The NSA: Fostering a New Generation of Code Breakers

Staff / Truthdig May 7, 2006 The presumed next head of the CIA, Gen. Michael Hayden, once ran the National Security Agency. Fine. It's got a cartoon picture that leads to a kid-friendly site called Cryptokids: America's Future Codemakers and Codebreakers. It's filled with decryption games and NSA employment resources. Huh? Cartoons appeal to 7-year-olds. How many of them are going to be surfing the NSA's website? And if the agency is trying to recruit high school students, why use a cartoon turtle as a roper? Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

U.S. Soccer Team Bus Will Show No Flag

Staff / Truthdig May 5, 2006 If you want an idea of America's image in the world, consider this: Of the 32 official buses transporting teams competing in soccer World Cup, only America's will not bear its national flag--for security reasons. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Claim: Ridge Forced a Whitewash of Security Criticisms

Staff / Truthdig May 2, 2006 The former inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security says he was confronted by then-Secretary Tom Ridge ?to intimidate me, to stare me down, to force me to back off" from criticizing security failures in advance of the 2004 presidential election. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Joe Conason: Washington Leaking: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Joe Conason / Truthdig Apr 29, 2006 Determining which leaks are bad and which are good can be a murky process. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Robert Scheer: Top Spys Story on Prewar Intel Is Finally Told

Robert Scheer / Truthdig Apr 26, 2006 A jaded media ignores CBS' well-documented revelation that the CIA clearly informed Bush that Saddam Hussein had no WMD program. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Robert Scheer: Now Powell Tells Us

Robert Scheer / Truthdig Apr 12, 2006 Colin Powell told me that he and his department's top experts never believed that Iraq posed an imminent nuclear threat, but that the president followed the misleading advice of Vice President Dick Cheney and the CIA in making the claim. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Province by Province: A Picture of Worsening Conditions in Iraq

Staff / Truthdig Apr 9, 2006 The US Embassy and military in Baghdad issued a revealing province by province report of Iraq's political, economic and security situation The "Provincial Stability Assessment" paints a gloomy picture of intensifying sectarian and ethnic frictions and growing instability in many of the provinces profiled Funny, our leaders always say how well things are going. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Drone Aircraft May Prowl U.S. Skies

Staff / Truthdig Apr 4, 2006 The Congress hears from police agencies that envision using unmanned military drones for surveillance -- in one troubling example, high above American cities. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Iraqi Leader to U.S.: Stop Meddling

Staff / Truthdig Mar 30, 2006 Jafaari rebuffs Bush's alleged call for him to step down, telling Washington to stop interfering in Iraq's politics. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Defense Dept. Removes Critical Report from Website

Staff / Truthdig Mar 22, 2006 The report, by the DoD's inspector general, found security flaws in the "Star Wars" missile defense system After a magazine did a story on the report, the DoD scrubbed the document from its website, and won't say why it did so Luckily for us curious types, the magazine saved a digital copy (h/t: ThinkProgress). Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Iraqi Blogger Writes of Harrowing Existence

Staff / Truthdig Mar 20, 2006 The Washington Post ran a week's worth of postings by a young, UK-raised Iraqi dentist who describes the unnerving experience of living "between the hammer of terrorists and the anvil of American, British and Iraqi security forces." (Also, check out his blog, Healing Iraq, with his bio.) Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Gunmen Seize 50 at Iraq Security Firm

Staff / Truthdig Mar 9, 2006 This incident--coming on the heels of the discovery of 20 bodies dumped in Baghdad--is the face of urban civil war on the model of the Battle of Algiers. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )