Muslim Radicalization Hearings

Round 2: Pete King To Look At Muslim Radicalization In Prisons

Benjy Sarlin | June 15, 2011, 5:45AM

Rep. Pete King (R-NY)

Rep. Peter King's (R-NY) much-maligned look into the Muslim threat within continues on Wednesday with a hearing on radicalization in American prisons.

Like King's previous Homeland Security Committee hearings, his latest effort is already drawing protests from religious leaders who are concerned he's unfairly stoking paranoia about Muslim Americans' loyalty to their country. A group of Long Island civic and religious institutions organized a news conference on Tuesday to decry the prison hearing.

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Darrell Issa

Issa Wants Info On Homeland Security's FOIA Policy

Rachel Slajda | January 17, 2011, 12:05PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) has asked the Department of Homeland Security to provide documents related to its Freedom of Information Act policy -- a policy which had political appointees reviewing FOIA requests.

The Associated Press reported in July that political appointees working for Secretary Janet Napolitano were reviewing FOIA requests, gathering information about the requesters and, in some cases, delaying responses.

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Wikileaks

Major Defense Contractor Blocks Anything With 'WikiLeaks' In URL

Ryan J. Reilly | December 3, 2010, 7:38PM

The nation's biggest defense contractors, who employ thousands of people with security clearances, are taking steps to restrict their access to Wikileaks, including one company which is blocking employees from accessing any website, including news stories, with "wikileaks" in the URL.

An employee of one major defense contractor told TPM that she wanted to read our report on the Library of Congress blocking access to WikiLeaks, but was unable to do so because the company blocked the webpage.

"I've clicked on a lot of headlines on many different news sites and any link that includes the dreaded letter sequence ends up displaying the company's 'Access Denied' page," the employee wrote.

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TSA

Amid Growing Backlash, TSA Tries To Keep It Light ... With Cranberry Sauce Warnings

Rachel Slajda | November 24, 2010, 9:55AM

TPM Photo Illustration

Well, here we are, the biggest travel day of the year and the Transportation Security Administration is up to its ears in outrage over its new security procedures. (Would you prefer us to take a nude photo or grope you, ma'am?) But it still has its most important duty:

Making you laugh.

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ATF

Report: ATF Flubbing Anti-Gunrunning Effort On Mexican Border

Ryan J. Reilly | September 23, 2010, 3:10PM

A major law enforcement initiative intended to stop the flow of weapons from the United States to Mexican drug cartels has "significant weaknesses" due to lack of intelligence sharing by ATF officials, according to an internal Justice Department report.

The draft version of the Inspector General's report on the Project Gunrunner initiative, which is run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), obtained by NBC News, is a "scathing indictment" of the program, Michael Isikoff reported this week.

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TSA

Scandals Of Orlando's Air Marshal's Office: Racist Games, Rampant Discrimination And Love For W.

Rachel Slajda | July 23, 2010, 6:10PM

The Federal Air Marshal office in Orlando has been plagued with scandal over the past few years, most famously for a Jeopardy-style game supervisors played with derogatory categories for African-Americans and people they thought were gay.

With the special agent in charge of the office, Bill Reese, announcing his retirement this week -- presumably due to allegations of discrimination and impropriety, although TSA officials say it's because of personal reasons -- we thought we'd recap some of what's allegedly been going in the office.

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Bush Administration

GAO Study Finds Improper Burrowing During Bush Years

Justin Elliott | June 29, 2010, 10:02AM

George W. Bush

A study by the Government Accountability Office has found seven instances of improper burrowing -- political appointees shifting to career civil servant positions in a given agency -- during the Bush Administration, though none of the seven occurred close to the 2008 presidential election.

Regular TPMmuckraker readers will remember our reporting on burrowing back in late 2008 when several Bush Administration officials made eyebrow-raising shifts to career positions.

The GAO did an exhaustive study of these so-called "conversions" from political to career positions between May 2005 and May 2009. It found 139 conversions in that period, with the most -- 32 -- occurring at the Justice Department, and the second-most, 17, occurring at the Department of Homeland Security. The GAO found the vast majority, 117, followed "fair and open competition" and proper procedures to ensure that the conversions were justified.

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Bernard Kerik

Kerik Sentenced To Four Years For Tax Fraud, Lying To White House

Justin Elliott | February 18, 2010, 12:17PM

Fmr. NYC Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik

Former New York Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik was sentenced today to four years in prison for lying during his vetting to be secretary of homeland security and tax fraud charges arising in part from renovations on his apartment paid for by a company looking for a city license.

