tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81848223829108341992024-03-13T23:05:48.578-07:00Government InvestigationsInvestigating Corruption In The United States GovernmentGovernment Corruption Investigatorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793042081023116433noreply@blogger.comBlogger163125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184822382910834199.post-43345231208384116092012-06-26T21:24:00.004-07:002012-06-26T21:24:51.966-07:00User's Manual To House Contempt Resolutions.By <a class="author" href="http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/contributors/chad-pergram">Chad Pergram</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The House of Representatives formally launches its effort to hold Attorney General <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/topics/whitehouse/eric-holder.htm#r_src=ramp">Eric Holder</a>
in contempt of Congress Wednesday. While the vote won't come until
Thursday, the mechanics begin Wednesday at 2 pm ET in the House Rules
Committee.<br />
<br />
Garden variety contempt of Congress resolutions are usually
"privileged." That means they come to the House floor automatically and
get an hour of debate. They can't be amended and then the House votes,
yea or nay, to hold whomever in contempt.<br />
<br />
However, on this occasion, the floor process will start in the Rules Committee.<br />
<br />
Here's why: The House will actually consider two contempt resolutions against Holder.<br />
<br />
First of all, the House <a href="http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CRPT-112hrpt546/pdf/CRPT-112hrpt546.pdf"> has the actual "criminal" contempt resolution</a>
that was voted on last week by the House Oversight Committee. If the
House votes for that contempt resolution, the citation is then sent to
the <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/topics/us/justice-department.htm#r_src=ramp">Justice Department</a>
and subsequently to a U.S. Attorney who is asked to look at the case
and try to get an indictment of Holder for not responding to Congress.<br />
<br />
But, there's also a <a href="http://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20120625/BILLS-112-HRes706RH.pdf"> "civil" contempt resolution.</a>
This citation was not approved by the Oversight Committee. This second
resolution is interesting because, if adopted, it grants the House to go
to court and ask for an order that the Department of Justice be
compelled to fork over the Fast and Furious documents in question.<br />
The House will then have to vote on both resolutions. It is
conceivable, but not likely, that the House could approve one contempt
resolution and not the other.<br />
<br />
Here's what this all means: There will be separate sets of debate on both resolutions, followed by separate votes.<br />
<br />
Also, by going to the Rules Committee, the House is able to build
into the "rule" (which manages how the body handles the resolutions on
the floor) a provision which prevents the reading of the Oversight and
Government Reform Committee report on Fast and Furious. This is a
time-saver because doing so, according to one senior aide, "would take
six-and-a-half hours."<br />
<br />
Also, by going to the Rules Committee, the House crafts the
guidelines for debate and if any amendments will be in order. They are
unlikely and could be blocked in the Rules Committee tomorrow.<br />
<br />
So what does Thursday look like?<br />
<br />
It's doubtful that the House will start any of this until 12:30 pm ET at the earliest (at least two hours after the <a class="r_lapi" href="http://www.foxnews.com/topics/us/supreme-court.htm#r_src=ramp">Supreme Court</a> health care ruling...so there's a bit of a reprieve...but not necessarily by design).<br />
<br />
The House will have to first debate the "rule." That takes an hour...and then the House votes on the rule.<br />
If they don't adopt the rule, the entire process comes to a screeching halt and <a class="r_lapi" href="http://www.foxnews.com/topics/whitehouse/eric-holder.htm#r_src=ramp">Eric Holder</a> is the happiest person in Washington.<br />
<br />
If they adopt the rule, debate then starts on the two resolutions.
Again, these will be separate debates. Each debate could take up to two
hours. But we won't know for sure until the Rules Committee crafts its
rule tomorrow.<br />
<br />
Then, the House will vote on the two resolutions.<br />
<br />
If the House votes yea on either resolution, it is fair to say that Holder has been held in contempt.<br />
<br />
Keep in mind that this is a similar process that House Democrats used when the House voted to hold Bush <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/topics/us/white-house.htm#r_src=ramp">White House</a> Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/topics/us/white-house.htm#r_src=ramp">White House</a>
Counsel Harriet Miers in contempt in 2008. There are slight
differences. The Democrats velcroed the two resolutions together and
there was only one debate and one vote. Here the Republicans have
separated the two issues, which means there will probably be more debate
time.<br />
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<br /></div>Government Corruption Investigatorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793042081023116433noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184822382910834199.post-65873219416894620122012-06-22T12:54:00.000-07:002012-06-22T12:54:03.923-07:00Contempt: JW Sues ATF for Fast and Furious Records<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">This week marked some huge developments in the "Fast and Furious" scandal that involved the Obama administration's allowing guns to "walk" across the border into the hands of Mexican drug cartels directly resulting in the death of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. At least 150 Mexicans were murdered by Fast and Furious guns. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><br />On Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder was<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://newstracking.judicialwatch.org/l/a/74i/6l/epzi/cyi/oewi/click.emaildirect" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: 14px;">voted in contempt of Congress</span></a><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, led by Rep. Darrel Issa (R-CA). The contempt relates to Holder's steadfast refusal to turn over key documents about the Fast and Furious operation. Next week, assuming the full House votes as planned, Eric Holder is likely to find himself to be the first Attorney General of the United States in history to be found in contempt of Congress. The<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://newstracking.judicialwatch.org/l/a/74i/6l/epzi/2yi/dewi/click.emaildirect" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: 14px;">contempt resolution</span></a><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>is reproduced below:</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Resolved</span>, That Eric H. Holder, Jr., Attorney General of the United States, shall be found to be in contempt of Congress for failure to comply with a congressional subpoena.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Resolved</span>, That pursuant to 2 U.S.C. §§ 192 and 194, the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall certify the report of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, detailing the refusal of Eric H. Holder, Jr., Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, to produce documents to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform as directed by subpoena, to the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, to the end that Mr. Holder be proceeded against in the manner and form provided by law.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Resolved</span>, That the Speaker of the House shall otherwise take all appropriate action to enforce the subpoena.</span></span></div>
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I<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">n an effort to derail the contempt vote, Holder asked the president on Tuesday to do what Obama does best, use the power of the Oval Office to try to shield documents from disclosure. (This despite<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><a href="http://newstracking.judicialwatch.org/l/a/74i/6l/epzi/8yi/rewi/click.emaildirect" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Obama's previous statements</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>as a presidential candidate indicating he believed executive privilege is not a good reason to withhold documents from Congress.)<br /><br />Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), Ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked some critical questions after the president intervened: "How can the president assert executive privilege if there was no White House involvement? How can the president exert executive privilege over documents he's supposedly never seen?"<br /><br />How indeed?<br /><br />In fact, your Judicial Watch litigated a key relevant case on executive privilege against the Bush administration. Judicial Watch<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><a href="http://newstracking.judicialwatch.org/l/a/74i/6l/epzi/9yi/6ewi/click.emaildirect" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">sued the Bush Department of Justice</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>(DOJ) to gain access to DOJ documents about the Clinton pardon scandal. The Bush DOJ said that documents prepared by its Office of Pardon Attorney, which is supposed to advise the president on pardons/commutations, were subject to the presidential communication privilege. A lower court agreed. But in a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><a href="http://newstracking.judicialwatch.org/l/a/74i/6l/epzi/vyi/5ewi/click.emaildirect" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">key 2004 ruling</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>against the Bush administration, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overruled the lower court and said that extending the presidential communications privilege to internal DOJ documents "would be both contrary to executive privilege precedent and considerably undermine the purposes of Freedom of Information (FOIA) to foster openness and accountability in government." <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><br />Any internal DOJ documents on Fast and Furious would not seem, under this important precedent, to be covered by any executive privilege.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><br />It is unclear as to what categories of documents Obama is invoking executive privilege. This gamesmanship suggests they know that internal DOJ documents that weren't solicited and received by the president won't be protected by executive privilege.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><br />The Obama administration's assertion of executive privilege seems at odds with court precedent in our pardon case and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;">In re: Sealed (Espy)</span>, the two big cases describing the contours the limits of executive privilege. (You will see the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;">In re: Sealed</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>opinion repeatedly cited by the appellate court in its opinion in our pardon case.)<br /><br />Any attempt to assert deliberative process privilege also won't work because the courts don't routinely deny efforts to shield internal government "deliberations" that may shed light on government misconduct.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><br />The scandalous assertion of executive privilege necessarily draws President Obama into this scandal about the murder of a federal law enforcement agent and related Obama administration lies. As Speaker Boehner,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><a href="http://newstracking.judicialwatch.org/l/a/74i/6l/epzi/nyi/7ewi/click.emaildirect" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">who stalled the contempt vote for political reasons, said</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">: "The decision to invoke executive privilege is an admission that White House officials were involved in decisions that misled the Congress and have covered up the truth."<br /><br />Of course, the question of the White House's potential involvement in Fast and Furious has been at the center of Judicial Watch's investigative efforts.<br /><br />In fact, on June 6th, before these latest Fast and Furious developments, we filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><a href="http://newstracking.judicialwatch.org/l/a/74i/6l/epzi/uyi/pewi/click.emaildirect" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">lawsuit</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>with the Obama Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) seeking access to "Operation Fast and Furious" records detailing communications between ATF officials and Kevin O'Reilly, former Obama White House Director of North American Affairs at the U.S. National Security Council.<br /><br />This is the third lawsuit filed against the Obama administration seeking records related to the Fast and Furious scandal. And here's what we're after this time pursuant to our original FOIA request submitted on July 22, 2011:<br /></span></span><div style="margin-left: 40px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">All records of communication between any official, officer or employee of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Kevin M. O'Reilly, a current or former employee of the U.S. Department of State currently or previously serving as Director of North American Affairs at the U.S. National Security Council.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />Why are we interested in this particular White House official?<br /><br />As reported by<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><a href="http://newstracking.judicialwatch.org/l/a/74i/6l/epzi/gyi/fewi/click.emaildirect" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">CBS News</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">, Fast and Furious documents released by the Obama White House in September 2011 "show extensive communications between then-ATF Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix office Bill Newell - who led Fast and Furious - and then-White House National Security Staffer Kevin O'Reilly."<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><br />These records included a flow-chart showing the ultimate destinations of the weapons released by the Obama administration. Newell had previously admitted during a congressional hearing that he had indeed<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><a href="http://newstracking.judicialwatch.org/l/a/74i/6l/epzi/x0i/qewi/click.emaildirect" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">shared information</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>regarding the scandal with O'Reilly, but did not provide significant details regarding their discussions.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Rep. Darrell Issa and Sen. Grassley<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><a href="http://newstracking.judicialwatch.org/l/a/74i/6l/epzi/i0i/zewi/click.emaildirect" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">have repeatedly demanded</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>that O'Reilly testify in the matter. Nevertheless, the White House has thus far refused to make O'Reilly, now reportedly stationed in Iraq in a new position with the Obama State Department, available for questioning.<br /><br />The Obama administration has clammed up on Fast and Furious. We're having trouble getting almost anything out of them. And this week's contempt vote shows Congress is having no better luck. The American people deserve to know what White House officials knew and when they knew it. We will continue to fight to hold the Obama administration accountable to the rule of law.<br /><br />Stay tuned...</span></span></div>
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<a href="" name="Anchor2"></a><span style="color: #1879bd;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><b>Obama Openly Courts Illegal Alien Voters with Suspended Deportation Policy</b></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Obama's concocting of a constitutional crisis over Eric Holder comes on the heels of another constitutional crisis that Obama began last week. Last Friday, President Barack Obama once again exhibited the lawlessness that is the hallmark of his presidency.</span></span><a href="http://newstracking.judicialwatch.org/l/a/74i/6l/epzi/l0i/mewi/click.emaildirect" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Politico</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>had the story in an article appropriately entitled, "Obama's Policy Strategy: Ignore Laws:"<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br /></span></span><div style="margin-left: 40px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Rather than pushing new laws through a divided Congress to enact his agenda, Obama is relying on federal agencies to ignore, or at least not defend, laws that some of his important supporters - like Hispanic voters and the gay community - don't like...</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span><div style="margin-left: 40px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">...As of Friday, the federal government won't deport undocumented immigrants under age 30 who came to the United States as children. It is a temporary, de facto implementation of a part of the stalled DREAM Act.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span><div style="margin-left: 40px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">The result: a loud message to Hispanic voters to remember Obama in November.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />So Obama couldn't get this illegal alien amnesty policy passed by Congress and the American people, but he found a way to send a gift to potential illegal alien "voters" just months before Election Day.<br /><br />Of course, illegal alien amnesty is one key component of the Obama gang's comprehensive plot to steal the elections. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><br />Not only is the Obama administration allowing illegal aliens to stay in the country through the elections without fear of deportation, in violation of immigration law, he's also paving the way for them to cast illegal votes by fighting any attempt by state election officials to implement voter integrity provisions such as voter ID laws. (I covered this point in detail last week, and you can click</span></span><a href="http://newstracking.judicialwatch.org/l/a/74i/6l/epzi/a0i/1ewi/click.emaildirect" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>here</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>for the background.)<br /><br />Now, this "suspended deportation scheme" was once known as "<span style="font-style: italic;">stealth</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>amnesty" because the Obama administration at first tried to impose the policy without attracting the attention of the press and the public. "Nothing to see here," Obama administration officials repeatedly said, even as they were quietly instructing immigration officials behind the scenes to stop deportation proceedings against illegal aliens, even those convicted of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><a href="http://newstracking.judicialwatch.org/l/a/74i/6l/epzi/k0i/wewi/click.emaildirect" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">violent crimes</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">.