FAS | Intelligence | News | 2006 ||||

June 2006 Intelligence News

• Editorial: Secret U.S. program deserves scrutiny, Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 28. "President Bush's denunciation of newspapers that exposed the secret use of international wire-transfer information to track terrorists rings hollow. For years the administration has publicly included financial investigations in its arsenal of methods for tracking terrorists."
• Chilling The Press by Scott Sherman, The Nation, June 28. "In recent months that essay--'Has The New York Times Violated the Espionage Act?,' which appeared in the March issue of Commentary--has taken on a life of its own and has brought its author a certain degree of fame and notoriety."
• Secret U.S. Program Tracks Global Bank Transfers by Josh Meyer and Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times, June 23. "The U.S. government, without the knowledge of many banks and their customers, has engaged for years in a secret effort to track terrorist financing by accessing a vast database of confidential information on transfers of money between banks worldwide."
• Citing 'lack of cooperation,' government watchdog will continue to limit role in US intelligence oversight by John Byrne, Raw Story, June 20. "The GAO's policy on intelligence oversight is especially pertinent now as the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence continues their investigation into pre-war Iraq intelligence and statements made by Bush Administration officials prior to war."
• Intel forum breaks new ground by Wilson P. Dizard III, Government Computer News, June 26. "In a striking departure from the hush-hush culture of intelligence community IT, the CIO's office for the Director of National Intelligence is running an open online forum about certification and accreditation issues, as well as other technology matters."
• Statement of Stanley Moskowitz, CIA at a press briefing by the Interagency Working Group on Nazi War Crimes, June 6. "Over the past year, we have released 27,000 pages from 174 files. Most of this is new material."
• Statement of Thomas H. Baer at a press briefing by the Interagency Working Group on Nazi War Crimes, June 6. "The release of new materials from the Central Intelligence Agency we are announcing today is an extraordinary development in the annals of the Agency."
• Statement of Richard Ben-Veniste at a press briefing by the Interagency Working Group on Nazi War Crimes, June 6. "Today's announcement represents a rare victory for those in our nation who advocate more openness in government."
• Invoking Secrets Privilege Becomes a More Popular Legal Tactic by U.S. by Scott Shane, New York Times, June 4. "Facing a wave of litigation challenging its eavesdropping at home and its handling of terror suspects abroad, the Bush administration is increasingly turning to a legal tactic that swiftly torpedoes most lawsuits: the state secrets privilege."