![Update: 29-Year Old Dies in Va. While Taking Physical Test to Become FBI Agent; Colleagues are Devastated](https://ticklethewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/fbi1.gif)
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![John Malcolm Bales Named Interim U.S. Attorney for Eastern District of Texas](https://ticklethewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/texas.png)
John Malcolm Bales Named Interim U.S. Attorney for Eastern District of Texas
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — Atty. Gen. Eric Holder Jr. has named John Malcolm Bales the interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas. He replaces Rebecca Gregory, who stepped down to join the Texas Attorney General’s Office. Bales, 54 of Nacogdoches,Tex., will take the post on Friday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said….
![al-Qaida Sleeper Agent Pleads Guilty in Illinois](https://ticklethewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/perioria-map.gif)
al-Qaida Sleeper Agent Pleads Guilty in Illinois
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS PEORIA, Ill.—- An al-Qaida sleeper agent who was locked up without charge for years by the Bush administration pleaded guilty Thursday to supporting terrorism in the months before and immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks. Ali al-Marri, 43, a married father of five who was attending college in this central Illinois…
![With All the Trouble at the Mexico Border, What’s the Holdup For a New DEA Chief?](https://ticklethewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/chris-battle.jpg)
With All the Trouble at the Mexico Border, What’s the Holdup For a New DEA Chief?
By Chris Battle Security DeBrief WASHINGTON — There has been quite a bit of discussion about the surge of drug-related violence on the Mexican border, rightly so. There has also been quite a bit of discussion lately, thanks to a recent GAO study and congressional hearings, about whether the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Immigration…
Ex-CIA Analyst Attacks FBI Dir. Mueller For Saying Torture Doesn’t Work
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-qDZaTgdO0
![Homeland to Crack Down on Employers Who Hire Illegal Immigrants](https://ticklethewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/janet-napolitano1.jpg)
Homeland to Crack Down on Employers Who Hire Illegal Immigrants
This new policy should be more effective than focusing on the illegal immigrants. But can ICE pull this off effectively? That is the real question. Ginger Thompson New York Times WASHINGTON – In an effort to crack down on illegal labor, the Department of Homeland Security intends to step up enforcement efforts against employers who…
![Calif. Man Faces Fed Prison Time For Pointing Laser at Commercial Jet Pilots Landing at Airport](https://ticklethewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/airplane-photo2.jpg)
Calif. Man Faces Fed Prison Time For Pointing Laser at Commercial Jet Pilots Landing at Airport
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com A California man could get serious prison time after becoming the first person in the nation to be convicted at trial of pointing a laser at commercial planes as they were about to land. Dana Christian Welch, 37, of Orange County, was convicted last week by a federal jury in Los…
![Miami Police Chief John Timoney Urges End to Fed Law Disparity Between Crack and Powdered Cocaine](https://ticklethewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/miami-police-chief-john-f-timoney.jpg)
Miami Police Chief John Timoney Urges End to Fed Law Disparity Between Crack and Powdered Cocaine
BY JOHN F. TIMONEY Miami Police Chief For the Miami Herald MIAMI — Most people in the criminal-justice system are aware of a problem with the federal laws governing sentences for cocaine offenses — penalties for crack-cocaine offenses are much stiffer than sentences for powder cocaine. This undermines trust in the criminal-justice system, and it…
![Washington Post Editorial Page Urges Confirmation of Dawn Johnsen to Head Justice Dept. Office of Legal Counsel](https://ticklethewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dawn-johnsen1.jpg)
Washington Post Editorial Page Urges Confirmation of Dawn Johnsen to Head Justice Dept. Office of Legal Counsel
Washington Post Editorial Page WASHINGTON — HERE ARE some facts about Dawn E. Johnsen, President Obama’s nominee to head the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC): She is a graduate of Yale Law School, spent roughly five years as legal director of the abortion rights group now known as NARAL Pro-Choice America, worked for…