Citizens for Legitimate Government: 11 June 2013

Boston's 'Operation Urban Shield' planned for backpacks with explosives, but bombs hit first --'The real thing happened before we were able to execute.' 08 Jun 2013 The scenario had been carefully planned: A terrorist group prepared to hurt vast numbers of people around Boston would leave backpacks filled with explosives at Faneuil Hall, the Seaport District, and in other towns, spreading waves of panic and fear. Detectives would have to catch the culprits. Months of painstaking planning had gone into the exercise, dubbed "Operation Urban Shield," meant to train dozens of detectives in the Greater Boston area to work together to thwart a terrorist threat...The planned exercise has eerie similarities to the police investigation that led to the capture of the alleged Boston Marathon bombers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, whose images were caught on video cameras and who were captured after a car chase and shoot-out with police. [These 'terror attacks' all have 'eerie similarities' to the drills because the same 'people' run both.]

A.C.L.U. Sues to Bar 'Dragnet' Collection of Phone Records 12 Jun 2013 The American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration over its "dragnet" collection of logs of domestic phone calls, contending that the once-secret program -- whose existence was exposed by a former National Security Agency contractor last week -- is illegal and asking a judge to both stop it and order the records purged. The lawsuit, filed in New York, could set up an eventual Supreme Court test. The program "gives the government a comprehensive record of our associations and public movements, revealing a wealth of detail about our familial, political, professional, religious and intimate associations," the complaint says, adding that it "is likely to have a chilling effect on whistle-blowers and others who would otherwise contact" the A.C.L.U. for legal assistance.

NSA memo pushed to 'rethink' 4th Amendment 09 Jun 2013 The National Security Agency pushed for the government to "rethink" the Fourth Amendment when it argued in a classified memo that it needed new authorities and capabilities for the information age. The 2001 memo, later declassified and posted online by George Washington University's National Security Archive, makes a case to the incoming George W. Bush administration that the NSA needs new authorities and technology to adapt to the Internet era. In one key paragraph, NSA wrote that its new phase meant the U.S. must reevaluate its approach toward signals intelligence, or "SIGINT," and the Constitution's Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure.

US senators bid to force government to reveal secret surveillance rulings --Bill would compel government to disclose opinions of secret Fisa court whose judgments underpin US surveillance programs 11 Jun 2013 A bipartisan group of eight senators will introduce a bill on Tuesday that would force the government to reveal how it interprets the laws underpinning the massive surveillance programs revealed by the Guardian. The bill by Senator Jeff Merkley (D- OR), which his office said it planned to introduce to the Senate on Tuesday, would force the government to disclose the opinions of a secretive surveillance court that determines the scope of the eavesdropping on Americans' phone records and internet communications. The bill has the support of senators Mike Lee (R-UT), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Dean Heller (R-NV), Mark Begich (D-AK), Al Franken (D-MN), Jon Tester (D-MT) and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

Intelligence chief Clapper: I gave 'least untruthful' answer on U.S. spying 10 Jun 2013 Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is really struggling to explain why he told Congress in March that the National Security Agency does not intentionally collect any kind of data on millions of Americans. His latest take: It's an unfair question, he said, like "When are you going to stop beating your wife?" And it seems to depend on the meaning of "collect." "I responded in what I thought was the most truthful, or least untruthful, manner by saying 'no,'" Clapper told NBC News on Sunday. A newly revealed NSA program, however, in which the agency secretly vacuumed up the telephone records of millions of Verizon customers seems to fit the definition of both "data" and "millions of Americans."

Russia May Consider US Spy Leaker's Asylum Request - Media 11 Jun 2013 The Russian authorities will consider political asylum for Edward Snowden, who risks prosecution in the United States for his recent blockbuster spy leaks, if he sends a proper request, business daily Kommersant said Tuesday, citing the Kremlin spokesman. "If we receive such a request, we will consider it," Kommersant quoted presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov as saying. Snowden, a 29-year-old former employee of the CIA and the National Security Agency (NSA), unmasked himself on Sunday as a source of recent disclosures about US government's secret surveillance programs.

