I did a long post yesterday describing how embarrassingly, pathetically bad DOD’s information security was and remains 3 years after a malware attack and a full year after the alleged WikiLeaks leak. Along with DOD’s gaping security problems, I noted that some entities in the intelligence community are still in the process of implementing user [...]

I’m reading through the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s report on what it did last Congress. Among a number of interesting details, the report describes really really bad accounting at the National Security Agency (NSA). The report describes how the Intelligence Authorization Bill of 2002 required that our big intelligence agencies produce auditable financial statements [...]

That’s the question NSC spokesperson Tommy Vietor used yesterday to deflect Senate Intelligence Committee concerns that the Administration was taken by surprise by the events in Egypt. Did anyone in the world know in advance that a fruit vendor in Tunisia was going to light himself on fire and start a revolution? No. But for [...]

Now for your latest installment of DOD’s expanding intelligence authorities, DNI’s increasing irrelevance, and the White House’s efforts to make sure those trends continue. As you’ll recall, back in March, the Senate Intelligence Committee sent a scathing report on the many failures to stop the Undie Bomber. The report was most critical of the head [...]

At Mary’s instigation, I went back to look at Ibn Sheikh al-Libi’s description of how he was shoved into a coffin-like box in Egypt. (Thanks to burnt for the searchable copy.) According to al-Libi, the foreign government service [redacted] “stated that the next topic was al-Qa’ida’s connections with Iraq. … This was a subject about [...]

In what can only be described as a curious filing, the US Government, through the DOJ has submitted a pleading to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in the previously terminated appeal originally filed in 2006. The filing seeks to correct false statements previously made by the government in claiming state secrets dismissal of the al-Haramain case.

Just as Pat Leahy kicks off his investigation into Bush era crimes, DiFi is leaking news of her own investigation: a secret one that will have much more circumscribed scope than Leahy’s. Is she serious about this investigation–or just trying to tie Leahy’s hands?

Sheldon Whitehouse’s speech on Bush’s lies to bring us to war.

The SSCI has released (finally) the remaining reports on Iraq intelligence. I’m printing them out and beginning to read. If you want to read, too, use this thread to talk about what you’ve found.Report on how Bush and Cheney said things that the intelligence didn’t supportReport on how Dougie “stupidest fucking guy on the planet” Feith set up his own intelligence shop to bypass the professionals For a background, here’s McClatchy.

The second-to-last installment of the SSCI Phase II report is due out–apparently with a mixed conclusion for Bush.