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Newer News: June 2015

May 2015 Intelligence News

• ODNI Proposes to Exempt New Records Systems from Privacy Act, Federal Register, May 27. "The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) proposes to exempt two new systems of records from subsections (c)(3); (d)(1),(2),(3),(4); (e)(1) and (e)(4)(G),(H),(I); and (f) of the Privacy Act."
• ODNI Establishes New Privacy Act Systems of Records, Federal Register, May 27. "The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) provides notice that it is establishing two (2) new Privacy Act systems of records, updating and amending four (4) existing Privacy Act systems of records, and rescinding two (2) Privacy Act systems of records."
• Obama's War on Leaks Faces Backlash in Court by Peter Maass, The Intercept, May 13. "In a surprising turn, Brinkema sentenced Sterling to just three and a half years in prison, which is a long time to be deprived of liberty but nothing like the two decades sought by the prosecution."
• Owner of 'Polygraph.Com' Pleads Guilty to Training Customers to Lie During Federally Administered Polygraph Examinations, Department of Justice news release, May 13. "A former Oklahoma City law enforcement officer and owner of 'Polygraph.com' pleaded guilty today to obstruction of justice and mail fraud for training customers to lie and conceal crimes during polygraph examinations."
• Statement of Administration Policy in support of USA FREEDOM Act, The White House, May 12. "The Administration applauds and appreciates the strong bipartisan and bicameral effort that led to the formulation of this bill, which strikes an appropriate balance between significant reform and preservation of important national security tools."
• Ex-CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling jailed for leaking by Tara McKelvey, BBC News, May 11. "Former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling spoke to a journalist in Washington about the CIA. Now a judge has sentenced him to prison for three and a half years for revealing classified information."
• Former CIA Officer Sentenced to 42 Months in Prison for Leaking Classified Information and Obstruction of Justice, Department of Justice news release, May 11. "Jeffrey A. Sterling was sentenced today to 42 months in prison for disclosing national defense information and obstructing justice. Sterling disclosed classified information about a clandestine operational program concerning Iran's nuclear weapons program to a New York Times reporter in 2003."
• Senate Intelligence chair 'conflated' government spying programs by Jose Pagliery, CNN Money, May 8. "On Thursday, the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee freaked out privacy experts when he 'conflated' two government spying programs."
• This Is What Started the Senate's Battle With the CIA Over the Torture Report by Jason Leopold, VICE News, May 4. "It was the purge of the videotapes -- one of which depicted the waterboarding of accused terrorist Abu Zubaydah -- ordered by top CIA official Jose Rodriguez, along with a subsequent cover-up alleged by lawmakers, that was the catalyst behind the Senate Intelligence Committee's five-year-long investigation into the CIA's detention and interrogation program."
• Abbe Lowell Is on a Legal Mission by Nathan Guttman, Forward, May 3. "In courts of law and in the court of public opinion, Lowell is raising alarms against the government's growing use of secrecy and espionage claims to shield itself from would-be whistleblowers and challengers."
• Blurry Covert Lines Limit Chances Of Drone Program Changes by Ali Watkins, Huffington Post, May 1. "Critics of the CIA program -- who have long argued the targeted killings should strictly fall in the military's wheelhouse -- are rallying to finally take the drone trigger out of the agency's hands."