Prism whistleblower: Edward Snowden told to leave Hong Kong or face extradition back to US over NSA revelations --Snowden: 'I am not afraid' 10 Jun 2013 A senior figure in Hong Kong law enforcement has suggested NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden should leave the city. Regina Ip, a pro-Beijing legislator who was previously the city's top security official, said Hong Kong was "obliged to comply with the terms of agreements" with the US government, which included the extradition of fugitives. She added that, after he leaked the largest amount of classified information in the history of the US National Security Agency, she strongly recommends Snowden depart the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. [Yeah, China just pimped the US out to invade and occupy Iraq, so China could have Iraq's oil. Worked well for US and Chinese corpora-terrorists, such as BP. --LRP]

Beyond Hong Kong: Edward Snowden's best options for asylum 10 Jun 2013 Edward Snowden's choice of Hong Kong as a refuge from US retribution has been admired by some international lawyers – but it has not quelled speculation that he may seek asylum in another state, and activists in Iceland are making preparations should the whistleblower try to head there. Birgitta Jónsdóttir, the Icelandic MP and open information campaigner who was centrally involved in the WikiLeaks disclosures, said she was lobbying Iceland's immigration services and interior ministry about possible asylum for Snowden. But she added the process would only seriously get under way once the NSA whistleblower made clear his intentions.

Booz Allen Terminates Employment of NSA Leaker Edward Snowden, Releases Salary Information 11 Jun 2013 [Corpora-terrorists] Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp. said it fired Edward Snowden, the employee who leaked secret information about U.S. surveillance programs, for violating its code of ethics and firm policy. In a four-sentence statement posted to its website, Booz Allen underscored that Mr. Snowden, 29 years old, worked at the firm for less than three months. His salary was $122,000, and Booz Allen terminated his employment Monday.

Booz Allen Hamilton: Edward Snowden's US contracting firm --$6bn company that employed NSA whistleblower is closely connected to US intelligence community and its leaders 09 Jun 2013 Booz Allen Hamilton, Edward Snowden's employer, is one of America's biggest security contractors and a significant part of the constantly revolving door between the US intelligence establishment and the private sector. The current of director of national intelligence (DNI), James Clapper, who issued a stinging attack on the intelligence leaks this weekend, is a former Booz Allen executive. The firm's current vice-chairman, Mike McConnell, was DNI under the George W Bush administration. He worked for the Virginia-based company before taking the job, and returned to the firm after leaving it.

U.S. explores criminal charges against Snowden 10 Jun 2013 U.S. authorities were weighing criminal prosecution strategies Monday against a former federal contractor who acknowledged disclosing information about two secret surveillance programs run by the National Security Agency. Possible criminal charges against Edward Snowden, who fled to Hong Kong after supplying highly classified documents to reporters, are "under discussion'' at the Justice Department, a federal law enforcement official said. The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said criminal charges would mark the first steps necessary to pursue the 29-year-old suspect's return to the U.S., either through extradition or other means.

Ex-CIA man says exposed spy scheme to protect world 10 Jun 2013 An ex-CIA employee working as a contractor at the U.S. National Security Agency said he was the source who leaked details of a top secret U.S. surveillance program, acting out of conscience to protect "basic liberties for people around the world." Holed up in a hotel room in Hong Kong, Edward Snowden, 29, said he had thought long and hard before publicizing details of an NSA program code-named PRISM, saying he had done so because he felt the United States was building an unaccountable and secret espionage machine that spied on every American.
New layer of secrecy emerges at Guantanamo 'court' 10 Jun 2013 When the war [kangaroo] court reconvenes this week, pretrial hearings in the case of an alleged al-Qaida bomber will be tackling a government motion that's so secret the public can't know its name. It's listed as the 92nd court filing in the death-penalty case against a Saudi man, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who was waterboarded by CIA agents. And in place of its name, the Pentagon has stamped "classified" in red. Also on the docket for discussion this week is a classified defense motion that asks the Army judge to order the government to reveal information "related to the arrest, detention and interrogation" of al-Nashiri. By the time he got to Guantanamo in 2006, according to declassified investigations, CIA agents had held him at secret overseas prisons for four years during which, according to declassified accounts, he was waterboarded and interrogated at the point of a revving power drill and racked pistol. But what makes the no-name government motion so intriguing is that those who've read it can't say what it's about, and those who haven't don't have a clue. Not even the accused, who, unless the judge rules for the defense, is not allowed to get an unclassified explanation of it - and cannot sit in on the court session when it's argued in secret.
US nuclear bombs 'based in Netherlands' - ex-Dutch PM Lubbers 10 Jun 2013 Some 22 US nuclear weapons are stored on Dutch territory, says former Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers. Mr Lubbers, a centre-right prime minister from 1982-94, said they were stored underground in strong-rooms at the Volkel air base in Brabant. He made the revelation in a documentary for National Geographic - saying: "I would never have thought those silly things would still be there in 2013." The presence of nuclear weapons on Dutch soil has long been rumoured.