<br /><br />(Judicial Watch took a leading role in exposing the administration's stealth amnesty scheme. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Houston Chronicle</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>should also receive a lot of credit for its outstanding reporting on the issue as well.)<br /><br />The president, for his part, unequivocally denied that he would ever suspend illegal alien deportations by executive fiat. For example this is what Obama had to say in a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><a href="http://newstracking.judicialwatch.org/l/a/74i/6l/epzi/j0i/3ewi/click.emaildirect" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">March 28, 2011 speech</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>at Bell Multicultural High School:<br /></span></span><div style="margin-left: 40px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">With respect to the notion that I can just suspend deportations through executive order, that's just not the case, because there are laws on the books that Congress has passed - and I know that everybody here at Bell is studying hard so you know that we've got three branches of government. Congress passes the law. The executive branch's job is to enforce and implement those laws. And then the judiciary has to interpret the laws.<br /><br />There are enough laws on the books by Congress that are very clear in terms of how we have to enforce our immigration system that for me to simply through executive order ignore those congressional mandates would not conform with my appropriate role as President."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />I couldn't agree more. The proper role of Congress is to make the law. The proper role of the Executive branch is to enforce the law. We saw a piece of our liberty stolen from us last week. The will of the American people, as enshrined in federal immigration law, was usurped by one man, our president. This is a blow to our republican form of government and an attack on the God-given right of self-government.<br /><br />The Obama administration's attempt to get around Congress on the issue of illegal alien amnesty raises serious separation of powers concerns. Our attorneys and investigators are fast at work exploring Judicial Watch's options. (By the way, don't rely on Republican politician Mitt Romney to save the day. He has yet to confirm that he would reverse Obama's brazen<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><a href="http://newstracking.judicialwatch.org/l/a/74i/6l/epzi/h0i/tewi/click.emaildirect" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">ultra vires</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>act.)<br /><br />In the meantime, I want to tell you about an important court victory that occurred last week on a related issue. Thanks to our hard-working and talented attorneys, voters will finally have an opportunity to preserve rule of the law and put an end to taxpayer funded discounted tuition for illegal aliens this November.<br /><br />According to<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://newstracking.judicialwatch.org/l/a/74i/6l/epzi/o0i/4ewi/click.emaildirect" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Washington Post</span></span></a><span style="font-size: 14px;">:<br /></span></span><div style="margin-left: 40px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">A day after advocates for undocumented immigrants made a last-ditch effort to keep Maryland's Dream Act from the November ballot, the state's Court of Appeals did the opposite Wednesday, clearing the way for Maryland's first referendum on a state law in 20 years...<br /><br />...In essence, the order rejects a lawsuit filed by two unnamed illegal immigrants and other voters that contended that Maryland's Dream Act involved fiscal matters and therefore under state law should be exempt from second-guessing by voters in a referendum.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />We are pleased that Maryland's highest court vindicated the people's right to have their say at the ballot box about the issue of in-state tuition for illegal aliens. The fate of the Maryland DREAM Act is now, as it should be, in the hands of the Maryland voters.<br /><br />Arguments were presented to the Court of Appeals on June 12, 2012 (the Maryland court then ruled in our client's favor the next day!). Two illegal aliens, several Maryland voters, and the left-wing activist group Casa de Maryland sought to reverse an overwhelmingly successful petition drive to put the Maryland DREAM Act on the ballot in 2012. Judicial Watch represented MDPetitions.com in our successful legal defense of its historic petition effort.<br /></span></span><a href="http://newstracking.judicialwatch.org/l/a/74i/6l/epzi/d0i/yewi/click.emaildirect" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">MDPetitions.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>collected 132,071 signatures, nearly twice the amount required by law, in support of a petition to contest via referendum SB 167 (the Maryland DREAM Act), a law signed by Governor Martin O'Malley on May 10, 2011, that will enable certain illegal aliens to pay reduced tuition rates at Maryland community colleges and public higher education institutions. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><br />Open borders advocates are taking their cues from the top. When they see Obama flouting the law, it gives them the confidence to put forth their own radical policies, like taxpayer-funded tuition perks for illegal alien students. Judicial Watch takes its cue from the U.S. Constitution and will continue to fight for the American people who want the rule of law on illegal immigration to be upheld. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1879bd;"><b><span style="font-size: 15px;"><a href="" name="Anchor3"></a></span></b></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: #1879bd;"><b>JW Sues CFPB for Records Detailing Obama's Unconstitutional "Recess" Appointment of Cordray</b></span><br /><br />Moving onto Obama's constitutional crisis "number three," what is the president trying to hide regarding his controversial "recess" appointment of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) radical left Director Richard Cordray?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><br />On June 7, 2012, we filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><a href="http://newstracking.judicialwatch.org/l/a/74i/6l/epzi/r0i/0ewi/click.emaildirect" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">lawsuit</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>against the agency to obtain records detailing the appointment.<br /><br />Specifically, on January 12, 2012, Judicial Watch submitted a FOIA request to CFPB seeking access to all records of communications between the CFPB and the White House, the Executive Office of the President, the Treasury Department and Congress concerning President Obama's "recess appointment" of Cordray. The request also seeks access to records of communications between the CFPB and the White House concerning a January 6, 2012, visit by President Obama to the CFPB two days after the appointment was announced.<br /><br />On January 25, 2012, Judicial Watch submitted a separate FOIA request to CFPB seeking communications concerning Cordray's appointment, as well as reimbursements, reservations, vouchers and any other documentation reflecting travel and lodging for Mr. Cordray, his family, any additional guests, and the Ohio judge who, in January 2012, administered Mr. Cordray's oath of office in Washington, D.C.<br /><br />The agency has failed to fully respond to Judicial Watch's requests within the statutory allotted time-frame, prompting our lawsuit.<br /><br />Now here's why I say this appointment was unconstitutional.<br /><br />When President Barack Obama announced his decision to install Cordray as head of the CFPB, the president called the move a "recess" appointment.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><br />Republicans in the Senate previously filibustered the Cordray nomination. Cordray was considered a candidate unlikely to pass any vetting by the U.S. Senate owing to his radical, anti-free market views. (In an interview with<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;">The Wall Street Journal</span>, for example, Cordray compared employees of a financial services company to the "Nazis at Nuremberg" who said they were just following orders. This is not the kind of statement the president wanted subject to congressional scrutiny during a confirmation hearing.)<br /><br />But here's the problem.<br /><br />At the time of President Obama's "recess appointment," Congress was not in recess! Article I, Section 5, Clause 4 of the U.S. Constitution provides that: "Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days ...." To prevent any recess appointment, the Republican-controlled House refused to consent to Senate adjournment (resulting in the Senate's coming into session every three days). Nonetheless, President Obama declared that Congress was in recess and made the Cordray appointment.<br /><br />Judicial Watch has already obtained<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><a href="http://newstracking.judicialwatch.org/l/a/74i/6l/epzi/60i/eewi/click.emaildirect" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">documents</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>from the CFPB indicating Cordray recognized questions about the constitutionality of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><a href="http://newstracking.judicialwatch.org/l/a/74i/6l/epzi/50i/-ewi/click.emaildirect" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">his own appointment</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">.<br /><br />In his February 6, 2012, "Weekly Message," to the CFPB staff, Richard Cordray acknowledged that his appointment as the agency's director without Senate approval was vulnerable to legal challenge: "There is a chance (a minor chance in my view, though everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion) that the appointment would be invalidated by a court."<br /><br />Nonetheless, despite the controversial nature of the appointment, just two days after the Cordray appointment, President Obama made a visit to the CFPB. As reported by<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><a href="http://newstracking.judicialwatch.org/l/a/74i/6l/epzi/70i/bewi/click.emaildirect" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Politico</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">: "Taking what amounted to a victory lap, President Barack Obama visited the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Friday morning to anoint Richard Cordray as its director after installing him in the job despite Republican opposition and threats of partisan warfare."<br /><br />It shows how far we have fallen in terms of our respect for the rule of law when a politician runs a "victory lap" after stomping on the U.S. Constitution.<br /><br />Given the Obama administration's penchant for secrecy, I am not at all surprised we must file a lawsuit to obtain these records on this scandalous appointment. I'm sure the president would rather all details regarding his unlawful decision be kept under lock and key, but we intend to hold the Obama administration accountable to the rule of law.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><br />The Cordray appointment is an abuse of office that disregards the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. Senate's constitutional "advise and consent" role.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><br />In response to the Judicial Watch lawsuit, CFPB, in a classic Washington cover-up move, produced a dozen pages of documents, via emails sent to us at 9:59 p.m. and 10:19 p.m. on Friday, June 8. (Another late Friday night document dump!) It was a paltry document dump and our open records lawsuit will continue.<br /><br />Unitl next week....</span></span><br /><span style="color: #30353b; font-family: 'Swiss 721 SWA', Helvetica, Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span><img alt="Tom Fitton" border="0" height="59" src="https://images.emaildirect.com/p/t/custom/judicialWatch/jwWeekly_tfSign.jpg" width="159" /><br /><b style="font-size: 12px;">Tom Fitton</b><br /><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">President</span></span></span></div>
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</tbody></table>Government Corruption Investigatorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793042081023116433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184822382910834199.post-57641841193421547742012-06-12T16:04:00.001-07:002012-06-12T16:04:54.442-07:00Leak probe likely to include White House<span id="articleText"></span><br />
<div id="articleInfo">
<div class="byline">
By <a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=mark.hosenball&">Mark Hosenball</a> and <a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=james.vicini&">James Vicini</a></div>
<span class="location">WASHINGTON</span> <span class="timestamp"></span><br />
<span class="timestamp"> </span>
<br />
</div>
<span id="midArticle_0"></span><span class="focusParagraph">
(Reuters) - An investigation by two federal prosecutors into recent
alleged leaks of classified information is likely to include scrutiny of
White House officials, three people familiar with the probe said.<br />
<br />
</span><span id="midArticle_1"></span>The sources said that when
Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Friday that the chief federal
prosecutors in Washington and Maryland would pursue "all appropriate
investigative leads within the executive and legislative branches of
government," he signaled that examining the actions of White House
officials would be within bounds.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_2"></span>In
an appearance on Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Holder
said: "Let me be very clear.<br />
<br />
Our investigation will follow leads
wherever they take us." The U.S. Attorneys on the case, he said, have
"the ability, they independence, they have the moxie."<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_3"></span>Holder,
pushing back against Republican demands for an outside special counsel
to investigate the national security leaks, said the two prosecutors
would conduct a nonpartisan, independent investigation.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_4"></span>One
of the people familiar with the investigation said that because some of
the media reports containing alleged leaks included information
attributed to Obama administration officials, no investigation by the
prosecutors "would be taken seriously if it didn't include" scrutiny of
White House officials' actions.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_5"></span>This individual and others requested anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak for the record.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_6"></span>Holder,
facing sharp questioning by senators, said that both he and FBI
director Robert Mueller had already been interviewed by investigators
about their knowledge of an intelligence operation targeting Al Qaeda in
the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which some officials allege was disrupted
as a result of leaks to the media.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_7"></span>He also said that the two prosecutors involved in leak investigations would each be investigating "separate matters."<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_8"></span>While
Holder declined to identify what these were, one avenue of inquiry is
believed to be sensitive information about U.S. involvement in
cyberwarfare against Iran's nuclear program, which was contained in a
recent New York Times article.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_9"></span>The other probe apparently involves the joint U.S.-British-Saudi operation against AQAP, al Qaeda's affiliate in <a href="http://www.reuters.com/places/yemen" title="Full coverage of Yemen">Yemen</a>.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_10"></span>Last
month, a prominent Republican Senator explicitly asked the FBI to
investigate a possible leak related to the AQAP operation involving John
Brennan, chief counter-terrorism advisor at the White House.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_11"></span>In
a letter to Mueller, Senate Intelligence Committee vice chairman Saxby
Chambliss asked the FBI about a Reuters story last month which disclosed
that a briefing by Brennan may have inadvertently tipped the media to
sensitive information about an undercover informant who played a central
role in the case.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_12"></span>The FBI wrote
back that it shared Chambliss' concerns and would investigate all leads,
according to a source familiar with the matter.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_13"></span>Still, it remains unclear how large a role Brennan's actions will play in the investigation into leaks regarding AQAP.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_14"></span>The
briefing by Brennan, came after an Associated Press report disclosed
that U.S. counter-terrorism officials had disrupted a plot by the al
Qaeda affiliate to plant an underwear bomber on a U.S. flight.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_15"></span>ON-AIR TV ANALYSTS BRIEFED<br />
<span id="midArticle_0"></span>In
a subsequent conference call, Brennan told former counter-terrorism
officials who appear as on-air TV analysts that the bomb plot was never a
real threat because the U.S. had "inside control" over it. Within
hours, one of the former officials who was on the call with Brennan
speculated on the air that the U.S. "had somebody on the inside" of the
plot.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_1"></span>By the next day, news outlets were reporting that the U.S. had planted a double-agent inside al Qaeda affiliate.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_2"></span>Because of the leaks, U.S. and allied officials said they were forced to prematurely end the operation.<br />
<span id="midArticle_3"></span>White
House officials and some of the former officials who participated in
the call with Brennan all said that he did not disclose classified
information.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_4"></span>Asked whether the
White House had been contacted by the FBI or any other investigative
authority in relation to leak inquiries, National Security Council
spokesman Tommy Vietor said he had no comment beyond those on Friday in
which President Barack Obama decried leaks.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_5"></span>The
Democratic president brushed off Republican allegations that some of
the leaks appeared calculated to boost his re-election prospects,
calling such charges "offensive."<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_6"></span>Chambliss
joined a group of Republican senators led by John McCain and Lindsey
Graham in sponsoring a Congressional resolution calling on Holder to
replace the U.S. Attorneys he assigned to the leak investigations with
an "outside special counsel" who could operate independently of Obama's
Justice Department.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_7"></span>Graham noted
that a special counsel had been appointed in the case of Valerie Plame, a
undercover CIA operative whose identity was disclosed to a journalist.
