Tag Archives: intelligence

Bush-era wiretap program had limited results, report finds

Federal agents found much of the information produced by the Bush administration’s top-secret warrantless surveillance program vague and difficult to use, a sweeping review of the program found. Then-President George Bush and other top administration officials have said the program was a critical tool in preventing terrorist attacks. However, a report Friday by the inspectors general of the CIA, the Justice Department, the Pentagon and other agencies found that some FBI and CIA agents were frustrated by the secrecy surrounding the program

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Around the World, Young Tamil Voices Not Quieted By War’s End

Sri Lanka’s 26 years of civil war effectively ended on May 19, 2009 with a single image. Televisions across the globe broadcast a government-issue photo of slain Tamil Tiger head, Velupillai Prabhakaran, lying on a muddy patch of ground with wide eyes and a fractured skull. His life’s end terminated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s decades-long fight for an independent homeland for Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority — about ten percent of the population — and a cycle of violence that Sri Lankans of all ethnicities and religions have been living with for decades

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Iranian minister blames Britain, U.S. for unrest

Iran’s intelligence minister Sunday blamed Western powers for stirring up protests over its disputed presidential election, singling out Britain and saying the British Embassy in Tehran "played a heavy role in the recent disturbances." “The fact that Iran is stable, calm and secure, they’re upset with this,” Intelligence Minister Gholam-Hosein Mohseni Ejei told Iran’s Press TV.

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John King: Clashes in Iran, disagreement in U.S.

The dramatic and at times deadly post-election fallout in Iran dominated the Sunday conversation. And as we watched more demonstrations on the streets of Tehran, the debate among key policy-makers in the United States centered on whether the Iranian regime was potentially near a tipping point and whether President Obama has been too cautious his handling of this major challenge.

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Iran 101: Understanding the unrest

For almost a week, tens of thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets in daily protests — handkerchiefs shielding their faces from the pungency of tear gas, fists punching the air, and chants of "Down with the dictator" echoing against buildings. The massive outpouring is a result of a disputed presidential election that the protesters think coronated the incumbent hard-liner, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, over their candidate, Mir Hossain Moussavi

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Independent Intel: High Stakes in a New CIA Turf War

There’s a growing dread at the CIA these days that the vultures are circling, waiting to pick off the agency’s best parts. The latest move causing concern is a play by Admiral Dennis Blair, the Director of National Intelligence, to name the next intelligence chief in Kabul. CIA Director Leon Panetta, who has already named his own chief from the CIA’s ranks, is reportedly fighting back, much to his boss’s consternation.

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