David Gutierrez The Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is moving forward to institute a rule that would require all passengers to go through a government review process before boarding any airplane that takes off or lands anywhere with in the United States. The U.S. government already requires international passengers to participate in the Advanced Passenger Information System, providing their full name, gender, date of birth, nationality, country ...

Larisa Alexandrovna Who is Bayoumi? Much has been reported about Omar al-Bayoumi and his alleged relationship with the government of Saudi Arabia. In his recent book, The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation, New York Times reporter Phillip Shenon discusses at length the questions surrounding Bayoumi and his ties to the Saudi government. “Bayoumi seemed clearly to be working for some part of the Saudi government,” Shenon wrote on ...

Charles Arthur Only people who have been arrested are placed on the DNA database. Photograph: Press Association Can you support Britain's current DNA database yet oppose plans for biometric ID cards? That's the question I've been wrestling with this week. The answer, as you'll see, isn't trivial. The past week has seen three men convicted of murder, and ...

David Kirby After years of insisting there is no evidence to link vaccines with the onset of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the US government has quietly conceded a vaccine-autism case in the Court of Federal Claims. The unprecedented concession was filed on November 9, and sealed to protect the plaintiff's identify. It was obtained through individuals unrelated to the case. The claim, one of 4,900 autism cases currently pending in Federal "Vaccine ...

Did you know that the federal government has not only set up but is also currently operating a prison that holds entire families - including infants, children and nursing and pregnant women?It's located in Taylor, Texas and it's operated by Corrections Corporation of America, a privately owned corporation. This short film by Matt Gossage and Lily Keber is one of the only public reports on this prison. ...

Zogby Poll - 67% View Traditional Journalism as "Out of Touch" Internet is the top source of news for nearly half of Americans; Survey finds two-thirds dissatisfied with the quality of journalism Two thirds of Americans - 67% - believe traditional journalism is out of touch with what Americans want from their news, a new We Media/Zogby Interactive poll shows. The survey also found that while most Americans (70%) think ...

Jeremy Scahill A senior foreign policy adviser to leading Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama told me that if elected Obama will not "rule out" using private security companies like Blackwater Worldwide in Iraq. The adviser also said that Obama does not plan to sign on to legislation that seeks to ban ...

U.S. veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are planning to descend on Washington from Mar. 13-16 to testify about war crimes they committed or personally witnessed in those countries. By Aaron Glantz "The war in Iraq is not covered to its potential because of how dangerous it is for reporters to cover it," said Liam Madden, a former Marine and member of the group Iraq Veterans ...

Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Tether has secured a House of Commons debate on the impact of the proposed National DNA Database, which takes place today. It has been welcomed by human rights, mental health and church groups. The campaigning organisation Black Mental Health UK (BMH UK) says that it is especially concerned about the likely discriminatory impact of such a database on black and ethnic minority people. With African Caribbean persons ...

By DAVID STOUT and BRIAN KNOWLTON Using some of his toughest language in weeks, President Bush prodded Congress on Thursday to pass his preferred version of surveillance legislation, asserting that every day of delay could put the country in danger. Mr. Bush said again that renewing the surveillance legislation is “a very urgent priority,” and that it must ...

A freelance historian and journalist, Andy Worthington has spent several years looking at the undercurrents of post-war British social history - in particular the clash between the state and some of its most outspoken critics (protest movements, travelers and alternative communities). In 2006, he turned his attention to the "War on Terror". Like many decent-minded citizens of the world, he had been deeply concerned, from ...

1. What is Scientology? To understand Anonymous – what it is and why it exists – it is necessary to understand the Church of Scientology and why it has attracted the attention it has over the last half-century or so. Scientology was created by L Ron Hubbard, an American science fiction writer. In 1950 he published the book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. In it, Hubbard claimed that problems facing ...

In response to the recent Home Office consultation titled ‘Managing Protest around Parliament’, which threatened further restrictions on demonstrations throughout the UK, a second day of action [1] called by the Campaign for Free Assembly will take place on Saturday 1 March. Campaigners opposed to the Government’s proposals will assemble at London’s Trafalgar Square (north side) at 1pm. The Government consultation on ‘Managing Protest around Parliament’, which closed on 17 January, ...

Claims the Royal Family was being bugged by GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) have been denied at the Princess Diana inquest. Rumours were rife by 1993 that the Government's intelligence and security organisation may have been behind the infamous Squidgygate and Camillagate tapes....

By Joseph Benham When George H.W. Bush first sought the Republican nomination for president, a friend announced that he was leaving a high-ranking Central Intelligence Agency job to help the man we now know as Bush One and Bush 41. “He was the best director we ever had,” and was certain to be a great president, my Agency pal insisted. Easily said; less easily done. Bush ...