Secure Liberties

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Memo confirms the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is buying bulk location data about people in the US without warrants, claims Carpenter doesn’t apply. In a memo written for Senator Wyden, the DIA disclosed it had been buying bulk smartphone data from unidentified brokers and have used the data to carry out investigations, some of which involved US citizens. Former Judge Andrew Napolitano argues the practice is bogus and unconstitutional. This comes on the heels of several other stories over the past year, including similar allegations aimed at CBP and ICE.

Thousands rally across the world to say “No to War on Yemen.” …

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Biden’s top national security nominees faced Senators’ questions on Tuesday. Avril Haines (Director of National Intelligence), Alejandro Mayorkas (Secretary of Homeland Security), Antony Blinken (Secretary of State), and Lloyd Austin (Defense Secretary) all met with their respective Senate committees to answer questions on key national security issues such as the war in Yemen, domestic surveillance, China policy, returning to the JCPOA, and Venezuela. Haines was confirmed 84-10 last night. MORE BELOW.

On his way out, Trump ratcheted up several conflicts by…

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The New York Times confirmed that Section 215 of the Patriot Act has been used to put a dragnet around a website. Why does it matter? As we previously covered, this exact question — asked by civil society, dozens of Representatives, and former Sen./SSCI member Udall and former HJC Chair Goodlatte — was key to the firestorm around the cratered USA Freedom Reauthorization Act last year. Section 215 has been sunset since, as this and other big questions linger. Two important additional details covered below.

New Saudi Arms Sale…

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Chief Author of the SSCI Torture Report to Biden: No Morell (or Other Torture Apologists). Daniel Jones and Scott Roehm drew the line in the sand as Sen. Wyden called Morell a “torture apologist” and a “non-starter.”

Yemen stays a high priority on and off the Hill…

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ICE accused of torture to force “Cameroonian asylum seekers to force them to sign their own deportation orders, in what lawyers and activists describe as a brutal scramble to fly African migrants out of the country in the run-up to the elections.” According to The Guardian, one victim said ICE “pepper-sprayed me in the eyes and [one officer] strangled me almost to the point of death. I kept telling him, ‘I can’t breathe.’ I almost died.” ICE then “forcibly obtain[ed] my fingerprint on the document.”

Concerns around possible Biden nominees continue …

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“They were abusing people’s rights” + “spooky shit going on” — Intelligence surveillance in Portland included “interceptions of protesters’ phone calls” by “a task force that included federal agencies besides the DHS,” according to two former intelligence officers interviewed by The Nation. The Washington Post previously reported on DHS intelligence reports on journalists covering the Portland protests, and the most recent whistleblower from DHS, from the same DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis, claims he was “pressured to downplay threats posed by white supremacists and Russian election interference, and instead told to inflate fears around immigrants, anarchists, anti-fascists, China, and Iran.”

129 recommendations for the Rules of the House and 83 recommendations for the Senate…

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Concerns grow that HPSCI and SSCI are hiding dragnet internet surveillance from the rest of Congress, per a new letter from Americans for Prosperity, Demand Progress, Fight for the Future, Free Press Action, FreedomWorks and others. They wrote to alert Congressional leaders of their “urgent concerns about possible unauthorized dragnet surveillance of people in the United States, based on alarming statements and actions by leaders of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.”

Brown University: 37-59 million forcibly displaced by “War on Terror.” …

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Senator Leahy and Lee demand answers about potential unauthorized & illegal mass surveillance, in a new letter to AG Barr and DNI Ratcliffe. Based in large part on bizarre activity in the ongoing FISA / PATRIOT Act reauthorization debate, the Senators are concerned that executive branch might be doing “all of this” surveillance anyway, “with no guardrails,” in the words of Senator Burr, the former Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

This is a big deal. Does the executive branch believe it can lawfully conduct unlimited, mass surveillance domestically in search of foreign intelligence?…

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Groups increase pressure to shut down 1033 Program. Demand Progress led more than 90 organizations last week ahead of the full committee markup of the NDAA, urging members to use the opportunity to support the inclusion of language to end the Pentagon’s 1033 Program. While no action was taken in HASC, we expect floor votes in both the House and Senate on 1033 NDAA reform amendments later this month.

Wrong face, wrongful arrest…