CIA curbs spying on friendly governments
in Western Europe ADVERTISING CIA curbs spying on friendly governments
in Western Europe WASHINGTON — The CIA has curbed spying on friendly governments in Western Europe, according to current and former U.S. officials. The move is
CIA curbs spying on friendly governments
in Western Europe
WASHINGTON — The CIA has curbed spying on friendly governments in Western Europe, according to current and former U.S. officials. The move is in response to the furor over a German caught selling secrets to the United States and the Edward Snowden revelations of classified National Security Agency documents.
The pause in decades of espionage was designed to give CIA officers time to examine whether they were being careful enough and to evaluate whether spying on allies is worth running the risk of discovery, said a U.S. official who has been briefed on the situation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss classified material or activities.
The stand-down order largely forbids case officers in Europe from undertaking “unilateral operations” such as meeting with sources they have recruited within allied governments.
Portion of White House evacuated after person jumps fence
WASHINGTON — Much of the White House was evacuated on Friday after someone jumped the fence at the executive mansion.
The incident occurred just minutes after President Barack Obama and his daughters left the White House on Friday evening aboard Marine One on their way to Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland where Obama and his family were to spend the weekend.
White House staffers and Associated Press journalists inside the West Wing were evacuated by Secret Service officers, some with their weapons drawn. A Secret Service agent at the scene said someone had jumped over the fence on the north side of the White House.
As police scan millions of license plates, civil libertarians question how info is being used
LOS ANGELES — A rapidly expanding digital network that uses cameras mounted to traffic signals and police cruisers captures the movements of millions of vehicles across the U.S., regardless of whether the drivers are being investigated by law enforcement.
The license plate scanning systems have multiplied across the U.S. over the last decade, funded largely by Homeland Security grants, and judges recently have upheld authorities’ rights to keep details from hundreds of millions of scans a secret from the public.
Such decisions come as a patchwork of local laws and regulations govern the use of such technology and the distribution of the information they collect, inflaming civil liberties advocates who see this as the next battleground in the fight over high-tech surveillance.
“If I’m not being investigated for a crime, there shouldn’t be a secret police file on me” that details “where I go, where I shop, where I visit,” said Michael Robertson, a tech entrepreneur fighting in court for access to his own files. “That’s crazy, Nazi police-type stuff.”
A San Diego judge has tentatively ruled that a local government agency can deny Robertson’s request for scans on his own vehicle under California’s open records law because the information pertains to police investigations. Superior Court Judge Katherine Bacal heard additional arguments in the case Friday and plans to issue a final decision soon. Robertson said he plans to appeal if the tentative decision stands.
Congress OKs aid to Syrian rebels fighting Islamic State militants
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Friday signed into law legislation authorizing the military to arm and train moderate Syrian rebels fighting Islamic State militants in the Middle East.
Obama acted a day after a Senate vote capped congressional action on the request, which passed by wide margins despite reservation about whether his strategy will do enough to stop the surging terrorist group, which has seized large swaths of Iraq and Syria. Congress will revisit the issue after the midterm elections.
Thursday’s bipartisan 78-22 tally Thursday blended support from Obama’s close Democratic allies and some of his fiercest GOP critics, including top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. It put leading contenders for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination on opposite sides. Some of Obama’s liberal allies defected.
By wire sources