That leak eventually led to criminal charges against a senior aide to
Vice President Dick Cheney.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_8"></span>"Why wouldn't you need one here? Is this less serious? The allegations we are talking about here are breathtaking," Graham said.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_9"></span>However,
a Republican motion to have the Senate pass their resolution by
"unanimous consent" failed when a Democrat, Senator Ron Wyden, objected.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_10"></span>Dianne
Feinstein, the Democrat who chairs the Senate Intelligence committee,
said she also opposed the Republican plan, and defended the independence
and scrupulousness of U.S. Attorneys Rod Rosenstein of Maryland and
Ronald Machen of the District of Columbia, whom Holder assigned to the
leak probes.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_11"></span>(Additional reporting by <a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=susan.cornwell&">Susan Cornwell</a>; Editing by <a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=warren.strobel&">Warren Strobel</a> and <a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=christopher.wilson&">Christopher Wilson</a>)<br />Government Corruption Investigatorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793042081023116433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184822382910834199.post-81909231480466246782012-06-03T01:27:00.001-07:002012-06-03T01:27:06.943-07:00Why is the Department of Justice Protecting Illegal Voters?A few years ago it would have seemed really strange to discover that our Department of Justice was protecting the ability of illegal aliens to vote in our elections. It might not have been surprising in Chicago, but it would have been surprising for most of the rest of us.
According to the Saturday edition of The Miami Herald,
The Justice Department told Florida election officials that they must stop their non-citizen voters purge. Florida argues it is not violating any law.
The Justice Department ordered Florida’s elections division to halt a systematic effort to find and purge the state’s voter rolls of noncitizen voters.
Florida’s effort appears to violate both the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which protects minorities, and the 1993 National Voter Registration Act – which governs voter purges – T. Christian Herren Jr., the Justice Department’s lead civil rights lawyer, wrote in a detailed two-page letter sent late Thursday night.
State officials said they were reviewing the letter. But they indicated they might fight DOJ over its interpretation of federal law and expressed frustration that President Barack Obama’s administration has stonewalled the state’s noncitizen voter hunt for nine months.
“We are firmly committed to doing the right thing and preventing ineligible voters from being able to cast a ballot,” said Chris Cate, spokesman for Secretary of State Ken Detzner, who was ordered by Gov. Rick Scott to conduct the search for potentially ineligible voters.
The key comment in the article is,
Independent voters and Democrats are the most likely to face being purged from the rolls. Republicans and non-Hispanic whites are the least likely.
It becomes a concern when the Department of Justice demands that ineligible voters, including those who are dead, cannot be removed from the rolls of registered eligible voters. Democrats do not want elections to be clean, fair, and honest.
Florida’s laws appear to discriminate against no one and to break no laws. As The Miami Herald article continued,
Florida elections officials have repeatedly said that their efforts comply with all federal laws, which aren’t clearly written. The[y] also say there’s nothing discriminatory or partisan about the effort. It’s simply trying to remove ineligible voters: felons, dead people and noncitizens.
One would think Eric Holder and The United States Department of Justice would want the states to uphold the laws? It appears voting is an exception to the law during the time of the Obama Administration.Government Corruption Investigatorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793042081023116433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184822382910834199.post-75998319478301078252012-04-18T15:50:00.000-07:002012-04-18T15:50:35.573-07:00GSA Vegas Scandal Latest Symptom of Out of Control Federal Bureaucracy<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/VfqGV4gg6YI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<br />
Issa on Hannity Radio: Exposing & Investigating GSA Vegas Convention<br />
<br />
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xQKr_zJVeZQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Government Corruption Investigatorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793042081023116433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184822382910834199.post-22609697081742763652012-04-17T20:59:00.000-07:002012-04-17T20:59:37.338-07:00White House defends Secret Service amid prostitution investigation<div class="cnn_stryimg640captioned"></div><div class="cnn_stryimg640captioned"></div><div class="cnn_stryimg640captioned"></div><div class="cnn_stryimg640captioned"></div><div class="cnn_stryimg640captioned"><img alt="White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said President Obama has confidence in his Secret Service director." border="0" height="360" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120417091327-white-house-briefing-carney-story-top.jpg" width="640" /></div><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Washington (CNN)</b> -- The White House defended the Secret Service and its director Tuesday amid an embarrassing investigation into whether several agents brought prostitutes back to their hotel in Colombia ahead of a presidential visit.<br />
<br />
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2">Eleven Secret Service members have been implicated in the investigation, which began Thursday after one of the women complained that she hadn't been paid. In addition, as many as 10 U.S. military personnel from all branches of the armed forces are being questioned about potential involvement in any misconduct, two military officials told CNN.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2"><br />
</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3">The Americans were in Cartagena to prepare for President Barack Obama's weekend visit to the Summit of the Americas, and Obama has said he expects a "rigorous" investigation.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3"><br />
</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph4">The investigation is being led by Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan, who has been briefing members of Congress. A leading senator said Tuesday she had been told as many as 21 women had been involved, and questioned whether the incident could have endangered the president.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph4"><br />
</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph5">"Who were these women? Could they have been members of groups hostile to the United States? Could they have planted bugs, disabled weapons, or in any other (ways) jeopardized security of the president or our country?" asked Maine's Susan Collins, the ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph5"><br />
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</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph6">At the White House, presidential spokesman Jay Carney said Obama "has confidence" in Sullivan, who he said "acted quickly in response to this incident," and in the agents around him.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph6"><br />
</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph7">"The work the Secret Service does, the men and women who protect him and his family and those who work with him, is exemplary as a rule," Carney said. "They put their lives on the line, and it is a very difficult job, and he acknowledges that and he appreciates it."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph7"><br />
</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph8">Collins said she believed Sullivan "will fully investigate" the allegations and take "appropriate action" if the allegations bear out. But she questioned whether there was any similar misconduct on previous missions, and whether the issue is a sign of a deeper problem within the agency.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph8"><br />
</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph9">The Secret Service agents and officers involved range in experience from relative newcomers to nearly 20-year veterans, and all have been interviewed at least once, two government officials with knowledge of the investigation told CNN on Monday. Their security clearances have been pulled while the investigation is under way and could be reinstated if they are cleared, the officials said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph9"><br />
</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph10">The agents were offered an opportunity to take a polygraph test, according to a U.S. official.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph10"><br />
</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph11">Some of the agents and military personnel maintain they didn't know the women were prostitutes, the official told CNN.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph11"><br />
</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph12">"Even if they weren't (prostitutes), it was totally wrong to take a foreign national back to a hotel when the president is about to arrive," Rep. Peter King, R-New York and the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph12"><br />
</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph13">House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California, said he thinks the agents should take the polygraph tests, if they haven't already done so.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph13"><br />
</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph14">"For these individuals, if they want to have any career at all, they have to decide on telling the entire truth and seeing whether they have something going forward."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph14"><br />
</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph15">Issa said his level of confidence in Sullivan is "high."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph15"><br />
</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph16">The Homeland Security Committee's chairman, Connecticut independent Joe Lieberman, said his staff is looking into the accusations and he may call hearings on the matter.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph16"><br />
</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph17">"History, unfortunately, is full of cases where people in positions of great responsibility, including security, have been compromised by, well, enemies or spies," Lieberman said. "I'm not saying that happened here, but once you conduct yourself in this way, you open that risk."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph17"><br />
</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph18">California Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who leads the chamber's intelligence committee, said she was "profoundly disappointed" by the allegations.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph18"><br />
</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph19">"I've always respected the Secret Service as kind of numero uno of our law enforcement community," she said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph19"><br />
</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph20">U.S. government sources have said there was a dispute between at least one Secret Service member and a woman demanding payment. At least one of the women brought to the hotel talked with police, and complaints were filed with the U.S. Embassy, the sources said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph20"><br />
</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph21">While soliciting prostitution is legal in certain areas of Colombia, it is considered a breach of the agency's conduct code, the government sources said. Military law also bars service members from patronizing prostitutes, displaying conduct unbecoming an officer or, for enlisted personnel, conduct "prejudicial to good order and discipline."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph21"><br />
</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph22">The military personnel involved were sent to Colombia to support the Secret Service. A military official who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing investigation told CNN that two of those being questioned are Marines who handle military working dogs. Air Force and Navy personnel, some of whom are believed to be explosive disposal experts, also are being questioned, the official said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph22"><br />
</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph23">The alleged misconduct occurred before Obama arrived in Cartagena, and the Secret Service said the personnel involved were relieved of duty and sent home before the president landed. But the news broke while he was there -- and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the Pentagon on Monday that the incident distracted attention "from what was a very important regional engagement for our president."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph23"><br />
</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph24">"So we let the boss down, because nobody's talking about what went on in Colombia other than this incident," Dempsey said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph24"><br />
</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph25">Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Michigan, said he would consider holding hearings on the conduct of the members of the military involved in the scandal, but wants to learn more first. The committee's top Republican, Arizona Sen. John McCain, said he is sure "the guilty will be punished," but lamented that a few members of the military and Secret Service "have tarnished the reputations of many."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph25"><br />
</div><div class="cnn_strycbftrtxt">CNN's Barbara Starr, Jessica Yellin, Deirdre Walsh and Ted Barrett contributed to this report.</div>Government Corruption Investigatorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793042081023116433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184822382910834199.post-76907848312575013022012-04-17T09:35:00.000-07:002012-04-17T09:35:29.993-07:00Expect Canceled Conferences In Near Future From GSA & Federal Agencies<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/P0pTJQzzO4Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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Government Gone Wild -- GSA Wasting Your Money, OGR Investigates<br />
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What Did Oversight Cmte Find Out During Hearing On GSA Spending Spree?<br />
