FBI and NSA History One Long Tale of Missing Accountability

Ray McGovern / Consortiumnews Jan 24, 2018 The odds are against anyone ever answering for recent "inadvertent" deletions of electronic data at the two agencies. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

2015: The Year in Government Secrecy

Staff / Truthdig Dec 24, 2015 Here's a rundown on how this past year shaped up on the issue of government accountability (hint: not well) from someone who knows quite a bit on the subject: reporter Jason Leopold, who's familiarized himself thoroughly on the secrecy tip as well as on the Freedom of Information Act and its uses. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

What We Know (and Don’t Know) About This Year’s Bilderberg Meeting

Roisin Davis / Truthdig Jun 11, 2015 What could possibly be sinister about leaders of the world's most powerful companies and countries meeting in closed sessions on an Austrian mountaintop to discuss global strategy? Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Vladimir Putin Declares All Military Deaths State Secrets

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig May 29, 2015 The Russian president has declared that all military deaths -- in peacetime as well as wartime -- will be classified as state secrets, with violations punishable by up to seven years in prison. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Journalist for The Intercept Is Kicked Out of Counterterrorism Conference

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Apr 24, 2015 “We’re not banning you, we’re just not allowing you access,” a security officer told reporter Ryan Gallagher when he showed up at one of the world’s largest annual counterterrorism events. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Guerrilla Artists Install Bust of Edward Snowden in Brooklyn

Roisin Davis / Truthdig Apr 6, 2015 An anonymous group worked in secret to place a 100-pound tribute to the whistleblower in Fort Greene Park. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Oh, No: The ACLU Helped Jail CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Feb 10, 2015 One of the U.S.' most respected civil liberties organizations collaborated with President Reagan's CIA in writing secrecy laws that enabled the prosecution of Bush-era whistleblower John Kiriakou, reports Mark Ames at Pando Daily. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Why Is Huge Trade Deal Being Kept Secret?

David Sirota / Truthdig Feb 7, 2015 The trade rules of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership between the United States and 11 Asian nations would cover nearly 40 percent of the world economy -- but don't ask what they are. Access to the text of the proposed deal is highly restricted. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Why Isn’t David Petraeus on Trial?

Peter Z. Scheer / Truthdig Jan 10, 2015 The U.S. government has treated principled whistle-blowers like treasonous spies, yet Attorney General Eric Holder has reportedly ignored recommendations from his own FBI and Justice Department to prosecute former CIA chief David Petraeus. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

The Five Commandments of Barack Obama

By Karen J. Greenberg, TomDispatch Feb 28, 2014 In his first weeks in office, in a series of executive orders and public statements, the new president broadcast for all to hear the five commandments by which life in his new world of national security would be lived. Dig deeper ( 10 Min. Read )

‘The Fukushima Secrecy Syndrome’

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Feb 23, 2014 In December, the Japanese government rammed through parliament a law that would let the government alone decide what state secrets are and throw civil employees who divulge them in jail for up to 10 years, while journalists could get five years, Ralph Nader writes at CounterPunch. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

How a Thug State Operates

By Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch Feb 21, 2014 In the twenty-first century, the NSS has already generated hundreds of millions of documents that could not be read by an American without a security clearance. Of those, thanks to one man (via various journalists), we have had access to a tiny percentage of perhaps 1.7 million of them. Dig deeper ( 10 Min. Read )