Pakistan's Nawaz Sharif declares end to secret approval of U.S. drone strikes 10 Jun 2013 In office for less than a week, Pakistan's new prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, vented his anger Monday at two recent U.S. drone strikes, all but accusing his country's overbearing military of lying to Pakistanis about its cooperation with the CIA to eliminate terrorism suspects in northwest tribal regions bordering Afghanistan. "The policy of protesting against drone strikes for public consumption, while working behind the scenes to make them happen, is not on," Sharif said, according to an official statement issued after the first meeting of his Cabinet.

US terror drone strike kills five in north Yemen: Locals 09 Jun 2013 At least five people have been killed in an air raid carried out by a US assassination drone in north Yemen, local sources say. A tribal source said on Sunday that the strike targeted a vehicle in the Khab al-Shath area located in Yemen's northern province of al-Jawf. According to witnesses, the first aerial attack was followed by three other raids.

Afghan supreme court staff killed in suicide blast --Seventeen dead in Kabul bombing claimed by Taliban as revenge attack aimed at judges 11 Jun 2013 A suicide bomber killed and injured dozens of Afghan supreme court employees when he struck commuter minibuses filling up for the afternoon drive home on Tuesday, in one of the deadliest Taliban operations this year. It was the second big assault on the capital in as many days, after seven attackers holed up on a construction site to fire rockets on Kabul airport. That group fought for hours but killed no one apart from themselves and did little damage to their target.

Taliban launch large attack on Kabul international airport 10 Jun 2013 Seven Taliban insurgents including suicide bombers attacked the main airport in the Afghan capital, Kabul, early on Monday, with explosions and gunfire heard near an area that also houses major foreign military bases. The attackers took up positions inside a partially constructed building next to the international airport, interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said, and fought Afghan security forces for about four hours before the raid ended. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

70 die in day of carnage in Iraq 11 Jun 2013 A wave of attacks has killed seventy people and injured dozens across Iraq after several days of relative calm. No group has claimed responsibility for Monday's attacks, but officials say the main suspects are militants linked to al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh]. A triple bombing at a vegetable market in the town of Judaida al-Shat in Diyala province left at least 13 people dead and injured 50 people.

State Department memo reveals possible cover-ups, halted investigations 10 Jun 2013 CBS News has uncovered documents that show the State Department may have covered up allegations of illegal and inappropriate behavior within their ranks. The Diplomatic Security Service, or the DSS, is the State Department's security force, charged with protecting the secretary of state and U.S. ambassadors overseas and with investigating any cases of misconduct on the part of the 70,000 State Department employees worldwide. CBS News reports that according to an internal State Department Inspector General's memo, several recent investigations were influenced, manipulated, or simply called off.

1 wounded in shooting at US Army post in Texas 10 Jun 2013 An instructor at an Army medical training school at a military base in Texas was wounded Monday when a fellow service member shot her outside her office, authorities said. The incident took place at Fort Sam Houston's Army Medical Department Center and School at about 2:50 p.m. The suspect is in custody at Fort Sam Houston, but authorities wouldn't say if he's been charged. Authorities locked down the base for about two hours while military police cleared the building where the shooting took place.