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/uI6PC1SCSXQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Government Corruption Investigatorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793042081023116433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184822382910834199.post-89976148524995105122012-04-17T06:57:00.000-07:002012-04-17T06:57:01.971-07:00Addressing GSA's Culture of Wasteful Spending<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/dWSiG6aYBUA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Government Corruption Investigatorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793042081023116433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184822382910834199.post-88784869586768085612012-04-16T16:58:00.002-07:002012-04-16T16:58:26.772-07:00GSA Chief of Staff Informed White House of Las Vegas Conference Scandal in Spring 2011<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/EGxuZ-nCVoM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Government Corruption Investigatorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793042081023116433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184822382910834199.post-21542119064352736552012-04-16T15:26:00.000-07:002012-04-16T15:26:09.216-07:00GSA Chief of Staff Spills Beans on When He Told White House About Vegas Spending Spree<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-RPzBjdrqU0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Government Corruption Investigatorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793042081023116433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184822382910834199.post-42887869686080870862012-04-16T13:17:00.002-07:002012-04-16T13:17:33.457-07:00Exposing Waste, Abuse & Mismanagement at the GSA & Secret Service<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Dfbwn_i4VGM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Government Corruption Investigatorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793042081023116433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184822382910834199.post-71519650510462892312012-04-16T13:13:00.000-07:002012-04-16T13:13:08.168-07:00GSA's Wasteful Spending & Lack of Accountability Goes Beyond Party Lines<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/R0oekP6OGbo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Government Corruption Investigatorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793042081023116433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184822382910834199.post-57369506375553265602012-04-16T12:05:00.000-07:002012-04-16T12:05:24.916-07:00GSA official Neely pleads the Fifth<span class="author">By Mike Lillis</span><br />
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</div>The General Services Administration official at the center of a scandal over lavish government spending declined to answer questions at a congressional hearing on Monday, invoking the Fifth Amendment.<br />
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"Mr, Chairman, on the advice of my counsel I respectfully decline to answer based upon my Fifth Amendment constitutionally privilege," Jeff Neely, the GSA official, said repeatedly in response to a string of questions from Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. <br />
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</div><span class="author"> </span>Issa had subpoenaed Neely for his role in organizing a 2010 Las Vegas conference of the GSA's Public Buildings Service, for which Neely serves as a regional commissioner.<br />
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A damning GSA Inspector General report, released earlier this month, detailed the almost $823,000 taxpayer-funded tab for the conference, including $146,527 for catered food, $6,325 for commemorative coins and $75,000 for a cooperation-building exercise to construct bicycles.<br />
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The report led to the quick resignation of GSA's Administrator Martha Johnson, and brought a wave of loud condemnation from Republicans, who contend it reveals a culture of corruption in the GSA, in particular, and a trend of overspending in the Obama administration, in general. Democrats have also loudly criticized Neely and GSA, something they continued at Monday's hearing.<br />
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With Capitol Hill quiet for the last two weeks of spring recess, the GSA story caught fire in the media, creating a circus-like atmosphere Monday in the Rayburn hearing room on Capitol Hill, where the line to get in snaked down an otherwise quiet hallway and the press table spilled with reporters even 30 minutes before the hearing began.<br />
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Other GSA officials – including Johnson and David Foley, deputy commissioner of the Public Buildings Service – offered no attempt to defend the spending on the Vegas junket, instead apologizing repeatedly for the scandal that occurred under their watch.<br />
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"I personally apologize to the American people for the entire situation," Johnson said. "As the head of the agency, I am responsible."<br />
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Brian Miller, the GSA Inspector General, applauded the internal oversight system that allowed his office to issue its damning report without political interference. But he warned that more needs to be done to ensure that taxpayer dollars aren't similarly wasted in the future.<br />
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"While a private business may use its profits to rewire employees in a lavish fashion, a government agency may not," Miller said in his prepared testimony.<br />
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Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.), senior Democrat on the oversight committee, was quick to pile on the criticism, particularly when it came to Neely's actions.<br />
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"I do not support granting Mr. Neely immunity at this time," Cummings said.<br />
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Cummings warned that Neely's behavior shouldn't be used to attack all federal workers.<br />
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"They disregarded one of the most basic tenets of public [government?] service: It's not your money," Cummings said. "It tarnishes the reputation of hard-working government workers," Cummings said. "They should not be painted with the same brush."<br />
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Monday's hearing is just the start of Congress's probe into dubious GSA spending. On Tuesday, the Transportation Committee's subpanel on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management – headed by Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) – will take another shot at the embattled agency. And Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), head of the Environment and Public Works Committee, and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee's Financial Services Subpanel, have both scheduled hearings on the topic Wednesday.<br />
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Like Issa, Denham has requested testimony from Johnson, Neely and other GSA officials directly involved in the Vegas junket. The Senate Democrats, by contrast, have invited only Miller and Dan Tangherlini, GSA's acting administrator who replaced Johnson.<br />
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<a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/1007-other/221707-gsa-official-pleads-the-fifth">The Hill</a>Government Corruption Investigatorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793042081023116433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184822382910834199.post-69723000277419903072012-04-15T11:53:00.000-07:002012-04-15T11:53:18.968-07:00Issa: Secret Service Incident Likely Not The First<div class="photos" style="height: 240px; padding-bottom: 60px;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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</tbody></table><div class="photo"> .</div><div class="photo"> </div><div class="photo"> WASHINGTON (AP) - A senior House Republican says he doubts that a Secret Service scandal involving prostitutes in Colombia was a one-time incident.<br />
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Rep. Darrell Issa (EYE'-suh) warns the agency that protects the president that Congress will want to make sure it doesn't happen again.<br />
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Issa, who leads the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, says he's not sure whether there will be congressional hearings. But he tells CBS' "Face the Nation" that lawmakers will be looking "over the shoulder" of the Secret Service's own investigation to ensure the agency isn't endangering the nation's VIPs.<br />
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Eleven Secret Service employees have been placed on administration leave after allegedly partying with prostitutes in advance of President Barak Obama's weekend summit in Colombia.<br />
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Issa says "things like this don't happen once, if they didn't happen before."<br />
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<a href="http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpps/news/issa-secret-service-incident-likely-not-the-first-dpgapx-km-20120415_19173889">My Fox Phoenix</a> </div></div>Government Corruption Investigatorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793042081023116433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184822382910834199.post-75605890109301967022012-04-02T21:48:00.001-07:002012-04-02T21:49:35.667-07:00Will Holder’s Watergate Become Obama’s Waterloo?<div style="text-align: left;"><b>By Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice President</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><a href="http://www.nrapublications.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/waye_shad1.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-12646" height="170" src="http://www.nrapublications.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/waye_shad1.jpg" title="waye_shad" width="144" /></a>Will Holder’s Watergate Become Obama’s Waterloo?</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">Any doubt surrounding the mindset driving the gun-ban crowd, especially those infesting the Obama administration, in using human suffering and murder as propaganda tools has been erased by hard evidence coming straight out of congressional investigations of the government’s “Operation Fast and Furious.”</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">That proof is in an email boasting of gun traces held secret from Mexican authorities—part of the U.S. Justice Department’s criminal conspiracy to run guns from U.S. retailers to Mexico.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">“Some of these weapons bought by these clowns in Arizona have been directly traced to murders of elected officials in Mexico by the cartels, so Katie-bar-the-door when we unveil this baby.”</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Those are the words of Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke in an April 2010 email to a colleague boasting about the propaganda value of his “Operation Fast and Furious” and predicting its huge public impact.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The “clowns,” in fact, were sanctioned criminals reportedly funded with federal money to break federal firearm and smuggling laws ostensibly under Burke’s supervision. In that “gun-walking” operation, Obama administration operatives encouraged, bankrolled and oversaw repeated felonies at gun stores and at border crossings with criminals smuggling at least 1,700 firearms into Mexican drug-fueled criminal commerce.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Knowledge of the scheme was withheld not only from Mexican authorities, but from U.S. law enforcement officials assigned to Mexico. So the claim that the operation was designed to “interdict” illegal guns is breathtakingly false—all to create new U.S. gun control.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">That scheme—designed to give truth to the administration’s meme that U.S. gun stores were the source for cartel firepower—has resulted in the murders of hundreds of Mexican citizens and at least one U.S. law enforcement officer, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. He was killed in a December 2010 ambush near Nogales, Arizona, by Mexican cartel criminals. Found at the scene were firearms illegally obtained and smuggled under “Fast and Furious.” The record shows that Mexican lives lost in this scheme were a predictable consequence. Terry’s death was collateral damage.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Read Burke’s characterization again: “Katie-bar-the-door when we unveil this baby.” The grief of Mexican families, the loss of Mexican public officials brave enough to stand up to the cartels, all summed up in the words, “this baby.” Despicable.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">First reported in the <i>Arizona Republic</i>, Burke’s memo in this “gun-walking” scandal came from a middling 486-page document dump—a small part of the paper-trail evidence demanded by U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. Those documents only begin to reveal the elaborate screen of lies to cover up the Obama administration’s culpability in the murders.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The quote was buried in a puff-piece about Burke that noted “firearms politics … has been a pet theme through most of his 23 years in government.” It also revealed his passion for banning guns: first as a key Judiciary Committee staffer credited with Senate passage of the 1994 Clinton gun ban, then as a key White House “policy analyst” working under President Clinton’s gun-ban guru, Rahm Emanuel, who in turn became President Obama’s White House chief of staff. Burke was a close associate of Janet Napolitano, now secretary of Homeland Security.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">In 2009, President Obama tapped Burke as U.S. Attorney for Arizona. Under the cloud of “Fast and Furious,” Burke has resigned his post.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Released just days prior to Attorney General Eric Holder’s Feb. 2 appearance before Rep. Issa’s Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which is investigating “Fast and Furious,” the documents contained emails and memos clearly indicating that Holder flat-out lied when he told Congress he casually had heard about “Fast and Furious” from the media many months after Agent Brian Terry’s death broke the scandal wide open.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">With the news of the Terry murder, memos show Burke frantically informing Attorney General Holder’s deputy chief of staff within hours that guns found at the scene were part of “Fast and Furious.”</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div>Days after Terry’s killing, Sen. Grassley was approached by ATF whistle-blowers revealing the complicity of Justice officials in the murderous gun-running scheme. Email exchanges show Burke privately attacked Sen. Grassley’s efforts as “categorically false,” a claim repeated by Justice.<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">Burke also opposed what should have been a <i>pro forma</i> application by the Terry family to obtain crime victim status under federal laws to give them the right to appear before the court. Burke argued that the family was not “directly or proximately harmed” but that the real victim in Terry’s murder was “society in general.” Terry’s family has now filed a $25 million wrongful death claim against the Justice Department and ATF.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Based on earlier evidence, NRA has sought Holder’s resignation or firing, but the tip-of-the-iceberg material now in Issa’s and Grassley’s hands suggests independent criminal investigations are a must.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div>Already at least one Justice Department official has claimed his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination and refused to testify, which Rep. Issa said, “… heightens concerns that the Justice department’s motivation for refusing to hand over subpoenaed materials is a desire to shield responsible officials from criminal charges and other embarrassment.”