Independent voices from the TWT Communities
A Republican congressman called Wednesday for an audit of all U.S. government secrecy, saying "classification inflation" is forcing federal agencies to issue more and more clearances, creating opportunities for leaks about truly vital programs.
The National Security Agency last year checked fewer than 300 telephone numbers against its database containing details about every phone call made in America, intelligence officials said Tuesday. The rare admission was part of the Obama administration's effort to reassure Americans about NSA data-gathering programs that officials said had foiled more than 50 terrorist plots in the United States and abroad.
As a Foodbeast blogger painfully discovered last week, the beloved cereal mascot Cap'n Crunch is not really a captain at all, he's a mere commander.
Apple, Inc. has become the latest technology firm to come clean about U.S. government requests to snoop on its customers' communications, after a self-proclaimed whistleblower revealed that the National Security Agency had agreements with the Cupertino, Calif.-based iPhone maker and eight other major Internet companies to access their data.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told a group of conservatives at the Faith and Freedom Coalition's Road to Majority Conference over the weekend that NSA leaker Edward Snowden isn't the real problem.
Battered by scandals surrounding security failures in Benghazi and allegations of criminal activity by diplomats, the State Department is taking over the sensitive process by which background checks are given to locals hired to work at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, the largest and most expensive diplomatic post in the world.
Questions were raised Friday about security procedures at the ultra-secret National Security Agency, after it emerged that Edward Snowden, the contract employee who leaked details of the agency's broad-scale data gathering on Americans, exceeded his authorized access to computer systems and smuggled out Top Secret documents on a USB drive — a thumb-sized data storage device banned from use on secret military networks.
The Pentagon is concerned that a former National Security Agency contractor who is now in Hong Kong will compromise top-secret electronic intelligence programs targeted against China, according to a defense official.
An outraged Germany plans to put pressure on President Obama to end America's Internet surveillance program, calling such tactics akin to East German's secret police security program.
Vienna, Austria
Oprah Winfrey is giving $12 million to a museum being built on Washington's National Mall that will document black history, officials said Tuesday.
Oprah Winfrey is giving $12 million to a museum being built on Washington’s National Mall that will document African-American history, officials said Tuesday.
The Standard & Poor's ratings agency said Monday it's getting more optimistic about the U.S. economy — but investors just yawned.
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on Monday upgraded its outlook for the U.S. government's long-term debt. S&P cited the government's strengthened finances, a recovering U.S. economy and some easing of Washington's political gridlock.
Standard & Poor's Corp. on Monday withdrew its threat to downgrade the U.S. government for a second time, citing an improving economy and declining budget deficits. But it said the U.S. still falls short of getting a AAA rating because the two bickering political parties refuse to bridge their differences and address long-term debt problems.
