Freedom of Information Act
Enacted on Independence Day 1966, the venerable open government law is hated by federal bureaucrats who waste no opportunity trying to find new ways to thwart its use. While still a valuable government oversight tool, FOIA needs rejuvenation if it is to remain viable.
political repression
Sometimes, it's helpful to look at a phenomenon over time to understand how pervasive it is in reality. That's especially true of surveillance-enabled political repression.
Dogs
For the first time in the post-9/11 era, the House delivered a clear cut win against the use of indefinite detention by U.S. military forces in the "War on Terror." In other news, dogs suffering via a horrific Pentagon medical experimentation program need your help.
The Senate Intelligence Committee leader just released his "fix" for a new, radically overbroad Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authority signed into law two months ago. The public may not know for years--or ever--if it worked. And a new provision on American's geolocation info should worry
Arab Americans
Under GOP and Democrat administrations, America has a long, dark history of using "enemies lists," due process free detention, and political sabotage against the enemies of those in power. If elected, Trump may add more such hideous episodes to that history. The week of June 10, the House
Al Qaeda
One day before Memorial Day and with little fanfare, on May 29, 1959, President Eisenhower signed into law the National Security Agency Act. It's been spying on foreigners, and Americans, ever since. Thirty-three days after my 18th birthday, I raised my right hand and took an oath to
Joe Biden
In the decades-long battle between Palestinians and Israelis, America's political elites long ago picked a side. That choice isn't sitting well with young people, and police using violence against the protesters only discredits the Establishment further in their eyes.
air travel
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is determined to force passengers guilty of no crime to submit to facial recognition scanning in order to board their flight. Some in Congress are fighting the move.
Congress
Over five decades after his death, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI is among the greatest daily threats to the constitutional rights of Americans. That must change.
Congress
A bipartisan group of House and Senate members seem intent on reviving one of the most odious tactics ever developed to go after civil society nonprofits they don't like
Congress
A more than year-long battle over America's most controversial and abused surveillance power ended in total victory for Surveillance State defenders. To reverse the damage, civil libertarians must build an electoral capacity to eject from Congress those who subvert the Bill of Rights.
News
Newsletter
The "Great War" ushered in the modern national security apparatus, and with it, a secrecy law as draconian as it is ineffective at protecting real secrets
Newsletter
A former Senate Foreign Relations Committee staffer-turn-law professor's full throated, timely defense of the First Amendment
Newsletter
When the Inspector General Act was passed in 1978, its backers hoped it would usher in a new age of government oversight. A case involving the Justice Department demonstrates that was magical thinking
Newsletter
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was intended to make the federal government more transparent. Its author would be appalled at how courts have eviscerated it. Congress should fix it.