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...

read in full

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...

read in full

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...

read in full

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...

read in full

more news

Questions In the Evidence From Islamic Charity Shutdown

Jun 21, 2006 by Guest Blogger

From the Los Angeles Times: The Justice Department's criminal case against officials of the largest U.S.-based Islamic charity relies more heavily than previously known on Israeli intelligence, court records show. This brings up the question of whether the evidence will be admissable. The government lawyer said it would be "difficult" to quantify, but she acknowledged that "an abundance of intelligence" came from the Israeli government. Such reliance on a foreign intelligence agency poses other obstacles in U.S. criminal court proceedings.

read in full

China Cracking Down On Advocacy Groups That Receive Foreign Funds

Jun 15, 2006 by Guest Blogger

According to the Boston Globe: The Chinese government has launched intensive financial and security probes of many foreign-funded nonprofit groups, according to the organizations. Critics of the audits say the government apparently fears the organizations could destabilize China by mobilizing public opinion against the government's human rights and environmental policies.

read in full

Treasury Will Revise Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines

A Treasury Department official, speaking at a gathering of attorneys, announced that the department is revising its Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines: Voluntary Best Practices for U.S.-Based Charities, based on public comments submitted last February. According to the official, the revisions are undergoing review and the department hopes to release them soon. This will be the third version of the Guidelines, since their release in November 2002; earlier versions have been criticized for hindering legitimate charity work.

read in full

Closing of Muslim Charity Bank Account Causes Tension

On May 8, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim American Society's (MAS) Freedom Foundation held a news conference in front of a Wachovia bank in Washington, DC, urging community members to speak out against the recent closing of a Muslim charity's accounts. The Wachovia Corporation closed the accounts of the Foundation for Appropriate and Immediate Temporary Help (FAITH) in January of 2006, despite the organization having been charged with no crime and having not even been informed of any federal investigation into its activities.

read in full

State Dept. Freezes Assets of Two Pakistani Charities

May 2, 2006 by Guest Blogger

From the Washington Post: Pakistan has no plans to act against two charities listed by the United States last week as terrorist organisations, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday. The State Department last Friday designated Jamaat ud-Dawa and one of its affiliates, Idara Khidmat-e-Khalq, as terrorist organizations, saying they were fronts for Lashkar-e-Taiba, one of the most feared Islamist groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir. The State Department said all assets held by the two charities in the United States would be frozen. For the whole scoop...

read in full

Truthout Article on Muslim Charities

Apr 20, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Muslim Charities in the Crosshairs By William Fisher t r u t h o u t | Perspective Check it out here

read in full

Pentagon Releases Documents Acknowledging Surveillance of Gay Groups

Apr 12, 2006 by Guest Blogger

From the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network: The Department of Defense has released documentation confirming government surveillance of groups opposed to the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law banning openly lesbian, gay and bisexual service members. The government’s TALON reports were released in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) in January. The release of the documents follows media reports indicating government surveillance of civilian groups at several universities across the country.

read in full

Find Out if the Government Is Spying on Your Organization

Apr 4, 2006 by Guest Blogger

We have done many Watcher article son the spying by the U.S. government on a wide range of nonprofit organizations. Do you want to know if your organization is being spied on? People for the Ameican Way is helping you get that opportunity. Go to www.foiarequest.org and fill out a FOIA request form!

read in full

FBI Used Anti-Terrorism Powers to Target Peace Group

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released documents on March 14, 2006 that document FBI surveillance and investigation of the Thomas Merton Center for Peace & Justice in Pittsburgh, PA, carried out because the group "has been determined to be an organization which is opposed to the United States' war with Iraq." This appears to be the first evidence that the FBI is using the viewpoint and activism of a U.S. nonprofit as a basis for investigation by the local Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF).

read in full

Islamic Charity Sues Over Illegal Wiretapping

Mar 14, 2006 by Kay Guinane

Three related stories in the Washington Post reveal how the NSA spying program was used by the government to listen in on conversations between an Islamic charity and their American lawyers. NSA Sued on Wiretap Claim CBS News Wednesday, March 1, 2006; 2:01 AM Saudi Group Alleges Wiretapping by U.S. Defunct Charity's Suit Details Eavesdropping By Carol D. Leonnig and Mary Beth Sheridan Washington Post Staff Writers Thursday, March 2, 2006; A01 Paper Said to Show NSA Spying Given to Post Reporter in 2004 By Carol D. Leonnig Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, March 3, 2006; A04

read in full