The CenterLine

WaPo: Fort Meade Part of an “Alternative Geography”

The third installment of the Washington Post‘s “Top Secret America” series focuses on an “alternative geography of the United States, one defined by the concentration of top-secret government organizations and the companies that do work for them.” Fort Meade, an almost undetectable suburban community, serves as a “nerve center” for Washington’s secret infrastructure, report former CLS fellow Dana Priest and William M. Arkin. They further say that “[t]he existence of these clusters is so little known that most people don’t realize when they’re nearing the epicenter of Fort Meade’s, even when the GPS on their car dashboard suddenly begins giving incorrect directions, trapping the driver in a series of U-turns, because the government is jamming all nearby signals.”

Intelligence and Secrecy

James R. Clapper Jr.’s confirmation hearing for to serve as the director of national intelligence began in the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday. Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic says Clapper’s message was clear: “I’m tough…and I’m going to make this work.” Clapper disputed claims made in the “Top Secret America” series that the intelligence community is “out of control” and said he would be more than a titular figurehead, the Washington Post reports.

Marine Col. Larry Richards, who was scheduled to begin court-martial hearings for allegedly having disclosed classified material to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department anti-terrorism task force, has died. Richards, a reservist and retired civilian detective, helped organized the Sheriff Department’s task force.

Guantanamo

Lawyers representing news outlets including the Miami Herald, the New York Times and the AP will meet with Defense Department officials next week to challenge the guidelines that dictate what they can and cannot do while reporting from Guantanamo. The “Media Policy and Ground Rules” packet, signed by all journalists who travel to Guantanamo, outlines rules for reporting and photography at the military base. Four reporters were banned from Guantanamo in May after publishing the name of an interrogator that had already been reported. Three of the four have been allowed to return after they agreed to “write letters saying they understood why they were banned,” according to the New York Times.

House Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said yesterday that closing Guantanamo is “not an item…of real current discussion.”

JFK Bomb Plot Trial

Abdul Kadir, one of the defendants on trial for allegedly plotting to blow up fuel tanks at JFK airport,  testified yesterday that he had no interest in joining the plot brought to him by co-defendant Russell Defreitas and FBI informant Steven Francis, but strung them along so that they would help him raise funds for a mosque he wanted to build in Guyana, where he was at one time a parliament member. Kadir testified that he does “not subscribe to fighting because [he has] no need to fight,” and that all but one of the weapons he and his children had in photos found on his flash drive when he was arrested were toys. New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek.

Times Square Bomb Plot

The car bomb left in Times Square didn’t explode partly because Faisal Shahzad intentionally used less-potent materials in efforts to avoid suspicion, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said yesterday. “The positive side is it’s become more difficult to acquire what once were readily available ingredients for devastating bombs,” the NYPD’s chief spokesman said, according to the New York Times.  New York Times, Wall Street Journal

Al Qaeda Magazine

Congresswoman Sue Myrick (R-NC) has said that Samir Khan, a naturalized U.S. citizen and former North Carolina resident believed to be the editor-in-chief of an online al Qaeda magazine, should lose his citizenship and be criminally charged.

Afghanistan

An Afghan soldier shot two American trainers yesterday, killing them before being shot dead at a training base in northern Afghanistan. Motives for the shooting remain unclear, but the attack comes on the heels of a similar attack by an Afghan soldier earlier this month that left three British soldiers dead. New York Times, Washington Post.

With public discontent and growing uncertainty about the U.S. plan in Afghanistan, Congress has delayed action on a $37 billion emergency war funding bill for Iraq and Afghanistan. With midterm elections looming, both Democratic and Republicans are wary of public opinion about the war in Afghanistan, which has been costing $7 billion per month.

Pakistan

Despite reluctance to have foreign troops on its soil, Pakistan has begun to allow U.S. Special Forces soldiers to join Pakistani troops on missions in the western regions of the country. The U.S. soldiers have only taken part in aid missions, and often travel in civilian clothing so as not to draw attention.

Somalia

Escalating fighting between U.S.-backed Somali forces and al Shabaab north of Mogadishu has resulted in at least 53 civilian deaths and scores of injuries, a human rights group in Somalia has said, according to the Washington Post. Fears have also been raised that unrest may spill over into Kenya. A Kenyan police officer was wounded on the border yesterday. The head of U.S. Africa Command, General William E. Ward, has said that the U.S. may increase military support for the peacekeeping mission. The peacekeepers have been accused of “indiscriminately killing hundreds of civilians,” the Post reports.

Iran

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, speaking at the international aid conference in Kabul, accused the U.S. and NATO of using Afghanistan to train and harbor the Sunni militant group Jundallah. The group, based in the Balochistan region of Pakistan, claimed responsibility for an attack on an Iranian mosque last week that left 28 people dead.

News stories compiled by the staff of the Center on Law and Security

WaPo: National Security System Dependent on Contractors

An estimated 265,000 private contractors have top-secret clearances, part of a total of 854,000 people with top-secret access, according to the second installment of the Washington Post‘s exposé detailing the hidden national security infrastructure created after 9/11. “Private firms have become so thoroughly entwined with the government’s most sensitive activities that without them important military and intelligence missions would have to cease or would be jeopardized,” former CLS fellow Dana Priest and William M. Arkin report.