<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">Further, hostile Justice Department witnesses appearing before earlier sessions of the Issa committee clearly lied or misled Congress.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Issa’s committee investigators have sought some 80,000 documents and have received only a fraction. Among the 6,000 produced by Justice, censors have redacted virtually all text in key emails and memos. This administration-wide ”Fast and Furious” stonewalling and cover up has prompted Issa to consider extraordinary action against Holder and others. Issa’s justifiable anger is reflected in a letter putting the attorney general on notice: “If the Department continues to obstruct the congressional inquiry by not providing documents and information, this Committee will have no alternative but to move forward with proceedings to hold you in contempt of Congress.”</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Holder’s attempt to delay and obfuscate to hide the facts is creating a true constitutional crisis. Since the expiration of the “Special Prosecutor law,” appointment of independent criminal prosecutors is now at the whim of the U.S. Attorney General. Will Holder investigate Holder? Hardly.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">However, Congress can pass a specific law establishing and funding a “Fast and Furious” special prosecutor, with explicit powers to pursue any criminal wrongdoing. This is the only way the American public will ever know how high the conspiracy goes.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">If Watergate brought down President Richard M. Nixon—largely because of a massive cover up—“Fast and Furious” should land on the desk of President Barack Obama. After all, nobody died in Watergate.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div>As individual fighters for freedom, NRA members must demand accountability from the news media, from Congress, and through the presidential candidates left standing after the current debates and primaries. For too long, Obama and his followers have blamed us and our Second Amendment rights for murder and mayhem in Mexico. It’s time to put the blame where it belongs.<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">This is Barack Obama’s scandal, and it must become a national issue in the coming election. He has to answer for the loss of life in Mexico. And he has to answer—personally—to Brian Terry’s family.<br />
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<a href="http://www.nrapublications.org/index.php/12629/standing-guard-24/">NRA MEDIA</a> </div>Government Corruption Investigatorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793042081023116433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184822382910834199.post-11395696471149974912012-03-30T12:37:00.000-07:002012-03-30T12:37:08.527-07:00President is Bending Long Established Immigration Laws<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgquXFmU3Dvt2xjLDon-5zJxwP8fMYSstunvf20GoLJ6RfcvX1Xkujt8QzFsOow1EmPxFASsRetBiwm3gASUiMjObzMHYv9hMmPme4NOk495s7wk3UIP8KCFBl5kvgTaZYfdhZI32fo23w5/s1600/congressss.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgquXFmU3Dvt2xjLDon-5zJxwP8fMYSstunvf20GoLJ6RfcvX1Xkujt8QzFsOow1EmPxFASsRetBiwm3gASUiMjObzMHYv9hMmPme4NOk495s7wk3UIP8KCFBl5kvgTaZYfdhZI32fo23w5/s200/congressss.png" width="200" /></a></div><br />
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<strong>Washington, D.C.</strong> – Obama administration officials at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced their plan to move forward with the rulemaking process to allow illegal immigrant spouses and children with U.S. citizen relatives to stay in the United States while the federal government decides on their waiver request. Under current law, illegal immigrants must leave the country before they can ask the federal government to waive the three and 10 year bars on legally coming back to the United States. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) released the statement below criticizing the proposed change.<br />
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<strong>Chairman Smith:</strong> “President Obama is bending long established immigration laws to grant backdoor amnesty to potentially millions of illegal immigrants. Congress has defeated amnesty attempts several times in recent years. According to a recent poll, two-thirds of Americans want to see immigration laws enforced, not ignored. Once again, President Obama is rewarding law breakers and disrespecting the rule of law.”<br />
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Congress instituted the three and 10 year bars in 1996 to provide a penalty for immigrants who had been illegally present in the U.S. for long periods of time. While the waiver of these bars is legal under current law, it is not intended to be applied to millions of illegal immigrants.Government Corruption Investigatorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793042081023116433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184822382910834199.post-77635675746093715622012-03-30T12:34:00.000-07:002012-03-30T12:34:08.720-07:00Obama Administration Expands Backdoor Amnesty<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizG6Hz7xD4ZPhOYK0rpqMSAC3xjDrHb9bfaSJaFdsJDG18HO5r8uJaaXmZeJf7SMIwPJenn6mK3Flh6HkmjlcjL_iDyE0_bYaeC9MMMUj7sleNwzH_w6Bv1BQEb9AqZ4cEJTBTIu5AxK4S/s1600/congressss.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizG6Hz7xD4ZPhOYK0rpqMSAC3xjDrHb9bfaSJaFdsJDG18HO5r8uJaaXmZeJf7SMIwPJenn6mK3Flh6HkmjlcjL_iDyE0_bYaeC9MMMUj7sleNwzH_w6Bv1BQEb9AqZ4cEJTBTIu5AxK4S/s200/congressss.png" width="200" /></a></div><br />
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<strong>Washington, D.C.</strong> – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) today announced its plans to expand backdoor amnesty. Beginning in late April, DHS will suspend all non-detained dockets for illegal immigrants in four additional jurisdictions, as it previously did in Baltimore and Denver, for two weeks. These jurisdictions include Detroit, New Orleans, Orlando, and Seattle. In May, DHS will partially suspend the non-detained docket in New York City and then in July, it will implement the same procedures in San Francisco and Los Angeles. <br />
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This means that DHS intends to solely focus on detained cases in these jurisdictions, meaning those who come to the attention of law enforcement. But if the illegal or criminal immigrant bonds out of jail, they can be put on the non-detained docket and could potentially remain in the U.S. This decision is just another part of the Obama administration’s plan to grant administrative amnesty to potentially millions of illegal immigrants.<br />
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House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) issued the following statement criticizing the Obama administration’s decision to expand backdoor amnesty.<br />
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<strong>Chairman Smith:</strong> “The Obama administration’s decision to expand its backdoor amnesty plan to cities across the United States endangers Americans and insults law enforcement officials. <br />
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“The Obama administration’s refusal to enforce immigration law encourages more illegal immigration and rewards those who have broken our laws by allowing them to remain here and apply for work authorization. And the Department of Homeland Security could let some criminal illegal immigrants, such as those charged with drunk driving, stay in the U.S. Why would the Obama administration knowingly jeopardize the health and lives of Americans? <br />
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“A recent poll found that two-thirds of the American people want to see our immigration laws enforced. The Obama administration should put the interests of the American people ahead of those who have broken our immigration laws.”<br />
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<strong>Background:</strong> In November, the Obama administration issued new deportation guidance instructing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) attorneys to review all incoming and most pending cases before an immigration court. These changes could potentially allow millions of illegal immigrants to remain in the U.S. without a vote of Congress.<br />
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In reviewing the cases, the Obama administration has made clear that many illegal immigrants are not considered “priorities” for removal, including potential DREAM Act beneficiaries, an illegal immigrant who has had a long-term presence in the U.S., has an immediate family member who is a U.S. citizen, and/or has compelling ties to the U.S. <br />
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</div>Government Corruption Investigatorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793042081023116433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184822382910834199.post-4555908207933331962012-03-27T16:12:00.000-07:002012-03-27T16:12:40.678-07:00Operation Fast and Furious investigation escalates as ATF, FBI disconnect revealed<span style="color: #555555; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">By<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/archive/author/william-lajeunesse/index.html" rel="author" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #183a52; cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">William Lajeunesse</a><br />
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The investigation of Operation Fast and Furious escalated this past week as Fox News learned a leak at the Justice Department is providing documents to the Congressional investigators.<br />
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The scope of investigation also includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which records show failed to tell ATF its own confidential informants were helping finance the illegal gun purchases.<br />
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Eduardo and Jesus A. Miramontes-Varela, Mexican nationals born in Juarez worked for the Sinaloa Cartel when they became informants for the FBI in 2009, according to sources.<br />
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Previously, the brothers, ages 36 and 37, worked as informants for police in Miami, the U.S. Marshall's Service, and the DEA.<br />
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According to DEA and Congressional reports, the two men were the primary cartel contacts used to finance the illegal gun trafficking ring. Jim Needles, the assistant Agent in Charge of the Phoenix ATF office estimated the brothers spent $250,000 on guns tracked by his agency while conducting Operation Fast and Furious. Needles called it “a disappointment” the FBI didn’t bother to tell his agency of the connection.<br />
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“You are getting at the very basis of this investigation,” Senator Charles Grassley said Friday.<br />
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“But I have to wait till we have all the information before we bring down the hammer.”<br />
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Grassley first revealed in September 2011 the FBI, knew, but failed to tell the ATF, it’s informants were part of the gun trafficking ring. Then in February, Grassley called them “the big fish” ATF had been looking for the entire time.<br />
Both the FBI and DEA know the Miramontes brothers’ role and identity, but declined to tell the ATF during a “deconfliction” meeting Dec. 15, 2009. Nor did either agency speak up at any of the joint meetings all three agencies attended of the Southwest Border Initiative. The DEA and ATF’s Group 7 shared the same floor of the same building and the same ‘wire room’ to listen to wiretaps of suspects.<br />
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Eventually and under pressure, the FBI invited top ATF officials to a classified briefing in El Paso in the late summer of 2010 and described the Eduardo and Jesus Miramontes as "a national security assets". The two men were "off limits, untouchable and indictable" said a source familiar with the briefing.<br />
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Asked a detailed set of questions regarding the Miramontes brothers role and payment as confidential informants, the FBI released this statement Friday, “There is a pending investigation and we cannot provide additional information even when there is inaccurate information being reported.”<br />
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Also this week, two damaging documents became public. One, a ATF ROI (Report of Investigation) from May 2010 shows that Manuel Celis-Acosta, ringleader of the illegal gun buyers, was stopped at a border checkpoint in Arizona with 74 rounds of ammunition, but ATF agents released him.<br />
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On Thursday, Congressman Darrell Issa and Grassley released a list of ROI’s that show ATF agents had evidence Acosta was trafficking weapons and one of his buyers, Uriel Patino, was lying on federal forms, but neither was arrested.<br />
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Late Friday, Department of Justice Assistant Attorney General Ron Weich warned Issa, “We are deeply disturbed that the sensitive law enforcement information…has entered the public realm.”<br />
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He said it is impeding the DOJ’s prosecution of current criminal cases arising from Fast and Furious.<br />
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A Congressional spokesperson for Issa made no apologies, saying the documents being leaked to the committee “are precisely what the Justice Department is hiding and what congressional investigators are seeking – basic information about who knew what when about Fast and Furious.”<br />
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Fox News.comGovernment Corruption Investigatorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793042081023116433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184822382910834199.post-18314773437255531992012-03-27T16:08:00.001-07:002012-03-27T16:08:23.129-07:00Internal memo shows ATF rank and file don't trust the brassBy Maxim Lott<br />
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Top leaders at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, already under fire from lawmakers in the wake of the “Fast and Furious” debacle, also get harsh marks from the men and women who serve under them, according to an internal survey.<br />
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An ATF memo obtained by FoxNews.com reveals that rank-and-file workers at the beleaguered federal agency, where whistleblowers who first alerted lawmakers to the “gun-walking” scandal say they were threatened or even punished, don’t trust the agency’s leaders.<br />
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“A key area in which ATF fell short was leadership,” the e-mail from ATF Headquarters, describing the results of the internal survey, reads.<br />
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“Most troubling were responses to the question – ‘My senior leaders maintain high standards of honesty and integrity.’”<br />
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Just 44 percent of ATF employees said that their leaders maintained such standards last year, according to the Partnership for Public Service, the non-profit that administers the annual survey to government employees.<br />
