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Special Bulletin. Obama’s Speech on the NSA: The Mountain Brings Forth a Mouse.

A Mountain Brings Forth a Mouse. Political cartoon showing 1872 Liberal Republicans gathered around a mountain witnessing the birth of its candidate, a mouse labeled “H. G.” (Horace Greeley.) Appeared in Harper’s Weekly, May 18, 1872.

As illustrated by the 1872 cartoon from Harper’s Weekly, the Aesopian fable of a mountain laboring to bring forth a mouse has long history in political commentary. It may never have seemed more appropriate than after President Obama’s speech on NSA surveillance. The speech was long on rhetoric and short on substance, addressing only a few of the 46 specific recommendations of his advisory panel. That panel and its recommendations, it appears, may have an even shorter shelf life in Presidential consideration than the Simpson-Bowles commission he created to solve the problem of the federal deficit.Read More »Special Bulletin. Obama’s Speech on the NSA: The Mountain Brings Forth a Mouse.

Blog No. 24 Whither NSA Metadata: The Judges and the Report to the President (Part II).

Part I of the Blog focused principally on the decisions of Judges Richard J. Leon and William H. Pauley III. This Part will discuss the Report of the advisory panel appointed by President Obama and its recommendations with respect to both the NSA metadata program and the protection of all classified data held by the NSA.Read More »Blog No. 24 Whither NSA Metadata: The Judges and the Report to the President (Part II).

Blog No. 5 Whither the War on Terror? Part III: Disclosures of NSA Surveillance—The Elephant in the Room

edward-snowden-is-both-a-patriot-and-a-traitorOn June 5, a British newspaper, The Guardian, reported the existence of a  National Security Agency program active in collecting data on telephone calls made within the United States. The report was based on documents and information provided by one Edward Snowden who also furnished information and documents for a story in The Washington Post the following day on a second NSA program, PRISM, that intercepts communications of overseas internet users. The stories created sufficient uproar that on June 7, that President Obama felt obliged to address the matter while attending a healthcare conference in California.Read More »Blog No. 5 Whither the War on Terror? Part III: Disclosures of NSA Surveillance—The Elephant in the Room