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,…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The NSA’s deputy director has expressed skepticism about giving the FBI, DEA and other law enforcement access to the agency’s troves of data, the Guardian reports. NSA’s top civilian, John C. Inglis, said he was unaware of a Senate bill that would allow some law enforcement to search directly through the NSA’s…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Few people know al Qaeda and its former leader Osama Bin Laden quite like Jack Cloonan. Radio host Steve Leser interviewed Cloonan, the senior case agent in the FBI Bin Laden Squad, on Blog Talk Radio. Five years before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Cloonan was working on intelligence about the terrorist…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Jeh Johnson is about to be in the crosshairs of combative Republican senators. President Obama’s pick for Homeland Security secretary will soon face a confirmation hearing in which he’ll likely be grilled over his role in drone strikes, the National Journal reports. Johnson also faces tough questions about immigration, terrorism and Guantanamo…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The FBI officially named Andrew McCabe to its top national security post. The long-time terrorism investigator was promoted to assistant director of the National Security Branch, which oversees terrorism-related intelligence, the FBI announced. McCabe, who began his career in 1996 with the bureau’s organized crime squad in New York, was the…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Speaking for the first time publicly about the budget challenges, new FBI Director James Comey said it will become increasingly difficult to fight crime because of the spending cuts, CBS Philly reports. Congressional spending cuts may have catastrophic consequences for the FBI as it faces more pressure to fight violent crime and…
