Pentagon's anthrax scandal spreads to Canada

The Pentagon has learned that additional samples of live anthrax were sent to three laboratories in Canada, two Defense officials confirmed Monday evening.

That means that specimens of the deadly Bacillus anthracis have been sent to labs in 12 states, the District of Columbia and three countries. The samples came from the U.S. Army lab at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. Scientists there thought they had been shipping inactive strains of the deadly spores for research purposes.

If inhaled, anthrax spores can be lethal even with treatment, sparking a high fever and other flu-like symptoms. Biosafety expert Richard Ebright at Rutgers University has branded the blunder "gross negligence."

Thus far, nobody has been sickened by the inadvertent shipments, said a senior Defense Department official who has been briefed on the matter but not authorized to speak publicly. Military investigators are continuing to comb through anthrax samples and records to determine if more potentially deadly vials have been shipped, the official said, adding that more labs may have received it.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/06/01/anthrax-pentagon-scandal/28329125/

60 habits formed in Japan that would not work in your country.

How a reviled African ruler survived a coup hatched in the United States

Every other Saturday evening, the coup-plotters excused themselves from their wives and kids to join a conference call. The half-
dozen dissidents — all middle-aged men, most with military experience — dialed in from their suburban homes scattered across the South and Midwest.

There were operational details to discuss, logistical hurdles to overcome. How would they smuggle rifles and night-vision goggles to Gambia, the tiny West African country from which they were exiled? Was their $221,000 budget enough to topple the brutal strongman who had ruled Gambia for two decades?

In the predawn hours of Dec. 30, according to court documents and interviews with people involved in the operation, the U.S.-based conspirators teamed with other dissidents to assault the Gambian presidential palace. They expected to find it lightly guarded. Instead, they ran into an ambush. Four people were killed. Those who survived fled the country.

Afterward, the Justice Department charged four U.S. residents with taking part in or supporting the failed coup, saying they had violated the Neutrality Act of 1794, an obscure law that prohibits Americans from taking up arms against countries that enjoy peaceful relations with the United States.

What the U.S. government did not disclose, however, was that it had been monitoring the plotters and had secretly tipped off West African authorities to the travel of at least one of them. In doing so, U.S. officials may have at least indirectly helped to protect the president of Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, who has drawn international condemnation for his dismal human rights record, his violent rhetoric against gay people and bizarre beliefs such as his claim to have concocted an herbal cure for AIDS.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/how-a-reviled-african-ruler-survived-a-coup-hatched-in-the-united-states/2015/05/31/a9fc1772-0485-11e5-8bda-c7b4e9a8f7ac_story.html

Sunsetting A Few Parts Of The PATRIOT Act May Be Symbolic And Good, But It Won't Really Change Much

As you likely know, barring some sort of last minute deal this weekend (which is a distinct possibility) a few sections of the PATRIOT Act are set to expire (or, as the cool kids are saying: "sunset&quot . It is not -- as some have falsely claimed -- the entire PATRIOT Act ending. It just a few pieces -- with most of the publicity focused on Section 215, which had been the rationale for the bulk phone records collection that was the first big leak from the Snowden documents. There's been a bit of a debate among some about whether or not this sunset is really that important, beyond the clear symbolism of finally killing off part of the PATRIOT Act. Two of the people I most respect on privacy and surveillance issues -- Jennifer Granick and Julian Sanchez -- have come down on seemingly different sides of the issue, so it seemed worth comparing what they had to say (and realizing that they're really not that far off from each other). Granick takes the position that letting the provisions sunset is important and a big deal. She admits that it's still limited:

If Congress does nothing, section 215 will sunset. And this is exactly what reformers should be asking for. The fact is, sunset is the only thing that will definitely stop massive spying under section 215. It won’t stop mass surveillance more generally, but killing the law that NSA and FBI have abused for years is the first step.