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On “leadership effectiveness” in general, ATF scored a 40.5, placing the agency nearly last among government agencies, at 215th out of 228 agencies surveyed. That rating was the first since the "Fast and Furious" scandal broke, and it is down 10 percentage points from the year before.<br />
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Asked by FoxNews.com about the survey, ATF spokesman Drew Wade acknowledged the Fast and Furious scandal has taken a toll on morale.<br />
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"The controversies plaguing ATF over the last year have weighed heavily on the morale of employees and their faith in senior leadership," Wade said. "Mistakes were made."<br />
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But he said ATF leadership is working hard to change.<br />
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“Acting Director [B. Todd] Jones has put new leaders in place in new positions to enhance the quality of leadership and take ATF in the right direction. The new leadership team is working hard to earn [the] trust again of employees," Wade said.<br />
Vince Cefalu, an agent who helped expose the “Fast and Furious” scandal, said it is "too soon to tell" whether ATF will turn things around. For now, he says, the survey results don’t surprise him.<br />
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“Guess I and [the other whistleblowers] weren’t the only disgruntled malcontents, were we?” he said, sarcastically referring to what he believes were attempts to marginalize him and others who came forward.<br />
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Cefalu says his own situation is a case study in ATF dishonesty. The ATF attempted to fire Cefalu last year, after the “Fast and Furious” scandal broke, but so far has been unable to do so because Cefalu has accused them in court of retaliating against a whistleblower. Now, he said, he is given no assignments.<br />
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“I am sitting in Lake Tahoe drawing $150,000 [a year from ATF] to do absolutely nothing,” he said.<br />
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Others at ATF who took the survey told FoxNews.com that ATF's treatment of whistleblowers affected the ratings they gave.<br />
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"I gave them a low rating," said an ATF manager who spoke to FoxNews.com on condition of anonymity.<br />
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"In the midst of the Fast and Furious investigation... [ATF leadership] sent a letter to Senator [Charles] Grassley [R-Iowa], saying ‘these whistleblowers are lying,’" he explained. "There's no integrity."<br />
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He added that while ATF says it has now replaced old leadership with new players, the old leaders never get fired.<br />
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"Where are we, 15, 16 months outside of Brian Terry's murder? Nobody's been held accountable for anything," he said, referring to a border patrol agent who was killed with an illegal weapon that was allowed to enter Mexico as part of operation Fast and Furious.<br />
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The problem goes deeper than Fast and Furious, he added.<br />
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"When a manager gets caught in an unethical or unlawful act, the only ‘punishment’ that comes with it is a taxpayer-funded move. You'll retain full pay, full benefits, and we'll pay to move you, usually to headquarters in DC."<br />
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ATF scores well in some other aspects of the employee survey. In “pay,” it rates eighth out of all 228 agencies. The average salary for an ATF employee is $96,370 per year. <br />
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"Our pay and our benefits are good," a special agent, who spoke to FoxNews.com on condition of anonymity, said. "Some people work for it and earn it, and others not so much."<br />
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He added that in his experience, more than half of the agency’s leadership was "more problem than solution."<br />
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"They're abusive, self-serving characters," he said.<br />
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Despite their grievances, the agents interviewed by Fox expressed hope that the bureau will get its act together.<br />
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“I think there is an air of, 'we want to get better,'" Cefalu said. "They haven't implemented anything yet, but the initial steps are transparent and up-front."<br />
Cefalu and the special agent interviewed said that Tom Brandon, the new deputy director at ATF, is held in high regard by field agents.<br />
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"I think he will try to change things," the special agent said. "Whether he will have the ability, due to the culture here, is anybody's guess."<br />
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<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/26/internal-memo-shows-atf-rank-and-file-dont-trust-brass/">Fox News</a>Government Corruption Investigatorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793042081023116433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184822382910834199.post-67754363471487904842012-03-22T09:32:00.000-07:002012-03-22T09:32:16.625-07:00ICE Intentionally Releases Alleged Child Rapist<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgquXFmU3Dvt2xjLDon-5zJxwP8fMYSstunvf20GoLJ6RfcvX1Xkujt8QzFsOow1EmPxFASsRetBiwm3gASUiMjObzMHYv9hMmPme4NOk495s7wk3UIP8KCFBl5kvgTaZYfdhZI32fo23w5/s1600/congressss.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgquXFmU3Dvt2xjLDon-5zJxwP8fMYSstunvf20GoLJ6RfcvX1Xkujt8QzFsOow1EmPxFASsRetBiwm3gASUiMjObzMHYv9hMmPme4NOk495s7wk3UIP8KCFBl5kvgTaZYfdhZI32fo23w5/s200/congressss.png" width="200" /></a></div><br />
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<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><strong>Washington, D.C</strong>. – After a recent<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/21/ice-admits-releasing-alleged-child-rapist/#ixzz1pkzXJvDR" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: underline;">press report</a>, the House Judiciary Committee has learned that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last September deliberately released a suspected child rapist who is now on the loose. Although Amado Espinosa-Ramirez was charged with 42 counts of predatory sexual acts, including sexual endangerment of a family member under 13, ICE issued a statement claiming he was released on an ankle bracelet pending a hearing before an immigration judge because he had “no prior criminal convictions, no prior immigration violations, and is the parent of a U.S. citizen child.” But Espinosa-Ramirez failed to appear for a hearing in federal immigration court and has been a fugitive ever since. </div><div style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) released the statement below.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><strong>Chairman Smith:</strong><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“It’s insulting to Americans that ICE deliberately released a criminal immigrant suspected of multiple counts of child rape back onto our streets. This reckless decision is ultimately a failure of the Obama administration’s lax immigration policies. And it shows that this Administration is willing to put illegal and criminal immigrants ahead of the safety of our children. </div><div style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">“Obama administration officials have made clear that it is not their priority to deport and detain all illegal and criminal immigrants. The Administration has issued new deportation guidelines that could allow potentially millions of illegal immigrants remain in the U.S. without a vote of Congress. And the President’s budget slashes funding for detention space and instead funds programs that release illegal and criminal immigrants into our communities. </div><div style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">“This Administration cannot be trusted when it comes to full enforcement of our immigration laws. That’s why the House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed the Department of Homeland Security last November for a list of illegal and criminal immigrants intentionally released by ICE. As part of the Committee’s oversight responsibility, this data will be cross-checked to see if those released have gone on to commit more crimes. We must ensure this Administration enforces all immigration laws and puts the interests of Americans first.” <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
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<strong>Background:</strong> On November 4, 2011, the Immigration Subcommittee issued a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/pdf/DHS%20Subpoena.pdf" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: underline;">subpoena</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for a list of illegal and criminal immigrants that have been brought to the attention of ICE but have not been detained or placed in removal proceedings by the agency. This information was originally requested by Chairman Smith in August 2011. </div><div style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Specifically, the Subcommittee requested names, fingerprint identification numbers, and alien registration numbers of aliens encountered but not taken into custody or processed for removal by ICE. Four months after the original request, DHS produced documents to the House Judiciary Committee that are compliant with the Immigration Subcommittee’s subpoena. </div><div style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">The information will be cross-checked to see if illegal and criminal immigrants intentionally released by ICE have gone on to commit more crimes. This data will be used to inform Congress on the problem of criminal immigrants and their effect on public safety.</div><div class="content" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</div>Government Corruption Investigatorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793042081023116433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184822382910834199.post-15903007958009130672012-03-21T16:11:00.001-07:002012-03-21T16:12:56.669-07:00ATF Whistleblowers Called Disgruntled Malcontents But Look At This Survey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg6Pk4hFkO5qOVX9KkzSZOXfV9G-8zVsOuxeV4xKWP3kSuIODPaUM9BXfukcXiAWxpwDvYnFof4pef4ffq4P3DOwoPzCPGNUKtXYRyJSQLbPNEwTL2_aM1bQCI2UBgIae2rSv1yo-F-qqv/s1600/atfff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg6Pk4hFkO5qOVX9KkzSZOXfV9G-8zVsOuxeV4xKWP3kSuIODPaUM9BXfukcXiAWxpwDvYnFof4pef4ffq4P3DOwoPzCPGNUKtXYRyJSQLbPNEwTL2_aM1bQCI2UBgIae2rSv1yo-F-qqv/s1600/atfff.jpg" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 14px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Several ATF Whistleblowers have been characterized as disgruntled and malcontents with the representation from ATF that the 100s of internal complaints hold no merit. I will trust that everybody on here can read. Notice the rating related to management integrity and honesty. I didn't do the survey, THEY did. From # 20 to #107 since we first publicly exposed corruption in ATF.</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 14px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />
<br />
Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (DOJ)<br />
Index Score: 64.9 (Ranked #107 out of varied totals)<br />
To enforce and administer laws regulating firearms and explosives and the production, taxation and distribution of alcohol and<br />
tobacco products.<br />
Scores and Rankings by Class<br />
Class 2011 Score Rank (out of varied totals)<br />
Employee Skills/Mission Match 80.0 58<br />
Strategic Management 53.9 173<br />
Teamwork 66.2 115<br />
Effective Leadership 52.8 166<br />
Effective Leadership - Empowerment 51.6 95<br />
Effective Leadership - Fairness 51.3 161<br />
Effective Leadership - Leaders 40.5 215<br />
Effective Leadership - Supervisors 66.4 111<br />
Performance Based Rewards and Advancement 46.4 140<br />
Training and Development 58.2 149<br />
Support for Diversity 54.4 198<br />
Pay 75.2 8<br />
Family Friendly Culture and Benefits 42.6 73<br />
Work/Life Balance 61.2 131<br />
Scores by Class 2010 2009 2007 2005 2003<br />
Employee Skills/Mission Match 80.3 82.4 83.6 82.6 84.8<br />
Strategic Management 56.0 63.1 62.5 63.1 66.5<br />
Teamwork 67.8 75.3 76.4 76.4 72.7<br />
Effective Leadership 55.8 56.1 57.4 57.2 56.1<br />
Performance Based Rewards and Advancement 48.6 48.2 47.7 49.1 50.4<br />
Training and Development 60.5 63.7 64.5 69.9 68.1<br />
Support for Diversity 57.2 63.1 64.5 62.6 65.5<br />
Pay 79.6 77.7 77.8<br />
Family Friendly Culture and Benefits 43.7<br />
Work/Life Balance 63.8 68.1 67.0 67.9 68.1<br />
Index Scores<br />
Year Score<br />
2011 64.9<br />
2010 71.9<br />
2009 74.0<br />
2007 74.0<br />
2005 75.0<br />
2003 71.7</span>Government Corruption Investigatorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793042081023116433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184822382910834199.post-54249310872106204052012-03-13T10:17:00.000-07:002012-03-13T10:17:36.679-07:00Feds reject Texas' Voter ID law<h5 class="byline"><span class="name">By Gary Scharrer</span></h5><h5 class="byline"><span class="name"> </span></h5><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOdY_1r8-SUMgPrDRqaBxh2I5kie7upjrnKY4E481TOebzlmRhgNZk2KsS-ZeD42_d3za2o8ABbu_U7yp4QBxLB9vq45YQH_vWB0zd5sqLGLpYSi7IERYjuAqspLx_gvWM9-R6wdUaKKPI/s1600/TexasFlag.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOdY_1r8-SUMgPrDRqaBxh2I5kie7upjrnKY4E481TOebzlmRhgNZk2KsS-ZeD42_d3za2o8ABbu_U7yp4QBxLB9vq45YQH_vWB0zd5sqLGLpYSi7IERYjuAqspLx_gvWM9-R6wdUaKKPI/s200/TexasFlag.bmp" width="200" /></a></div><h5 class="byline"><span class="name"> </span></h5><h5 class="byline"><span class="name"> </span></h5><div id="text-pages"><div class="page" style="display: block;"> AUSTIN — A federal court in Washington will now decide whether Texas can enforce its new Voter ID law after the <a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fpolitics&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22U.S.+Justice+Department%22">U.S. Justice Department</a> on Monday rejected the restrictive voting measure that required valid state-issued photo identification cards, contending state leaders failed to prove it would not discriminate against minority voters.<br />
<br />
At least 603,892 and as many as 795,955 registered voters in Texas do not have a Texas driver's license, according to documents provided to the Justice Department by the state of Texas.<br />
<br />
“According to the state's own data, a Hispanic registered voter is at least 46.5 percent, and potentially 120 percent, more likely than a non-Hispanic registered voter to lack this identification,” Assistant Attorney General <a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fpolitics&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Thomas+Perez%22">Thomas Perez</a> said in a letter to Texas Elections Director <a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fpolitics&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Keith+Ingram%22">Keith Ingram</a>. “Even using the data most favorable to the state, Hispanics disproportionately lack either a driver's license or a personal identification card issued by DPS, and that disparity is statistically significant.”<br />
<br />
