News Story
Two Influential Senators Demand to See Report on Protections for FBI Whistleblowers
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Two powerful U.S. senators are getting impatient with a long overdue Justice Department report that is supposed to examine the effectiveness of the FBI’s whistleblower protections for bureau employees. The Oregonian reports that Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, expressed frustration that the report has not yet been released, even…
Inspector General: Obama Administration Not Notified of Massive Release of Immigrants
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com More than 2,000 immigrants were released from jail because of budget concerns, but the Homeland Security secretary was never notified, according to a critical report from the inspector general. The Associated Press reports that ICE also poorly planned for the influx of immigrant arrests at the Mexico border and failed to accurately…
FBI Director Comey Says Homegrown Terrorists Pose Urgent Danger But Hard to Track
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com FBI Director James Comey said it’s impossible to gauge how many Americans are joining Islamic insurgents in Syria but emphasized that the threat is urgent, the Associated Press reports. Comey said he’s concerned about what he called “lone wolves,” or people who are connecting online with others interested in jihad. Those people…
14 Pulitzer Prize Winners Ask Justice Department Not to Jail Reporter
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com More than a dozen Pulitzer Prize winners urged the Justice Department on Monday to stop trying to force New York Times reporter and author James Risen to identify a confidential source, the US News reports. Risen has said he’d go to jail before testifying at the trial of former CIA employee Jeffrey…
DEA Paid Amtrak Insider $854,000 for Passenger Data It Could Have Gotten for Free
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The DEA forked over $854,460 to an Amtrak secretary for confidential information the agency should have gotten for free, according to an internal investigation. The DEA paid the employee to be an informant despite the agency’s right to obtain the information at no cost as part of a joint drug enforcement task…
FBI Opens Civil Rights Investigation of Fatal Shooting By Cops of Unarmed Teen
The FBI has launched a civil rights investigation to determine what prompted a police officer to shoot an unarmed blacked teenager in a St. Louis suburb on Saturday afternoon. The New York Times reports the inquiry into Michael Brown’s death came on the third day of protests. Ferguson, a city of 21,000 residents, has a history…
FBI Sketch Artist Writes Tell-All Book About Tracking Down Criminals
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com A former sketch artist for the FBI has written a tell-all book about his 32 years working with the bureau, the New York Post reports. Gene O’Donnell, who is shopping his book “Faces of Crime: Memoirs of an FBI Forensic Artist,” said he’s had a lot of bizarre experiences at the bureau,…
Secret Service Gives Child ‘Timeout’ for Slipping Through White House Fence
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Secret Service agents are used to the jumpers – the people who hop over the White House fence. But Thursday night was different when a toddler slipped through the gate in site of arms officers trained to protect the president, the Associated Press reports. His discipline? Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan said the…