News you may have missed #474

February 3, 2011 by Leave a comment

  • Israel jails Arab activist for spying. A court in Haifa has sentenced prominent Israeli Arab activist Ameer Makhoul to nine years in prison and another year suspended sentence for charges of spying and contacting a foreign agent from Lebanon-based Hezbollah.
  • Assange used disguise to evade surveillance new book reveals. WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange disguised himself as an old woman in a wig for fear he was being followed by US intelligence, according to a book published this week by British quality broadsheet The Guardian. According to another book, to be published by journalists at German weekly newsmagazine Der Spiegel, Assange expressed private fears that the content of the US embassy cables was too explosive for his organization to withstand.
  • US Congressman wants to know who wants to know. Republican Representative Darrell Issa wants to know the names of hundreds of thousands of ordinary American citizens who have requested copies of federal government documents in recent years. Issa, the new chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, saying he simply wants to “make sure agencies respond in a timely fashion to Freedom of Information Act requests”. Hmmm…

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US officials sought ‘national security’ clause to keep bailout details secret

January 28, 2010 by Leave a comment

Securities and Exchange Commission logo

SEC logo

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
US officials in charge of regulating securities exchanges sought to apply a ‘national security’ clause to information relating to the government’s bailout of giant insurance company American International Group (AIG). Emails obtained by Reuters show that, in November of 2008, the New York Federal Reserve (NYFR), which administered the bailout, collaborated with AIG in requesting that US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) officials apply “special security procedures” to shield bailout-related information from public scrutiny. Instead of dismissing the –possibly illegal– request, SEC officials advised NYFR and AIG to publicly file heavily redacted versions of the documents in question, and request “confidential treatment” for the redacted portions, citing ‘national security’ clauses. Read more of this post

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