Kennedy Bill Seeks Congressional Access to Daily Briefings on WMD

S. 2175 – A bill to require the submittal to Congress of any Presidential Daily Briefing relating to Iraq during the period beginning on January 20, 1997, and ending on March 19, 2003. Sponsor: Sen Kennedy, Edward M. [MA](introduced 12/21/2005). Latest Major Action: 12/22/2005 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the …

Subjects: Congress, Government Documents

Opposition to Domestic Surveillance Grows Within Legal Community

CDT: “Fourteen of the nation’s leading experts on constitutional law today issued an analysis concluding that “the Justice Department’s defense of what it concedes was secret and warrantless electronic surveillance of persons within the United States fails to identify any plausible legal authority for such surveillance. Accordingly the program appears on its face to violate …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Government Documents, Privacy

Transcript of Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing for Confirmation of Samuel Alito

Washington Post: U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Judge Samuel Alito’s Nomination to the Supreme Court, Part I of II, Courtesy FDCH e-Media, Monday, January 9, 2006; 12:59 PM. Read below the opening statements of the first thirteen senators’ opening statements. The final statements, and Judge Alito’s opening statement, can be found in Part II …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Courts, Government Documents, Legal Research, Privacy

OMB Report to Congress on E-Gov Initiatives

Report to Congress on the Benefits of the President’s E-Government Initiatives, January 6, 2006. (183 pages, PDF) “The Federal government is delivering results through expansion and adoption of electronic government principles and best practices in managing information technology, and is increasingly providing timely and accurate information to the citizens and government decision makers while ensuring …

Subjects: Congress, E-Government, Government Documents, Legal Research, PC Security, Privacy

The Price of Influence Peddling in Washington

Time (free): How to Raise Cash… Disguise Its Sources… And Buy Influence Time (sub. req’d) – The Man Who Bought Washington – From deep inside the Republican elite, Jack Abramoff brought new excesses to the lobbying game. Who is he, and how did he get away with it for so long?: “A high-level source tells …

Subjects: Congress

Citation Database of Scientific and Medical Literature Now Available Free

Press release, January 5, 2006 – “Infotrieve, Inc. today announced that it had converted ArticleFinder, its online scientific, technical, and medical (STM) database with more than 26 million citations and eight million abstracts from over 54,000 journals, to a free access model. The move provides scientists and researchers, who work for corporations and are subject …

Subjects: Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Search Engines

A Legal Analysis of the NSA Warrantless Surveillance Program

A Legal Analysis of the NSA Warrantless Surveillance Program, by Morton H. Halperin, January 6, 2006 Secrecy News: “Halperin, a leading civil libertarian and former Pentagon and State Department official, played an influential role in the enactment of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978, which subjected intelligence surveillance within the United States to …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Government Documents, Legal Research, Privacy

Calls For Special House Panel and DOJ Investigations of Domestic Surveillance Program

Press release, January 6, 2006: “U.S. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin today sent a letter to House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert requesting that a special House panel be created “to undertake an immediate investigation and hearings into the President’s purported authority to conduct eavesdropping of U.S. citizens without a court order.” Press release, January 9, 2005: …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Government Documents, Privacy