Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com FBI Director James Comey said the agency’s priorities this year are combating terrorism and dealing with deep budget cuts, ABC 33/40 reports. “One of the first challenges I’ve faced as FBI director was the impact of budget sequestration on the bureau,” Comey said during a visit to Birmingham. Budget cuts have…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Dozens of FBI agents and other experts will travel to Russia to help protect the Winter Olympics from any terrorist attacks, the Wall Street Journal reports. FBI Director James Comey said Thursday that about two dozen FBI personnel will be in Moscow, while about a dozen others will be in Sochi, where…
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…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com As the FBI’s Chicago office continues to make terrorism a top priority, the bureau is facing pressure to help quell violence in Chicago, the Chicago Tribune reports. But Robert Holley, the special agent in charge in Chicago, said his office lacks the staff to adequately combat violent crime. In addition to terrorism,…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Hoping to avoid further cutbacks, the FBI Agents Association is showing its support for a bipartisan spending plan that would avoid more than $700 million in additional sequestration reductions, NPR reports. The plan, while not ideal for the cash-strapped agency, was announced Tuesday by GOP Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Democratic…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Budget cuts are going to have a big impact on the FBI’s ability to fight crime and terrorism, according to a group that represents 12,000 active and former special agents, Govexec.com reports. The FBI Agents Association warned at a press conference Wednesday of the effects of looming furloughs, an ongoing hiring freeze…
Tom Dennis Grand Forks Herald Helping local law enforcement is all well and good. But that’s not why the United States beefed up the Border Patrol along the Canadian border to 10 times its pre-Sept. 11 size, an expansion. Instead, that expansion from Maine to Washington was done for one and only one reason —…
By Allan Lengel Deadline Detroit DETROIT –– Ex-federal prosecutor Richard Convertino has once again failed in his bid to get ex-Detroit Free Press reporter David Ashenfelter to disclose his sources. U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland ruled Monday that Ashenfelter, who recently retired from the Free Press, had the right to invoke his Fifth Amendment privileges,…
