Thursday, Dec 18th
Last update08:26:17 AM GMT
Domestic Glance
Concerns about foreign spies and terrorists have prompted the Homeland Security Department to set up its own counterintelligence division.
The new directive comes as the federal government increases its counterspy efforts across all agencies and raises the awareness of intelligence vulnerabilities in the private industry as well as in protecting government secrets.
A federal appeals court has refused to resurrect a lawsuit that former CIA operative Valerie Plame brought against members of the Bush administration.
Plame accused Vice President Dick Cheney and several former high-ranking administration officials of revealing her identity to reporters in 2003. She and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, say that violated their constitutional rights.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in an interview aired on Sunday he had no interest in staying in his post beyond January when a new administration takes office.
"I'm going to run right up until the end," he said. "I'm focused on getting everything done I can get done between now and January 19th."
In March, Paulson proposed overhauling the U.S. financial regulatory system and giving more powers to the Federal Reserve in the wake of the financial market upheaval that exposed gaping holes in oversight.
As Americans focus on the Olympics and the 2008 presidential campaign, the Bush Administration is finalizing plans to establish yet another massive surveillance program -- and has classified almost every single detail.
But the Bush Administration has refused to release details on the program's budget, how contracts will be administered, or what contractors might be involved. A whopping $115 million was allocated for the program this year, without any disclosure of progress or accomplishment.
TVNL Comment: Get ready for a false flag 9/11 type of attack on the Internet. This will allow Bush & company to lock down the Internet.
More...
It's perfectly possible that Bruce Ivins really is the anthrax attacker -- that he perpetrated the attacks and did so alone. Perhaps the FBI is in possession of mountains of conclusive evidence that, once revealed, will leave no doubt that Ivins is the guilty party. But no rational person could possibly assume that to be the case given the paltry amount of facts -- many of which contradict one another -- that are now known. Several points to note:
Four Mexican soldiers crossed into Arizona and held a U.S. Border Patrol agent at gunpoint before realizing where they were and returning to Mexico, federal authorities said Wednesday.
The confrontation occurred early Sunday on the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation, about 85 miles southwest of Tucson, in an area fenced only with barbed wire, said Dove Crawford, a spokeswoman for the Border Patrol.
The indictments, which alleged that at least nine major U.S. retailers were hacked, were unsealed Tuesday in Boston, Massachusetts, and San Diego, California, prosecutors said.
It is believed to be the largest hacking case that the Justice Department has ever tried to prosecute.
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