A federal panel that includes Circuit Judge <a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fpolitics&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22David+Tatel%22">David Tatel</a>, District Judge <a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fpolitics&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Robert+Wilkins%22">Robert Wilkins</a> and District Judge <a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fpolitics&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Rosemary+Collyer%22">Rosemary Collyer</a>, who was part of a three-judge panel that heard the Texas redistricting case, will take up the Voter ID law later this year.<br />
<br />
Collyer has scheduled a Wednesday status call in her Washington courtroom to begin preparations for the trial.<br />
<br />
Reactions to Monday's DOJ action broke along partisan lines.<br />
<br />
Democrats complain the law's primary purpose is to make it harder for students, the elderly and low-income Texans to vote. They view it as voter suppression to help Anglo Republicans keep political power longer in a state where a majority of the public school enrollment is now Hispanic.<br />
<br />
Republican leaders insist the law is constitutional and is designed to protect the democratic process. Even before the DOJ action Monday, Texas Attorney General <a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fpolitics&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Greg+Abbott%22">Greg Abbott</a> had filed suit, hoping to convince federal judges that the law does not “deny or abridge” Texans the right to vote.<br />
<br />
“The state knew it wouldn't prevail with the DOJ, that's why Abbott went directly to the lawsuit,” said <a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fpolitics&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Lydia+Camarillo%22">Lydia Camarillo</a>, Southwest Voter Registration Education Project vice president.<br />
Republican Texas Gov. <a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fpolitics&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Rick+Perry%22">Rick Perry</a> defended the law.<br />
<br />
“Texas has a responsibility to ensure elections are fair, beyond reproach and accurately reflect the will of voters,” he said. “The DOJ has no valid reason for rejecting this important law, which requires nothing more extensive than the type of photo identification necessary to receive a library card or board an airplane. Their denial is yet another example of the <a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fpolitics&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Obama+Administration%22">Obama Administration</a>'s continuing and pervasive federal overreach.”<br />
Those who applauded the Justice Department noted that getting library cards or boarding planes is a privilege — not a right, as is voting.<br />
<br />
“Should this legislation ever see the light of day, it would immediately become the strictest voter qualification law since the poll tax,” said Rep. <a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fpolitics&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Trey+Martinez+Fischer%22">Trey Martinez Fischer</a>, D-<a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fpolitics&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22San+Antonio%22">San Antonio</a>, chairman of the <a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fpolitics&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Mexican+American+Legislative+Caucus%22">Mexican American Legislative Caucus</a>. “Worse yet, photo identification requirements for voters drastically affect the electoral participation of the poor, the elderly, and the transient, which means those who need their government's ear most will be the last to be heard.”<br />
<br />
Texas must win federal approval of any changes affecting elections because of portions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Section 5 of the law obligates Texas and several other states with a history of discrimination against minorities to demonstrate that election law revisions “have neither the purpose nor the effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race or color or membership in a language minority group.”<br />
<br />
There are 31 states that have voter ID laws. Legal challenges are under way in several states, including Texas, South Carolina, Wisconsin and Kansas.<br />
<br />
Opponents of voter ID laws say they have reduced voter turnout in states that have already passed them.<br />
San Antonio State Sen. <a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fpolitics&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Jeff+Wentworth%22">Jeff Wentworth</a>, a co-author of Texas' bill, said any reduction in the number of voters comes from illegal voters who can no longer go to the polls.<br />
<br />
Voter ID made those elections “more honest and reliable,” he said.<br />
<br />
There are 869,949 registered voters in Bexar County. Of those, the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project estimates that 375,000 are Hispanic voters.<br />
<br />
Texas didn't prevail because it couldn't prove any voter fraud, said Choco Meza, chairwoman of the <a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fpolitics&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Bexar+County+Democratic+Party%22">Bexar County Democratic Party</a>.<br />
<br />
“If there was reason to think people are voting fraudulently, that would be one thing,” she said. “Elected officials need to stop trying to decide who their voters are, and let voters decide who their elected officials are.”<br />
<br />
<em>gscharrer@express-news.net</em><br />
<em>Tracy Idell Hamilton and <a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fpolitics&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Gary+Martin%22">Gary Martin</a> contributed to this report.</em><br />
</div></div><div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><br />
Read more: <a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Feds-reject-Texas-Voter-ID-law-3399656.php#ixzz1p1BM1xi1" style="color: #003399;">http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Feds-reject-Texas-Voter-ID-law-3399656.php#ixzz1p1BM1xi1</a></div><h5 class="byline"><span class="name"> </span></h5><h5 class="byline"><span class="name"> </span></h5>Government Corruption Investigatorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793042081023116433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184822382910834199.post-47295155228862503472012-03-01T19:43:00.000-08:002012-03-01T19:43:38.846-08:00Official List Of Words Feds Monitor On Social Networking Sites<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO7H19uxW8CX3YJk5J812QTZLihjo8-taITtL3YiSmkqK98wPrJoh2Kp9aHg-uvhamPpBM8J8MLtjhEfkdFhYMPeHxYFYMS57XLPd6u2QB2bLWKnAn8ZXbA2V5P_cdgHdBxkr6AozkR4D_/s1600/Feds-Release-Social-Network-Monitoring-Manual.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO7H19uxW8CX3YJk5J812QTZLihjo8-taITtL3YiSmkqK98wPrJoh2Kp9aHg-uvhamPpBM8J8MLtjhEfkdFhYMPeHxYFYMS57XLPd6u2QB2bLWKnAn8ZXbA2V5P_cdgHdBxkr6AozkR4D_/s1600/Feds-Release-Social-Network-Monitoring-Manual.png" /></a></div><br />
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<br />
<h3 style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0.6em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">The Feds have been forced to release their social network monitoring manual, which contains the list of words the government watches on social media and news sites.</h3><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: white; border-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px 0px 0.8em; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: white; border-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px 0px 0.8em; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</div><h3 style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #efeff7; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0.6em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Homeland Security Manual Lists Government Key Words For Monitoring Social Media, News</h3><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #efeff7; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Ever complain on Facebook that you were feeling “sick?” Told your friends to “watch” a certain TV show? Left a comment on a media website about government “pork?”</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #efeff7; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">If you did any of those things, or tweeted about your recent vacation in “Mexico” or a shopping trip to “Target,” the Department of Homeland Security may have noticed.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #efeff7; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">In the latest revelation of how the federal government is monitoring social media and online news outlets, the Electronic Privacy Information Center has posted online a 2011 Department of Homeland Security manual that includes hundreds of key words (such as those above) and search terms used to detect possible terrorism, unfolding natural disasters and public health threats. The center, a privacy watchdog group, filed a Freedom of Information Act request and then sued to obtain the release of the documents.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #efeff7; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">The 39-page “Analyst’s Desktop Binder” used by the department’s National Operations Center includes no-brainer words like “”attack,” “epidemic” and “Al Qaeda” (with various spellings). But the list also includes words that can be interpreted as either menacing or innocent depending on the context, such as “exercise,” “drill,” “wave,” “initiative,” “relief” and “organization.”</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #efeff7; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">These terms and others are “broad, vague and ambiguous” and include “vast amounts of First Amendment protected speech that is entirely unrelated to the Department of Homeland Security mission to protect the public against terrorism and disasters,” stated the Electronic Privacy Information Center in letter to the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #efeff7; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">The manual was released by the center a week after Homeland Security officials were grilled at a House hearing over other documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit that revealed analysts were scrutinizing online comments that “reflect adversely” on the federal government. Mary Ellen Callahan, the chief privacy officer for the Department of Homeland Security, and Richard Chavez, director for the National Operations Center, testified that the released documents were outdated and that social media was monitored strictly to provide situational awareness and not to police disparaging opinions about the federal government. On Friday, Homeland Security officials stuck by that testimony.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #efeff7; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">A senior Homeland Security official who spoke to The Huffington Post on Friday on condition of anonymity said the testimony of agency officials last week remains “accurate” and the manual “is a starting point, not the endgame” in maintaining situational awareness of natural and man-made threats. The official denied Electronic Privacy Information Center’s charge that the government is monitoring dissent. The manual’s instruction that analysts should identify “media reports that reflect adversely on DHS and response activities” was not aimed at silencing criticism but at spotting and addressing problems, she added.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #efeff7; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">[...]</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #efeff7; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">Source:</strong><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/24/homeland-security-manual_n_1299908.html" rel="nofollow" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #000066; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">The Huffington Post</strong></a></div><div style="background-color: #efeff7; border-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px 0px 0.8em; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: white; border-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px 0px 0.8em; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</div><h3 style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0.6em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">The Official List – Using these words online will put you in the crosshairs of Big Brother’s multi-billion dollar spy machine</h3><table style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1.4em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: middle; white-space: normal; widows: 2; width: 645px; word-spacing: 0px;"><tbody style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<tr style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td colspan="3" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;"><h3 style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.2em; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0.6em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Domestic Security</h3></td></tr>
<tr style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;">Assassination<br />
Attack<br />
Domestic security<br />
Drill<br />
Exercise<br />
Cops<br />
Law enforcement<br />
Authorities<br />
Disaster assistance<br />
Disaster management<br />
DNDO (Domestic Nuclear<br />
Detection Office)<br />
National preparedness<br />
Mitigation<br />
Prevention<br />
Response<br />
Recovery<br />
Dirty bomb<br />
Domestic nuclear detection</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;">Emergency management<br />
Emergency response<br />
First responder<br />
Homeland security<br />
Maritime domain awareness<br />
(MDA)<br />
National preparedness<br />
initiative<br />
Militia<br />
Shooting<br />
Shots fired<br />
Evacuation<br />
Deaths<br />
Hostage<br />
Explosion (explosive)<br />
Police<br />
Disaster medical assistance<br />
team (DMAT)<br />
Organized crime</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;">Gangs<br />
National security<br />
State of emergency<br />
Security<br />
Breach<br />
Threat<br />
Standoff<br />
SWAT<br />
Screening<br />
Lockdown<br />
Bomb (squad or threat)<br />
Crash<br />
Looting<br />
Riot<br />
Emergency Landing<br />
Pipe bomb<br />
Incident<br />
Facility</td></tr>
<tr style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td colspan="3" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;"><h3 style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.2em; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0.6em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">HAZMAT & Nuclear</h3></td></tr>
<tr style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;">Hazmat<br />
Nuclear<br />
Chemical spill<br />
Suspicious package/device<br />
Toxic<br />
National laboratory<br />
Nuclear facility<br />
Nuclear threat<br />
Cloud<br />
Plume<br />
Radiation<br />
Radioactive</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;">Leak<br />
Biological infection (or<br />
event)<br />
Chemical<br />
Chemical burn<br />
Biological<br />
Epidemic<br />
Hazardous<br />
Hazardous material incident<br />
Industrial spill<br />
Infection<br />
Powder (white)</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;">Gas<br />
Spillover<br />
Anthrax<br />
Blister agent<br />
Chemical agent<br />
Exposure<br />
Burn<br />
Nerve agent<br />
Ricin<br />
Sarin<br />
North Korea</td></tr>
<tr style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td colspan="3" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;"><h3 style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.2em; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0.6em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Health Concern + H1N1</h3></td></tr>
<tr style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;">Outbreak<br />