But, still, she says, it's important and will have an impact. In particular, she notes that while basic reform -- a la the USA Freedom Act -- might have made sense before, "the political winds have shifted." In particular, she points to the the big 2nd Circuit appeals court ruling that noted that Section 215 never really authorized the bulk records collection program in the first place -- along with a growing number of elected officials who appear to believe the intelligence community has gone too far. Her fear, is that if we passed something like the USA Freedom Act, it will take away any chance at real reform, whereas sunsetting may force the issue:

Obama’s Trade Deal Faces Bipartisan Peril in the House

The bruising battle over President Obama’s push for the power to negotiate two potentially far-reaching trade pacts will shift this week to the House, where the White House faces entrenched opposition from Democrats and the stirring of rebellion from the Republicans’ right flank.

Advocates of the trade bill from both parties say they are gaining strength since it passed the Senate just before the Memorial Day break. But that 62-to-37 vote — while bipartisan — was not the overwhelming victory House supporters had hoped for.

And those advocates concede they do not yet have the votes to hand the White House trade promotion authority, which would allow Mr. Obama to complete the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade accord, knowing Congress could vote for or against it but not amend or filibuster it. (Another trade deal, involving Europe, is also being negotiated but is not expected to be completed until after Mr. Obama leaves office.)

Only 17 Democrats out of 188 have come out in favor of so-called fast-track authority — and many of them are being hounded by labor and environmental groups to change their minds. Opponents of the trade deal say just seven Democrats remain truly undecided.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/01/business/obamas-push-for-trade-deal-faces-bipartisan-peril-in-house.html?_r=0

A Gap in Surveillance, but Ways Around It

But interviews with law enforcement and intelligence officials about what they will do in the interim suggest there are multiple workarounds to the gap.

One of the expiring laws permitted wiretap orders of “lone wolf” terrorism suspects who are not part of a foreign group, a provision that has apparently never been used. A second permitted “roving” wiretap orders that follow suspects who change phones, a provision that apparently has been used only rarely.

The third permitted court orders requiring businesses to turn over records that are relevant to a national security investigation, the provision known as Section 215 of the Patriot Act. In addition to the bulk phone records program, the F.B.I. used Section 215 about 160 times last year to obtain particular business records, like suspects’ Internet activity logs.

All three of the laws contained a so-called grandfather clause that permits their authority to continue indefinitely for any investigation that had begun before June 1.

Law enforcement officials have made it clear that the F.B.I. has long-running, open-ended “enterprise” investigations into groups that pose a threat to public safety, like Al Qaeda. A senior intelligence official recently told The New York Times that the administration was open to invoking the grandfather clause to get the records if a need arose during any lapse.

In addition, several officials said, in most terrorism-related cases the F.B.I. could instead use a grand jury subpoena to get the records it wanted by invoking rules for investigations into standard crimes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/01/us/a-gap-in-surveillance-but-ways-around-it.html

What's up with nebraska? state shows independent streak

What's up with Nebraska?

The state is among the nation's most conservative, with Republicans controlling all of state government. But by the time the legislative session had ended last week, lawmakers had repealed the death penalty, legalized licenses for certain immigrants brought to the country illegally as children, raised the state fuel tax and come close to approving a medical marijuana bill.

The liberal-leaning list of accomplishments has left some shaking their heads, but others say it's not unprecedented in a state with a strong populist streak and an unusual legislative system that gives power to individual lawmakers at the expense of political parties.

The Legislature - which has only one house- is comprised of 35 Republicans, 13 Democrats and one independent, but, unlike other states, the party in the majority doesn't control the session. The speaker sets the agenda and designates certain bills as priorities but doesn't decide whether a bill makes it to the floor, and parties can't exert discipline over how senators vote. The setup forces lawmakers to build coalitions based on shared beliefs, regional interests or agreements to support one another's bills.

Further, senators say the Legislature's size separates it from conservative powerhouses like Texas. With 49 members, Nebraska's Legislature is the nation's smallest. Senators form friendships that transcend party lines, in an atmosphere that one lawmaker likens to a coffee shop.

"There are a lot of places like that out in rural Nebraska," said Sen. Laura Ebke, a Republican elected last year. "The same crowd comes in every day, they complain about the same things, they argue about the same things and then they're friends."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_NEBRASKAS_SURPRISING_GOP?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-31-11-48-22

Senate debate (Live) on the surveillance state.