Ed Stoffel

Debra Burlingame revisits the Clintons' pardon of terrorists. What message did these pardons send to other terrorists around the world? The pardoned terrorists never renounced violence, and Hillary said she supported the pardons... until the public outcry began.

The perpetrators were members of Armed Forces of National Liberation, FALN (the Spanish acronym), a clandestine terrorist group devoted to bringing about independence for Puerto Rico through violent means. Its members waged war on America with bombings, arson, kidnappings, prison escapes, threats and intimidation. The most gruesome attack was the 1975 Fraunces Tavern bombing in Lower Manhattan. Timed to go off during the lunch-hour rush, the explosion decapitated one of the four people killed and injured another 60. ...By 1996, the FBI had linked FALN to 146 bombings and a string of armed robberies -- a reign of terror that resulted in nine deaths and hundreds of injured victims.

 The Clintons' Terror Pardons, WSJ

The following sites are in the Intelligence Summit Webring...

Reading the mainstream media's reviews of Tim Weiner's "Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA", one would think the book has become the definitive history of the intelligence agency. Not so fast, say Jeffrey T. Richelson and Nicholas Dujmovic. Writing in separate reviews, they blast the book as no real history at all. Richelson writes:

The nearly-unanimous praise that greeted Legacy of Ashes underscored the presumption that here was a book which would convey an extraordinary understanding of the agency. ...The near-universal praise is perplexing, if only because Tim Weiner's book cannot be even remotely characterized as a history of the CIA. ...Weiner is very parsimonious when it comes to describing successful CIA endeavors. A history of the agency, according to Weiner, need only provide the vaguest details about the intelligence these assets supplied, and even less about its value and impact.

Dujmovic weighs in:

Tim Weiner's Legacy of Ashes is not the definitive history of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that it purports to be. Nor is it the well researched work that many reviewers say it is. It is odd, in fact, that much of the hype surrounding the book concerns its alleged mastery of available sources. Weiner and his favorable reviewers - most, like Weiner, journalists - have cited the plethora of his sources as if the fact of their variety and number by themselves make the narrative impervious to criticism. But the thing about scholarship is that one must use sources honestly, and one doesn't get a pass on this even if he is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for the New York Times. ...anyone who wants a balanced perspective of CIA and its history should steer well clear of Legacy of Ashes.

 Sins of Omission and Commission, Jeffrey T. Richelson

 Review of "Legacy of Ashes: The History of CIA", Studies in Intelligence

Lawmakers questioned Homeland Security officials in Washington today about the legal basis for using surveillance satellites for domestic purposes. Last month, the Wall Street Journal released information about plans to share access to satellite imagery to assist U.S. law enforcement for various purposes including monitoring illegal border crossings.

Administration officials say the program can help domestic authorities deal with a range of threats, from illegal immigration and terrorism to hurricanes and forest fires, by providing access to high-resolution, real-time satellite photos. Military sensor technology is so sophisticated that it can peer through clouds and tree canopies, penetrate buildings or detect underground bunkers, tracing electromagnetic, heat, radioactive or chemical signatures. In prepared testimony, DHS chief intelligence officer Charles Allen said that overhead satellite imagery has been used legally for decades to support domestic scientific, federal law enforcement and security uses. It has been employed to create topographic maps, monitor volcanic activity or scout events such as the Super Bowl.

Lawmakers complained that they haven't been told enough about the satellites' capabilities, and what safeguards will protect Americans' civil liberties.

 Lawmaker Questions Legality of Administration's Satellite Plan, Washington Post