Bomb threat forces evacuations near Ga. State Capitol 11 Jun 2013 Two bomb threats near the Georgia State Capitol forced the evacuation of buildings housing the state Attorney General's office and the state Supreme Court. Employees were allowed to return to the buildings shortly before 11 a.m. Georgia Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Tracey Watson said bomb-sniffing dogs searched both buildings and did not find any explosives. The state judicial building, home of the Supreme Court and Attorney General's office, are located across the street from the State Capitol building.

Princeton University Reopens Following Bomb Threat --University Was Shut Down For 8 Hours as Campus Was Swept 11 Jun 2013 An evacuation of the Princeton University campus following an earlier bomb threat was lifted Tuesday evening. A total of 6,900 people were forced to leave on- and off-campus university buildings, after the university received the threat against multiple buildings on campus around 9 a.m., Princeton spokesman Martin Mbugua said. The all-clear was given at 6:25 p.m.

Princeton University evacuated after multiple bomb threats --'This is NOT a test. There has been a bomb threat to multiple unspecified campus buildings,' said one of the school's tweets. 11 Jun 2013 Princeton University evacuated its campus Tuesday after receiving a bomb threat to multiple buildings. The university announced on its website around 10:25 a.m. that a bomb threat was called in to the New Jersey campus: There has been a bomb threat to multiple unspecified campus buildings. Please evacuate the campus and all University offices immediately and go home unless otherwise directed by your supervisor. Drivers and pedestrians were told to leave the campus after the bomb threat was received, the school said on its Twitter account. Those without cars were directed by police to evacuation sites, the school said.

Fifth Letter, Sent to CIA, Found in Spokane Ricin Investigation --Unopened letter sent to National Bioforensic Analysis Center for further testing 08 Jun 2013 On Saturday, postal workers at the U.S. Post Office on W. Riverside Avenue, Spokane, Washington, located the fifth letter being sought by FBI and USPIS investigators in connection with four others containing the active ricin toxin. It came through the post office after being returned to sender by a location that does not receive mail deliveries. It had been addressed to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

New York lays out $20 billion plan to combat effects of global warming 11 Jun 2013 New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday announced a $20 billion plan to prepare for rising sea levels and hotter summers expected as a result of climate change global warming in the coming decades. The plan, which follows widespread destruction wreaked by Superstorm Sandy last year, included about 250 recommendations ranging from new floodwalls and storm barriers to upgrades of power and telecommunications infrastructures. It coincided with a report updating projections of the impact of climate change global warming, saying that over the next 40 years the number of sweltering summer days could double or even triple and that the sea level surrounding New York City could rise by 2 feet (0.6 meter).

1,400 protest at state capitol; 60 arrested in sixth Moral Monday rally 11 Jun 2013 About 60 people were arrested Monday in the Legislative Building during an NAACP-sponsored protest against the GOP-led legislature and policies of Republican Gov. Pat McCrory. The arrests came during the sixth Moral Monday rally at the General Assembly. Before the arrests, more than 1,400 people demonstrated at the Halifax Mall behind the Legislative Building, holding hands, singing religious songs and praying. The demonstrators included clergy members, union members and teachers.

The Battle of Chicago Teachers Union Vs. Out-of-Town Billionaires 22 Aug 2012 In a recently released video, Chicago Teachers Union shows the games played by wealthy elites to smear the Union in the midst of heated contract negotiations. Chicago Teachers Union has maintained that it will not bargain in the press over a fair contract, but associates of Mayor Rahm Emanuel have apparently used backroom deals in Springfield, paid protesters and even members of the Michigan Tea Party to distort the public's image of the Union. The video, "Astroturf Billionaires Vs. The Chicago Teachers Union" shows all of these tricks in graphic detail.

U.S. Drops Bid to Limit Sales of Morning-After Pill 11 Jun 2013 The Obama administration has decided to stop trying to block over-the-counter availability of the best-known morning-after contraceptive pill for all women and girls, a move fraught with political repercussions for President Obama. The government's decision means that any woman or girl will soon be able to walk into a drugstore and buy the pill, Plan B One-Step, without a prescription. The Justice Department had been fighting to prevent that outcome, but said late Monday afternoon that it would accept its losses in recent court rulings and begin putting into effect a judge's order to have the Food and Drug Administration certify the drug for nonprescription use.

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