Nonprofit Organizations and Counterterrorism Measures

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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Decision in Al-Haramain Case: State Secrets Privilege Does Not Bar Lawsuit Entirely

Nov 16, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

The Ninth Circuit has issued an opinion in Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation v. Bush, returning the case to the District Court for further consideration. Al-Haramain, sued the government after receiving a document proving the Islamic charity was subject to warrantless surveillance. The government asserted the case should be dismissed based on the state secret privilege. The Ninth Circuit ruled that the subject matter of the case itself was not a state secret, but the document remains a state secret.

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House Passes RESTORE Act and Senate Judiciary Avoid Telecom Immunity

Nov 16, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

After the RESTORE Act (HR 3773) was pulled from the House floor about a month ago, the House passed the bill with a vote of 227-189 after a Motion to Recommit was defeated. The House ignored a veto threat and passed the bill to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) hours after the Senate Judiciary Committee, also ignoring the veto threat, voted 10-9, to send their bill to the full Senate. The White House favors the bill as passed by the Senate Intelligence Committee.

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Council of Europe Disapproves of Terrorism Blacklist Standards

Nov 14, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

The Washington Post has addressed a Council of Europe report, Europe's leading human rights watchdog organization, approved by their Legal Affairs Committee criticizing the way the United Nations and the European Union blacklist terrorist suspects. The report states that the method used to sanction individuals and organizations does not include any "procedures for an independent review of decisions taken, and for compensation for infringements of rights.

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Senate Judiciary Puts Off FISA Bill

Nov 8, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

The Senate Judiciary Committee was scheduled to consider the first title of , but after Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) distributed a substitute amendment a day before the mark up, Republicans on the committee requested that the mark up be postponed because they did not have enough time to consider the amendment. Senator Leahy's substitute would eliminate a part of the bill that redefines the definition of electronic surveillance. It also strengthens the minimization procedures and clarifies that FISA is the only way the government can conduct electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence.

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Watch Lists: "Placebo, Not a Protection"

Nov 8, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

The House Homeland Security Committee held a hearing today (Nov.8) titled "The Progress and Pitfalls of the Terrorist Watch List," to examine how the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) watch list is being used and managed. This follows a hearing covering the same topic held in the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on Oct. 24. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report was released at that time which concluded that the administration is not using the TSC list as effectively as it should be.

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Senate Judiciary to Mark Up FISA Amendments Act

Nov 7, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to mark up tomorrow (Nov. 8) S. 2248 the FISA Amendments Act to reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). One of the most contentious issues is whether to give retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that gave the administration records of U.S. residents without warrants from the FISA court. Last week the Judiciary Committee had a hearing examining the issue, and during which many on the committee suggested that they would not support immunity.

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Senate Committee Hears GAO Testimony on New Report on Terrorist Watchlist

An October 2007 report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) addresses lingering weaknesses in the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) watchlist. GAO's report provides insight into what further actions can be taken by government agencies to enhance the accuracy of anti-terrorism screening efforts. The GAO report was released just as the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee held a hearing on the reliability of the Terrorist Screening System.

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Holy Land Trial Closing Argument Summaries

Oct 29, 2007 by Kay Guinane

We have found very useful summaries of the closing arguments in the criminal trial against the Holy Land Foundation and 5 of its leaders.

summary of closing arguments by the prosecution
summary of closing arguments by the defense

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FISA Amendments Update

Oct 29, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to consider reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Surveilance Act (FISA) this Wednesday (Oct.31). This follows the Senate Intelligence Committee's passage of S.2248. The committee's report on the bill highlights what occurred during their closed door mark up hearing. The report states that telecommunications companies participating in the surveillance program received regular letters affirming that President Bush authorized the program.

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Insurmountable Watch List

Oct 26, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

On Wednesday (Oct. 24) the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee held a hearing titled, "Watching the Watch List: Building an Effective Terrorist Screening System." The hearing focused on the rapidly growing size of the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) watch list, the centralized watch list that brings together all of the government lists of potential terrorists into one master list.

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