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Border Patrol Agent Accused of Breaking into Elderly Woman’s Home Before Being Tasered
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com An inebriated U.S. Border Patrol agent is accused of breaking into the home of an elderly woman in New Mexico before being Tasered by police, the Silver City Sun-News reports. Authorities said Agent Nicholas Barton, 34, threw a pricey turquoise rock through the glass sliding door early Saturday morning in an attempt…
Opinion: Why NSA Leaker Edward Snowden Doesn’t Deserve Celemency
Fred Kaplan Slate I regard Daniel Ellsberg as an American patriot. I was one of the first columnists to write that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper should be fired for lying to Congress. On June 7, two days after the first news stories based on Edward Snowden’s leaks, I wrote a column airing (and endorsing)…
The Woman Known As ‘Jihad Jane’ Gets 10 Years
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com The woman known as Jihad Jane,” who was charged with providing material support to terrorists, and who plotted to kill a Swedish artist whose work offended Islam, was sentenced Monday in Philadelphia federal court to 10 years in prison. Colleen Rose, 50, a former resident of Montgomery County, Pa., pleaded guilty…
Column: Retired FBI Official Says Ray Kelly’s Criticism of FBI Unfair
Michael Mason is a retired Executive Assistant Director of the FBI. His column is in response to former New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly’s criticism of the FBI in a New York Times article. Kelly suggested the FBI should have shared information regarding its suspicions about one of the Boston Marathon bombers before the bombing…
Rather Than Go to Jail, Surrounded Suspect Fatally Shoots Herself in Oregon
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Sarah Jo Johnson clutched a handgun, holed up for hours in a car and surrounded by a SWAT team and local officers. The Associated Press reports that Johnson fatally shot herself instead of surrendering after she and another man were wanted by the FBI for allegedly robbing a Montana coin shop and…
Law Enforcement Is No Longer FBI’s ‘Primary’ Mission, National Security Is
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The FBI may be the nation’s premier law enforcement agency, but its chief purpose is something new. That’s according to one of the FBI’s organizational fact sheets, which makes national security the primary function of the FBI, Foreign Policy reports. The shift came after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The change was…
Locals Won’t Charge FBI Agent in Connection With Fatal New Orleans Shooting
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com An FBI agent who fatally shot a suspect during a sting operation won’t face state charges from the locals, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro said this weekend that local prosecutors don’t have jurisdiction over the agent. “When a federal agent is acting in the course and…
Appeals Court: FBI Does Not Have to Release Memo Granting Permission to Gather Phone Records
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com A confidential Justice Department legal opinion on the extent of the FBI’s surveillance authority does not have to be released to the public, a federal appeals court ruled, the Washington Post reports. The January 2010 memo gave the FBI permission to gather phone call records from telecommunications companies. The U.S. Court of…