David C. Gompert, the acting director of national intelligence, said that the series’s first article, published yesterday, “does not reflect the intelligence community we know” and that some degree of overlap among agencies is necessary, according to the Tribune Washington bureau (via the Los Angeles Times) and the AFP. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said that “[w]e have to balance the necessity of the resources needed to fight our adversaries and, at the same time, balanc[e] that against waste,” while Rep. Pete Hoekstra said that the system “lacks the nimbleness to respond to threats posed to our nation,” the AFP further reports.

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WaPo: National Security Infrastructure “Beyond Control”

The U.S. government has developed a secret, sprawling national security infrastructure in the wake of 9/11, according to a new Washington Post investigative series. The findings reveal that about “1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence,” creating concerns that there is an overlap of responsibilities, inability to coordinate agencies at a supervisory level, unsustainable spending, and no proof that the nation is safer because of it. The series, reported by former CLS fellow Dana Priest and William M. Arkin, stems from nearly two years of research. Today’s piece focuses on the government’s role in the growing enterprise.

The Atlantic has posted a memo circulated by the Director of National Intelligence’s communication chief in preparation for the series’s publication.

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Bybee: Interrogation Techniques Were Unauthorized

Jay Bybee, former head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel and currently a federal judge, has told Congress that certain interrogation methods used by the CIA, including cold-water dousing, daily beatings, solitary confinement, the use of diapers, and repetitive waterboarding, were not approved by what has become known as the “torture memos” that he co-wrote with John Yoo.  Bybee said that the CIA had never asked about some of the techniques that were used.  Whether or not interrogators broke the law is the subject of a pending investigation. President Obama has said that interrogators will not be prosecuted for using techniques that were approved in formal legal advice.   In testimony, Bybee defended his legal conclusions.  New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post.

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Faisal Shahzad Described His Plan as “Revenge”

In a video shown on Al-Arabiya television, Faisal Shahzad described his plan to bomb Times Square as a “revenge attack.” Clips from the video, made before the bombing attempt, also show Shahzad shaking hands with a man who appears to be Hakimullah Mehsud, current leader of the Pakistani Taliban. Shahzad pleaded guilty in a federal court in New York last month.  New York Times, Washington Post, BBC.

Lynne Stewart to Be Sentenced Today

A federal district judge will decide today whether to increase the prison sentence of Lynne Stewart, the defense attorney convicted of helping pass messages from a client – “Blind Sheikh” Abdel Rahman – who was being held under Special Administrative Measures. Judge John Koeltl will make the deliberation after an appeals court found his original two-and-a-half year sentence was too low, determining that Koeltl must consider the sentence without reference to any of Stewart’s personal characteristics. Koeltl was directed to consider applying a terrorism sentencing enhancement.  Stewart has remained largely unapologetic throughout her trial and sentencing, but, in a letter asking the judge for leniency, declared, “I am not a traitor.” Prosecutors have requested a sentence of 15 to 30 years.

In the Los Angeles Times, Petra Bartosiewicz argues that the Justice Department is “making an example” of Stewart.

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Ghailani Trial Will Proceed, Judge Rules

Five years of detention at a secret CIA site and at Guantanamo did not violate Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani’s right to a speedy trial, according to Federal District Judge Lewis Kaplan. Ghailani is charged in connection with the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Judge Kaplan held Monday that Ghailani’s detention and interrogation would not adversely affect his ability to defend himself in court, and that this trial is not the proper forum to rule on the legality of the interrogation techniques.  Karen Greenberg, executive director of the Center on Law and Security, told the New York Times that the “combined effect” of the decision and a previous holding refusing a request to dismiss the case because of alleged “outrageous” conduct by the government “is to say that there is a way forward through the federal courts.” New York Times, Christian Science Monitor,  AP via CBS News.

JFK Bomb Plot Trial

Defendant Russell Defreitas suggested setting rats free at JFK airport to cause havoc and distract security officers, informant Steven Francis testified yesterday in the ongoing trial of Defreitas and Abdul Kadir for their alleged roles in the bomb plot.

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Khadr: No Deal

Omar Khadr has turned down an offer to plead guilty, stay at Guantanamo for five more years, and then be transferred to Canadian prison. Accepting the deal would be excusing the U.S. for the abuse he suffered while being interrogated, he said.  He further said that he will boycott his trial because he believes the trial will be a “sham” orchestrated to obtain guilty verdicts rather than the truth. Lt. Col. Jon Jackson, who has been assigned to represent Khadr, requested time to seek guidance on how to proceed while complying with legal ethics obligations.  Canwest News service via Montreal Gazette, Miami Herald,  Balkinization.

The Khadr case has resulted in a clash between Canada’s judiciary and executive branches, most recently evidenced by the decision of the Canadian government to appeal an order that it seek Khadr’s repatriation to Canada.

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Al Shabaab Suspected in Uganda Bombings

Al Shabaab is suspected to be behind two separate blasts that tore through an Ethiopian restaurant and a rugby club in Kampala, Uganda, in what would be the group’s first attack outside Somalia. The group has consistently threatened such attacks, and police found the severed head of a Somali national, suspected to be the bomber, at one of the sites. At least 64 people who were watching the World Cup on television are confirmed to have been killed in the bombings, including an American citizen, and 65 more injured. Telegraph, AP, AFP, NPR’s The Two-Way blog.

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