Government
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Shutdown paralyzes U.S. food safety regime
Food safety experts this week said that the government shutdown is putting Americans at risk, as the shutdown caused all inspections of domestic food, except meat and poultry, to be halted. The shutdown comes on top of earlier budget cuts to food safety-related agencies, cuts which have already made the food safety inspection regime weaker, so that the shutdown, in the words of one knowledgeable observer, is “creating the potential for a real public health crisis.”
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More government troops than rebels killed so far in Syria
The most recent fatality report from the reliable, U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that between the start of the war in March 2011 and 31 August 2013, 110,371 people had died in Syria. The breakdown of those killed: 40,146 civilians (including 4,000 women and more than 5,800 children); more than 45,000 government troops (made up of 27,654 army soldiers, 17,824 pro-regime militia, and 171 members of Hezbollah); 21,850 rebel fighters; and 2,726 unidentified people.
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Web sites secretly track users without relying on cookies
Device fingerprinting, also known as browser fingerprinting, is the practice of collecting properties of PCs, smartphones, and tablets to identify and track users. For the vast majority of browsers, the combination of these properties is unique, and thus functions as a “fingerprint” that can be used to track users without relying on cookies. Researchers have discovered that 145 of the Internet’s 10,000 top Web sites use device fingerprinting to track users without their knowledge or consent.
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German neo-Nazis targeted Chancellor Gerhard Schröder for assassination
Beate Zschäpe, the last surviving members of the National Socialist Underground, a violent German neo-Nazi group, is on trial this month for taking part in the murders of eight Turkish immigrants, one Greek man, and a German policewoman, in addition to participating in fifteen bank robberies and two bomb attacks. In testimony Monday, a police investigator said that computer files found in an apartment used by NSU member indicate that in 2002, the group was working on a plot to assassinate the then-chancellor Gerhard Schröder.
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Libya sliding toward anarchy: PM abducted, then released
In the most ominous sign yet that Libya is sliding toward anarchy two years after the rebellion that ended Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi’s four decades of dictatorship, members of a Libyan militia which is supportive of the government earlier today abducted the Libyan prime minister, Ali Zeidan, then released him after several hours. The anger in Libya over the U.S. Saturday operation to seize al Qaeda leader Abu Anas al-Libi, has intensified an already simmering anger toward the corrupt and ineffectual Zeidan government. On Monday, soldiers who were complaining that they had not been paid occupied Zeidan’s Tripoli office. Libyan oil production has been at a standstill since July, with striking troops in the east and tribal militias blockading ports and oilfields claiming oil revenues are being stolen by militias close to Zeidan or misspent. Libya does not have credible army, police, or security forces, and the government relies on freewheeling militias, formed during and after the anti-Qaddafi rebellion, to provide security.
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Virginia police built massive data base of political rallies participants
From 2010 until last spring, the Virginia State Police (VSP) used automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) to collect information about – and build a massive data base of — political activities of law-abiding people. The VSP, for example, recorded the license plates of vehicles attending President Obama’s 2009 inauguration, as well as campaign rallies for Obama and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Following a strong opinion by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, the VSP discontinued the practice, and the agency says it has purged its license plate database, and now disposes of ALPR-obtained information within twenty-four hours of collection, unless it is relevant to a clearly defined criminal investigation.
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U.S. keeping too much data on too many people for too long: report
A new study surveys five methods of data collection by U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies, and finds that these agencies not only collect massive amounts of innocent Americans’ data, but can share and store this data for up to seventy-five years or more, creating opportunities for abuse and clogging government databases.
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NSA tried to crack Tor anonymity tool
In its efforts to gather more intelligence, and overcome obstacles to this effort, the National Security Agency (NSA) has repeatedly tried to develop attacks against people using Tor, a software tool designed to protect online anonymity – and which is primarily funded and promoted by the U.S. government itself to help political activists, whistleblowers, militaries, and law enforcement. The NSA’s determined effort to crack Tor raises questions about whether the agency, deliberately or inadvertently, acted against Internet users in the United States when attacking Tor. One of the main functions of Tor is to hide the country of all of its users, meaning any attack could be hitting members of Tor’s large U.S. user base.
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Greater role for Pentagon in next phase of U.S. war on terror
The Obama administration had dramatically increased the use of drones in the war against terrorists. The number of drone strike has declined this year relative to the high levels of 2010-11. The number of drone strikes may increase again, but this past weekend’s Special Forces raids in Somalia and Libya are an indication that the next phase in the U.S. war on terrorism would see, in relative terms, less of a reliance on CIA-operated drones and a greater role for the Pentagon.
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A guide to terrorist, security actors in East Africa
The continuing violence in East Africa is often attributed to Somalia’s instability, triggered by the collapse of the government more than twenty years ago, and the descent of the country into a war among war lords, tribes, and religious factions. Here is a useful guide to the main groups and organizations which operate in the region which extends from Eritrea in the north to Tanzania in the south.
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Three leading African terrorist groups: similarities and differences
Three African Islamist terrorist organizations — al-shabaab, al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, and Boko Haram – have been responsible for many acts of terrorism. The three groups, or at least their leaders and most of their followers, adhere to a Wahhabi version of Islam, which is practiced in Saudi Arabia, and all oppose Western influence in the countries in which they operate. The groups also share a penchant for internal factional violence, and senior leaders of both al Shabab and Boko Haram were recently killed by rivals. There are, however, important differences among the three groups.
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Aerospace and Defense Industry says its member companies negatively affected by shutdown
The Aerospace Industries Association called on Congress and President Obama to pass a bipartisan solution that reopens the government as soon as possible. The association’s president said that the negative impacts of the shutdown range from industry worker furloughs on programs that support the soldiers to delays in new aircraft certification and space systems launches.
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Shutdown affects U.S. military religious services
A shortage of active duty Catholic chaplains has led the government to hire contract priests to offer religious services in the military. As a result of the government partial shutdown, the military has furloughed as many as fifty Catholic chaplains. They were not allowed to celebrate weekend Mass, and some were told that they would not be allowed to volunteer their services. Catholic organizations said they were outraged by the decision, which some saw as an expression of what they described as the administration’s animus toward Catholics. Observers note, however, that the Anti-Deficiency Act (ADA), which codifies the Constitutional requirement that the executive not draw money from the treasury unless authorized by Congress, specifically restricts acceptance of voluntary services or personal services beyond authorized levels “except for emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of property.”
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Gov. Jerry Brown: only U.S. citizens on juries
In recent days, Governor Jerry Brown of California approved bills allowing driver’s permits to illegal immigrants and allowing illegal immigrants with a law degree to practice law in the state. Yesterday, however, he drew a tight line around jury service by vetoing a bill which would have made it possible for legal immigrants who are not citizens to serve on juries.
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House Dems propose comprehensive immigration bill
House Democrats last week released a proposed immigration bill aiming to tighten border security and provide a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants. The House Judiciary Committee has advanced several bills offering narrower changes to the current immigration law. It is not clear whether the rancor characterizing the budget debate would allow for a bipartisan consideration of either side’s immigration legislative preferences.
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