Head of FBI’s Miami Office Gets Promoted to Counter-Terrorism Post in Washington

  Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com  Michael B. Steinbach, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Miami office, is returning to Washington to take a top job fighting counter-terrorism, the Florida Sun Sentinel reports. The 47-year-old will be promoted to deputy assistant director in the counter-terrorism division, where he had previously worked. Steinbach, whose departure date has…

Read More

Justice Department to Dramatically Expand Rules Aimed at Profiling by Federal Agents

Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com In a move to address decades of concerns about the protection of civil rights, the Justice Department plans to expand its definition of racial profiling to alleviate discrimination by religion, nationality, gender and sexual orientation, the New York Times reports. Although the Bush administration banned racial profiling in 2003, it provided exclusions…

Read More

Budget Cuts Dramatically Reduce Spending on Homeland Security Headquarters

Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com A new Homeland Security headquarters in Washington will be much smaller than initially conceived because of budget cuts approved by the House on Wednesday, the Washington Post reports. Instead of having $354 million for the HQ, the agency will have about $155 million. The Republican-Controlled House Appropriations Committee described the bill as…

Read More

Obama’s Nominee for Civil Rights Post in Justice Department Faces Heated Criticism from Foes

Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com President Obama’s nominee for head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has drawn strong criticism from opponents of the appointment of Debo Adegbile, Fox News reports. They’ve described the former NAACP lawyer as “radical,” “dangerous” and “outside the mainstream.” Now he’s being criticized for playing a role in overturning the death…

Read More

Local, State, Federal Authorities Increasingly Using Drones to Spy on Americans

  Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com  Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies are increasingly using drones to spy domestically, the Washington Post reports, citing newly released documents. The agencies are borrowing drones from Border Patrol in what could become more commonplace in the future, the Post wrote. CBP has the largest domestic drone fleet and flew…

Read More