The sentence exceeded the 27 to 33 months sought by prosecutors.

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Bernard Kerik

As Kerik Faces Sentencing, Giuliani Is Conspicuously Silent

Justin Elliott | February 18, 2010, 9:00AM

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik

Former New York Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik is set to be sentenced today for lying during his vetting to be secretary of homeland security, and for tax fraud related to renovations on his apartment paid for by a company seeking a city license.

It's one of those moments where you find out who your true friends are. But while supporters have written letters to the judge to advocate for a light sentence, one prominent figure is staying silent: Rudy Giuliani, once Kerik's most powerful patron.

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Northwest Flight 253

McCain Again Cites Bogus Abdulmutallab 'One-Way' Ticket Meme (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | February 4, 2010, 2:01PM

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)

A couple of weeks ago, Sen. John McCain got into a heated exchange with an Obama counterterrorism official who corrected the senator's false statement that the accused Christmas bomber traveled to Detroit on a one-way ticket.

Well apparently McCain, the third-ranking Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, didn't learn his lesson. Last night on Fox he once again claimed that the "fact" that Umar Abdulmutallab was traveling on a one-way ticket should have been a red flag.

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Bush Administration

Report: Bush Admin Raised Terror Alert Based On Con Man's Al Jazeera 'Decoding' Scam

Justin Elliott | December 21, 2009, 9:32AM

Then-Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge making an announcement about the Code Orange terror alert in December 2003.

A self-styled Nevada codebreaker convinced the CIA he could decode secret terrorist targeting information sent through Al Jazeera broadcasts, prompting the Bush White House to raise the terror alert level to Orange (high) in December 2003, with Tom Ridge warning of "near-term attacks that could either rival or exceed what we experience on September 11," according to a new report in Playboy.

The report deals another blow to the credibility of the Department of Homeland Security's color-coded terror alert system, and comes after Ridge's claim that the system was used as a political tool when he was DHS secretary.

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Bennie Thompson

Ethics Panel Probing Homeland Security Committee's Ties To Lobbyists

Zachary Roth | December 7, 2009, 9:38AM

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS)

Did Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the chair of the Homeland Security committee, hold hearings on identity theft with the goal of scaring credit-card companies into making political donations? That charge is at the heart of a set of issues being investigated by the House Ethics committee, reports the Washington Post.

Last March, Thompson held hearings on whether credit-card companies should be forced to bolster security in order to protect customers from identity theft -- something the companies oppose.

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Bernard Kerik

Kerik Faces Prison Time After Guilty Plea For Lying To Bush White House

Justin Elliott | November 5, 2009, 11:42AM

Fmr. NYC Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik

Former NYC police commissioner and Rudy Giuliani crony Bernie Kerik today pleaded guilty to lying during his vetting to become George W. Bush's Secretary of Homeland Security. It was the first of eight expected pleas, in exchange for which prosecutors will suggest 27 to 33 months in prison, the AP reports.

The pleas by Kerik, who has been in prison since Oct. 20 when a judge revoked his bail for giving out sealed information, are designed to resolve three separate criminal cases.

In the White House case, Kerik was accused of falsely denying to Bush vetters that he had an improper relationship with city contractors who performed pricey renovations on Kerik's Bronx apartment.

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Bernard Kerik

Ex-Commissioner Kerik's Mug Shot Released; NYC Tabloids Revel

Justin Elliott | October 21, 2009, 5:48PM

Fmr. NYC Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik

Former New York Police commissioner, Homeland Security secretary nominee, and beefsteak dinner honoree Bernie Kerik is now inmate 210717 at the Westchester County jail, after a judge revoked Kerik's bail yesterday.

The New York Post declares, "Bernie Kerik in the clink." The Daily News blows up the mug shot to grotesque pixelation.

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Bernard Kerik

Bernie Kerik Jailed As Judge Revokes Bail In Corruption Case

Justin Elliott | October 20, 2009, 1:48PM

Fmr. NYC Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik

A federal judge has revoked $500,000 bail for former NYC police commissioner Bernard Kerik in his corruption case and ordered him to jail, Fox reports.

Prosecutors allege that Kerik got renovations on his co-op in the Bronx in exchange for recommending the construction company for city contracts. The trial in the case is set to begin Monday.

Fox 5 in New York reports:

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