Think Progress

Under the Radar

CIVIL RIGHTS -- 'SCATHING' REPORT FINDS FBI VIOLATED REGULATIONS ON NATIONAL SECURITY LETTERS: A new report by the Justice Department's Inspector General (IG) "has found pervasive errors in the FBI's use of its power to secretly demand telephone, e-mail and financial records in national security cases." "The inspector general's audit found 22 possible breaches of internal FBI and Justice Department regulations -- some of which were potential violations of law -- in a sampling of 293 'national security letters (NSLs).'" (The Patriot Act gave FBI agents the right to "demand telephone, bank, credit card and library records by issuing" NSLs, "bypassing the need to seek a warrant from a federal judge.") "In nearly a quarter of the case files" IG Glenn Fine reviewed, "he found previously unreported potential violations." The report also found that in 2005, the FBI issued over 19,000 NSLs, "amounting to 47,000 separate requests for information." Some agents issued these letters "without citing an authorized investigation, claimed 'exigent' circumstances that did not exist in demanding information and did not have adequate documentation to justify the issuance of letters." "In an unknown number of other cases, third parties such as telephone companies, banks and Internet providers responded to national security letters with detailed personal information about customers that the letters do not permit to be released." "Expect a weekend firestorm," one Justice Department official said of the report. Ironically, on the same day of the report's release, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will "deliver keynote remarks before the International Association of Privacy Professionals."

ETHICS -- FORMER CLINTON CHIEF OF STAFF REBUTS ROVE CLAIM THAT CLINTON PURGED PROSECUTORS TOO: At a speech in Little Rock yesterday, Karl Rove described the Bush administration's purge of federal prosecutors as "normal and ordinary," claiming that Clinton did the same thing. "Clinton, when he came in, replaced all 93 U.S. attorneys," Rove said. "When we came in, we ultimately replace most all 93 U.S. attorneys -- there are some still left from the Clinton era in place." Clinton's former chief of staff John Podesta told The Progress Report that Rove's claim is "pure fiction." "Replacing most U.S. attorneys when a new administration comes in -- as we did in 1993 and the Bush administration did in 2001 -- is not unusual. But the Clinton administration never fired federal prosecutors as pure political retribution," he said. Earlier this week, Mary Jo White, who was U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1993-2002, also stated that the Bush administration's prosecutor purge is unprecedented in "modern history." She told NPR, "[T]hroughout modern history, my understanding is, you did not change the U.S. attorney during an administration, unless there was some evidence of misconduct or other really quite significant cause to do so. And the expectation was, so long as that was absent, that you would serve out your full four years or eight years as U.S. attorney." As White noted, attorneys need to serve "without fear or favor and in an absolutely apolitical way." By firing well-respected federal prosecutors and replacing them with Republican loyalists, the Bush administration has politicized the judicial system.

HOMELAND SECURITY -- 9/11 VICTIMS' FAMILIES HIT SENATE CONSERVATIVES FOR STALLING COUNTERTERRORISM BILL: Yesterday, Senate conservatives blocked consideration of a bill aimed at implementing remaining recommendations of the 9/11 commission.  Conservatives made "a rare procedural move, rolling five amendments into one package and submitting a cloture motion on it." Another impasse revolved around conservatives' efforts to delay an amendment introduced by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) to provide aid for Katrina victims. After it became clear that the homeland security bill would be blocked, families of 9/11 victims called on Senate conservatives to drop their amendments and support a "clean bill." A letter to Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), signed by Voices of September 11 and Families of September 11, expressed "grave concern" that the "highly provocative, irrelevant amendments will jeopardize the passage" of the bill. The bill would implement many of the remaining recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, which include the reallocation of homeland security resources, the inspection of all air and sea cargo, and greater funding for first responders. Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) said the procedural delay could potentially force a Saturday vote on the bill. The White House has promised to veto the bill if it contains organizing rights and whistleblower protections for airport screeners.

Think Fast

A chilly Latin American reception for President Bush. As he “opened a weeklong tour of Latin America” yesterday, “police clashed with protesters in Brazil and across the region.” Adding insult to injury, “Mayan priests will purify a sacred archaeological site to eliminate ‘bad spirits’” after Bush visits next week.

Valerie Plame, the former covert CIA agent whose cover was blown by the Bush administration, has agreed to testify before the House Committee on Government Reform “about the disclosure and how the White House handled it.”

“One day there will be a new attorney general, maybe sooner rather than later,” said Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), in a “scathing criticism” of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’s “handling of the firing of eight U.S. attorneys.”

“More than a quarter of military veterans with disability cases before the Department of Veterans Affairs wait six months or longer for the agency’s decision, creating financial hardships for them and their families. �€? As of March 3, the VA had almost 401,000 pending cases for disability compensation with almost 115,000 languishing for six months or more.”

The Bush administration said it is “open to holding direct talks with either Iran or Syria over how to help mend Iraq at a regional conference this weekend.” David Satterfield, the State Department’s Iraq coordinator, said yesterday that “if we are approached over orange juice by the Syrians or the Iranians to discuss an Iraq-related issue that is germane to this topic — stable, secure, peaceful, democratic Iraq — we are not going to turn and walk away.” 

“Violent crime rose by double-digit percentages in cities across the country over the last two years, reversing the declines of the mid-to-late 1990s,” according to a report by the Police Executive Research Forum. “There are pockets of crime in this country that are astounding,” said Chuck Wexler, the group's executive director.

A letter to McConnell signed by leaders of two Sept. 11 family groups — Voices of September 11 and Families of September 11 — expressed “grave concern that your recent introduction of highly provocative, irrelevant amendments will jeopardize the passage” of the bill.

Brig. Gen. Michael S. Tucker, a “combat-arms brigadier general from Fort Knox,” “will take over as deputy commanding general of Walter Reed Army Medical Center.” The move is intended to “inject a battlefield perspective into what has traditionally been a solely medical operation.” Meanwhile, Army Chief of Staff Richard Cody “has dispatched teams to numerous Army hospitals around the country to identify any similar problems.”

The European Union has agreed on “ambitious and credible” greenhouse gas emissions targets. The agreement would require “greenhouse gas emissions to be cut by at least 20 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, and ensure 20 percent of its power comes from renewable energy, a massive increase from the current figure of just over 6 percent.”

And finally: The State Department’s human rights report is “very nice!” “Fictional Kazakh TV reporter Borat has made an unexpected cameo appearance as a victim of censorship in a heavyweight annual human rights report issued by the US State Department. â€? The report cited Borat’s loss of his Kazakh webpage http://www.borat.kz in late 2005 alongside court cases and limits on free speech faced by the few domestic media critical of Kazakhstan’s long-serving President Nursultan Nazarbayev.”