a double victory with his illegal NSA domestic surveillance programs. Americans seem willing to buy the White House's "tough on terrorism" hype at the expense of the law and their own civil liberties. And as an added ironic bonus, the […]