By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The FBI has been operating a fleet of small planes equipped with video and occasionally cell phone surveillance technology, concealing the information from the public by registering the aircraft under fictitious company names, the Associated Press has found. What’s more, the surveillance is often used without a judge’s approval. The AP…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Two Congressmen with computer science degrees said the FBI is making Americans vulnerable to hackers, and any suggestion otherwise is ignorant, CNN reports. U.S. Reps. Will Hurd of Texas and Ted Lieu of California are criticizing FBI Director James Comey’s insistence that cell phone companies allow a “backdoor” for the bureau…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com A teenager from Michigan crashed a new Dodge Charger after he convinced a car dealer that he was an FBI agent and wanted to test drive the car, the Associated Press reports. The Ann Arbor 17-year-old, who was carrying what appeared to be a firearm on his hip, told the dealership…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com A Border Patrol agent is recovering from traumatic injuries after his ATV plunged over a ledge near the Rio Grande in Sanderson, Texas. Agents from the Office of Air and Marine boarded a helicopter and rescued the agent soon after the crash. “The safety of our officers and agents is critical….
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com In an effort to improve security at U.S. airports, Homeland Security Director Jeh Johnson has reassigned the acting TSA head. Al Jazeera English reports that the move comes after the embarrassing discovery that checkpoint scanners miserably failed to detect mock explosives and weapons in 95% of the cases. Johnson said Melvin…
By Greg Stejskal ticklethewire.com It took about 5,000 years from the discovery of glass until a process was developed to economically mass produce flat glass, and only a few years before the technology was stolen. Glass is one of the great fundamental inventions – not at the level of the wheel or fire, but up…
Greg Stejskal served as an FBI agent for 31 years and retired as resident agent in charge of the Ann Arbor office. By Greg Stejskal ticklethewire.com It took about 5,000 years from the discovery of glass until a process was developed to economically mass produce flat glass, and only a few years before the…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The U.S. government has fewer tools to fight terrorism after key provisions of the Patriot Act expired late Sunday despite a last-minute push by some Senators. CNN reports that the expiration ends the NSA’s controversial bulk data collection program. The NSA had been collecting phone metadata on millions of Americans. Law enforcement…