Contamination<br />
Exposure<br />
Virus<br />
Evacuation<br />
Bacteria<br />
Recall<br />
Ebola<br />
Food Poisoning<br />
Foot and Mouth (FMD)<br />
H5N1<br />
Avian<br />
Flu<br />
Strain<br />
Quarantine<br />
H1N1<br />
Vaccine</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;">Salmonella<br />
Small Pox<br />
Plague<br />
Human to human<br />
Human to Animal<br />
Influenza<br />
Center for Disease Control<br />
(CDC)<br />
Drug Administration (FDA)<br />
Public Health<br />
Toxic<br />
Agro Terror<br />
Tuberculosis (TB)<br />
Tamiflu<br />
Norvo Virus<br />
Epidemic</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;">Agriculture<br />
Listeria<br />
Symptoms<br />
Mutation<br />
Resistant<br />
Antiviral<br />
Wave<br />
Pandemic<br />
Infection<br />
Water/air borne<br />
Sick<br />
Swine<br />
Pork World Health Organization<br />
(WHO) (and components)<br />
Viral Hemorrhagic Fever<br />
E. Coli</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;"><br />
</td></tr>
<tr style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td colspan="3" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;"><h3 style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.2em; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0.6em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Infrastructure Security</h3></td></tr>
<tr style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;">Infrastructure security<br />
Airport<br />
CIKR (Critical Infrastructure<br />
& Key Resources)<br />
AMTRAK<br />
Collapse<br />
Computer infrastructure<br />
Communications<br />
infrastructure<br />
Telecommunications<br />
Critical infrastructure<br />
National infrastructure<br />
Metro<br />
WMATA</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;">Airplane (and derivatives)<br />
Chemical fire<br />
Subway<br />
BART<br />
MARTA<br />
Port Authority<br />
NBIC (National<br />
Biosurveillance Integration<br />
Center)<br />
Transportation security<br />
Grid<br />
Power<br />
Smart<br />
Body scanner</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;">Electric<br />
Failure or outage<br />
Black out<br />
Brown out<br />
Port<br />
Dock<br />
Bridge<br />
Cancelled<br />
Delays<br />
Service disruption<br />
Power lines</td></tr>
<tr style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td colspan="3" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;"><h3 style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.2em; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0.6em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Southwest Border Violence</h3></td></tr>
<tr style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;">Drug cartel<br />
Violence<br />
Gang<br />
Drug<br />
Narcotics<br />
Cocaine<br />
Marijuana<br />
Heroin<br />
Border<br />
Mexico<br />
Cartel<br />
Southwest<br />
Juarez<br />
Sinaloa<br />
Tijuana<br />
Torreon<br />
Yuma<br />
Tucson<br />
Decapitated<br />
U.S. Consulate<br />
Consular<br />
El Paso</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;">Fort Hancock<br />
San Diego<br />
Ciudad Juarez<br />
Nogales<br />
Sonora<br />
Colombia<br />
Mara salvatrucha<br />
MS13 or MS-13<br />
Drug war<br />
Mexican army<br />
Methamphetamine<br />
Cartel de Golfo<br />
Gulf Cartel<br />
La Familia<br />
Reynosa<br />
Nuevo Leon<br />
Narcos<br />
Narco banners (Spanish<br />
equivalents)<br />
Los Zetas<br />
Shootout<br />
Execution</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;">Gunfight<br />
Trafficking<br />
Kidnap<br />
Calderon<br />
Reyosa<br />
Bust<br />
Tamaulipas<br />
Meth Lab<br />
Drug trade<br />
Illegal immigrants<br />
Smuggling (smugglers)<br />
Matamoros<br />
Michoacana<br />
Guzman<br />
Arellano-Felix<br />
Beltran-Leyva<br />
Barrio Azteca<br />
Artistic Assassins<br />
Mexicles<br />
New Federation</td></tr>
<tr style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td colspan="3" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;"><h3 style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.2em; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0.6em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Terrorism</h3></td></tr>
<tr style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;">Terrorism<br />
Al Qaeda (all spellings)<br />
Terror<br />
Attack<br />
Iraq<br />
Afghanistan<br />
Iran<br />
Pakistan<br />
Agro<br />
Environmental terrorist<br />
Eco terrorism<br />
Conventional weapon<br />
Target<br />
Weapons grade<br />
Dirty bomb<br />
Enriched<br />
Nuclear<br />
Chemical weapon<br />
Biological weapon<br />
Ammonium nitrate<br />
Improvised explosive device</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;">IED (Improvised Explosive<br />
Device)<br />
Abu Sayyaf<br />
Hamas<br />
FARC (Armed Revolutionary<br />
Forces Colombia)<br />
IRA (Irish Republican Army)<br />
ETA (Euskadi ta Askatasuna)<br />
Basque Separatists<br />
Hezbollah<br />
Tamil Tigers<br />
PLF (Palestine Liberation<br />
Front)<br />
PLO (Palestine Liberation<br />
Organization<br />
Car bomb<br />
Jihad<br />
Taliban<br />
Weapons cache<br />
Suicide bomber<br />
Suicide attack</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;">Suspicious substance<br />
AQAP (AL Qaeda Arabian<br />
Peninsula)<br />
AQIM (Al Qaeda in the<br />
Islamic Maghreb)<br />
TTP (Tehrik-i-Taliban<br />
Pakistan)<br />
Yemen<br />
Pirates<br />
Extremism<br />
Somalia<br />
Nigeria<br />
Radicals<br />
Al-Shabaab<br />
Home grown<br />
Plot<br />
Nationalist<br />
Recruitment<br />
Fundamentalism<br />
Islamist</td></tr>
<tr style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td colspan="3" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;"><h3 style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.2em; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0.6em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Weather/Disaster/Emergency</h3></td></tr>
<tr style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;">Emergency<br />
Hurricane<br />
Tornado<br />
Twister<br />
Tsunami<br />
Earthquake<br />
Tremor<br />
Flood<br />
Storm<br />
Crest<br />
Temblor<br />
Extreme weather<br />
Forest fire<br />
Brush fire</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;">Ice<br />
Stranded/Stuck<br />
Help<br />
Hail<br />
Wildfire<br />
Tsunami Warning Center<br />
Magnitude<br />
Avalanche<br />
Typhoon<br />
Shelter-in-place<br />
Disaster<br />
Snow<br />
Blizzard<br />
Sleet</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;">Mud slide or Mudslide<br />
Erosion<br />
Power outage<br />
Brown out<br />
Warning<br />
Watch<br />
Lightening<br />
Aid<br />
Relief<br />
Closure<br />
Interstate<br />
Burst<br />
Emergency Broadcast System</td></tr>
<tr style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td colspan="3" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;"><h3 style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.2em; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0.6em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cyber Security</h3></td></tr>
<tr style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;">Cyber security<br />
Botnet<br />
DDOS (dedicated denial of<br />
service)<br />
Denial of service<br />
Malware<br />
Virus<br />
Trojan<br />
Keylogger<br />
Cyber Command</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;">2600<br />
Spammer<br />
Phishing<br />
Rootkit<br />
Phreaking<br />
Cain and abel<br />
Brute forcing<br />
Mysql injection<br />
Cyber attack<br />
Cyber terror</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;">Hacker<br />
China<br />
Conficker<br />
Worm<br />
Scammers<br />
Social media</td></tr>
</tbody></table><h3 style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0.6em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Read the Deparment of Homeland Security Media Monitoring Desktop Reference</h3><div style="background-color: white; border-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px 0px 0.8em; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: white; border-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px 0px 0.8em; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />
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<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5YPlmGDnOvE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Government Corruption Investigatorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793042081023116433noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184822382910834199.post-68144599014741370542012-02-28T17:17:00.000-08:002012-02-28T17:17:06.147-08:00Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications Subcommittee to Hold FEMA Budget Hearing – TOMORROW<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgquXFmU3Dvt2xjLDon-5zJxwP8fMYSstunvf20GoLJ6RfcvX1Xkujt8QzFsOow1EmPxFASsRetBiwm3gASUiMjObzMHYv9hMmPme4NOk495s7wk3UIP8KCFBl5kvgTaZYfdhZI32fo23w5/s1600/congressss.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgquXFmU3Dvt2xjLDon-5zJxwP8fMYSstunvf20GoLJ6RfcvX1Xkujt8QzFsOow1EmPxFASsRetBiwm3gASUiMjObzMHYv9hMmPme4NOk495s7wk3UIP8KCFBl5kvgTaZYfdhZI32fo23w5/s200/congressss.png" width="200" /></a></div><br />
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<strong>Washington, D.C. </strong>– The House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications, chaired by Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), will hold a hearing entitled <a href="http://homeland.house.gov/hearing/subcommittee-hearing-presidents-fy-2013-budget-request-federal-emergency-management-agency">“The President's FY 2013 Budget Request for the Federal Emergency Management Agency”</a> <strong>tomorrow at 10 a.m. in Room 311 Cannon House Office Building. </strong><br />
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At tomorrow’s hearing, the Subcommittee will examine the Obama Administration’s $10.17 billion Fiscal Year 2013 budget request for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), including the President’s proposal to create a new, consolidated grant program to replace a number of homeland security grant programs including the State Homeland Security Grant Program (SHSGP), the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI), the Transit Security Grant Program (TSGP), the Port Security Grant Program (PSGP), the Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS), the Citizen Corps Program, and the Buffer Zone Protection Program.<br />
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<strong>Bilirakis said:</strong> <em>"This hearing will continue the Subcommittee's oversight of the Federal Emergency Management Agency by providing Members with an opportunity to examine the President's Fiscal Year 2013 budget request and explore ways we can continue to enhance our emergency preparedness and response capabilities through the efficient and effective use of taxpayer dollars."</em><br />
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<strong>What: Subcommittee Hearing on <a href="http://homeland.house.gov/hearing/subcommittee-hearing-presidents-fy-2013-budget-request-federal-emergency-management-agency">“The President's FY 2013 Budget Request for the Federal Emergency Management Agency”</a></strong><br />
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<strong>When: 10 a.m., Wednesday, February 29, 2012</strong><br />
<strong>Where: 311 Cannon House Office Building</strong><br />
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<strong> **Live video feed will be available </strong><strong><a href="http://homeland.house.gov/live-video-feed">HERE</a></strong><br />
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Opening statements, witness testimony, and the live video feed will be available online <a href="http://homeland.house.gov/hearing/subcommittee-hearing-presidents-fy-2013-budget-request-federal-emergency-management-agency">HERE</a>.<br />
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<strong>Witness List:</strong><br />
The Honorable Richard Serino, Deputy Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Homeland SecurityGovernment Corruption Investigatorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793042081023116433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184822382910834199.post-10657227850686724072012-02-27T18:21:00.000-08:002012-02-27T18:21:41.125-08:00Backdoor Amnesty Data Just the Beginning<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgquXFmU3Dvt2xjLDon-5zJxwP8fMYSstunvf20GoLJ6RfcvX1Xkujt8QzFsOow1EmPxFASsRetBiwm3gASUiMjObzMHYv9hMmPme4NOk495s7wk3UIP8KCFBl5kvgTaZYfdhZI32fo23w5/s1600/congressss.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgquXFmU3Dvt2xjLDon-5zJxwP8fMYSstunvf20GoLJ6RfcvX1Xkujt8QzFsOow1EmPxFASsRetBiwm3gASUiMjObzMHYv9hMmPme4NOk495s7wk3UIP8KCFBl5kvgTaZYfdhZI32fo23w5/s200/congressss.png" width="200" /></a></div><br />
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<strong>Washington, D.C.</strong> – According to a <a href="http://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/274/">report</a> by the Syracuse University Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, the number of deportation proceedings initiated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the last quarter fell sharply by 33 percent, from nearly 59,000 filings to a little over 39,000. This substantial drop follows the Obama administration’s implementation of its new deportation guidelines that amount to backdoor amnesty. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) issued the statement below in response to this drop. <br />
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<strong>Chairman Smith:</strong> “Last quarter’s data confirms what we knew all along: President Obama is recklessly determined to grant backdoor amnesty to thousands of illegal immigrants. And President Obama certainly doesn’t keep his ambition to grant amnesty to even more illegal immigrants a secret. This week, President Obama boasted that he has five more years to get an amnesty bill through Congress. If President Obama gets his way, the drop in deportation proceedings last quarter is just the beginning.<br />
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“President Obama’s goal of reelection is a slap in the face to unemployed American workers. With 13 million unemployed Americans competing with seven million illegal immigrants for scarce jobs, the President shouldn’t brag about having another term in office. The President is supposed to act in the interest of the American people, not illegal immigrants. But President Obama has failed to live up to this responsibility.”<br />
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<strong>Background:</strong> In November, the Obama administration issued new deportation guidance instructing ICE attorneys to review all incoming and most pending cases before an immigration court. These changes could potentially allow millions of illegal immigrants to remain in the U.S. without a vote of Congress.<br />
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In reviewing the cases, Department of Homeland Security political appointees have made clear that many illegal immigrants are not considered “priorities” for removal, including potential DREAM Act beneficiaries, an illegal immigrant who has had a long-term presence in the U.S., has an immediate family member who is a U.S. citizen, and/or has compelling ties to the U.S. The new deportation guidance also states that ICE may administratively close asylum cases where the immigrants makes a joint request to close. Although it is estimated that a large percentage of asylum applications are fraudulent, these individuals are eligible for work authorization. <br />
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<a href="http://judiciary.house.gov/news/Backdoor%20Amnesty.html">House Judiciary Committee</a>Government Corruption Investigatorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793042081023116433noreply@blogger.com0