LFTC - Letter From The Capitol

IRAN: Tougher Sanctions, Tougher Talk

This past week saw tougher lines taken re Iran....

NYPD: Counter-Terrorism Central

Manhattan Institute scholar Judith Miller interviewed NYPD chief Ray Kelly re terror & NYC....

Supreme Court: Lawfare Loses--THIS Time

Monday the Supremes, by a surprising 6-3 margin, dealt "al-Qaeda Bar" litigators a setback....

Mapp & Miranda: Tales from America's Crime Spree Crypt

TAS published a superb article Friday on the history of the Mapp v. Ohio (1961) exclusionary rule & the Miranda v. Arizona (1966) custodial interrogation rule, that reveals the awful cost of such rules to society....

Miranda Rule: Can It Cover All Cases After 9/11?

In 2000 the Supreme Court declined to overturn the Miranda rule, 34 years after its adoption.  In light of 9/11, was the Court wrong to re-affirm the rule?

Arizona: Trumping the Race Card

Watch this riveting YouTube clip of a truly wise Latina confronting illegal immigration at a Tucson City Council meeting (4:42).   There is more....

Radical Islam: Holder Holds Out

Watch this YouTube clip of A-G Eric Holder trying to avoid fingering radical Islam as a factor (2:06) in the Times Square bombing, at a House hearing last week.  You can't make this stuff up....

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Homeland Security, Nuclear Proliferation, Arms Control, WMD, Foreign Policy, Conservative Politics

Times Square Bomber: Intel Lessons

Bush A-G Judge Michael Mukasey expertly shows why intel should take prime place in terror cases, and how leaks hurt.  A WSJ editorial notes that in 2009 surveillance warrant applications fell to their lowest level since 2003.

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Homeland Security, WMD, Foreign Policy, Conservative Politics

Ground Zero Mosque?

The NY Daily News reports on plans proceeding to erect a 13-story mosque near Ground Zero....

Islam's "Nowhere Men" Bring Jihad

Islam scholar Fouad Ajami sees Pakistan exporting "nowhere men" who brought terror to London & Times Square....

Times Square Bomber: Nagging Questions

NRO's Andy McCarthy, ace terror prosecutor, wonders why the Justice Dept. filed a public complaint that alerts possible confederates (if any), when the law does not so require, and fears that politics is at work....

Times Square Bomber: Risks of Contracting With Amateurs

The essay below, "Uncomfortable Truths and the Times Square Attack", is well worth a read.  This report is republished with permission of STRATFOR"....

Times Square Bomber: Updating "No-Fly" Lists; Downgrading Terror

The Washington Post reports that federal rules governing "no-fly" listings have been updated.  From now on, the lists must be updated by airlines every 2 hours, versus 24 hours hitherto.  Manhattan Institute scholar Judith Miller nails Team Obama for downplaying terror linkage.

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Homeland Security, WMD, Foreign Policy

Immigration: "Race-ing" Arizona

The immigration debate, like so much in our politics, has been stained by the playing of the Race Card: calling supporters of Arizona's law targeting illegal immigration....

Times Square Bomber: Database, Miranda & Pakistan Factors

Politico reports that a throw-away cellphone's numbers were traced through various crime & intelligence databases to identify the terror suspect arrested n the airplane.  Bush wins, civil libertarians take a hit....

Times Square Terror Tales

The Times Square terror bombing was averted mainly by luck, and then investigators sidestepped political correctness to nail a suspect trying to flee....

"Dirty Bombs": Pseudo-WMD

The following essay, Dirty Bombs Revisited: Combating the Hype, by Scott Stewart, is reprinted with permission from Stratfor....

Securing the Bomb: Two Reports

Here are the 2008 report (204 p.) & 2009 update (30 p.) from the Nuclear Threat Initiative, former Senator Sam Nunn's project to secure loose nuclear material around the world.  There is much of interest here...

Cyberwar Guru Warns Again of Digital Pearl Harbor

Forbes interviewed Richard Clarke on the rising cyberwar threat to America.  Forbes repeats unfair charges Clarke leveled at George W. Bush, but ignore that & take seriously his warning about growing cyberwar threats that could potentially wreak havoc on our society & economy.

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Homeland Security, Cyberwar, Cybersecurity, Cybercrime, Foreign Policy, Conservative Politics

Nuclear Security Summit: Quo Vadis?

The Nuclear Security Summit Final Communique wrapped up the largest conclave of world leaders convened in America by any US President since the 1945 meeting creating the UN.  Its message was, in a word, PIFFLE....

Team Obama Targets Renegade Imam!

NRO's Andy McCarthy, ace terror prosecutor, al-lauds President Obama for putting renegade imam AnwarAwliki, hiding in Yemen, on the targeted kill list.  He cannot help, however noticing the contradiction between thsi legal position and others taken as to other al-Qaeda targets....

Immigration: What Birthright?

George Will offers one law professor's analysis of the immigration requirements of the Constitution.  In essence, Prof. Lino Graglia argues that because there were no laws barring immigration at the time rules were adopted, there was no problem comparable to illegals slipping the border & giving birth to instant US citizens.  Thus Congress can act by statute to bar the practice.  Well worth a read.

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Homeland Security, Foreign Policy, Economy, Conservative Politics

Detainee Lawfare: Big Mac & Lindsey Helped; Surveillance: Liberals Hinder

Ace terror prosecutor Andy McCarthy proves his honesty by fingering two top GOP senators as culprits in helping create the web of legal rights detainee lawyers now use to wage Lawfare against America: John McCain & Lindsey Graham.  It gets even worse--MUCH worse....

Will Boob Bomb Bamboozle TSA Boobs?

Fox news reported Friday that radical Isamist surgeons are implanting PETN explosive inside plastic pouches inserted as breast implants in Muslim women or as buttock implants in Muslim men.  In such form the PETN is virtually undetectable with current airport scanning technology.

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Homeland Security, Foreign Policy, Conservative Politics

EMP Threat: Real or Imaginary?

In "The Bogeyman Bomb" national security writer Sharon Weinberger calls the EMP threat illusory.  The article contains other critical links.  Peter Fry, a staffer with the EMP Commission, rebuts the "bogeymen" thesis.  Fry is part of a group, EMPact America, that focuses on EMP issues.  EMP is taken seriously by Russia, China & Iran; on the insurance principle we should follow suit.

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Homeland Security, Nuclear Proliferation, Arms Control, WMD, Foreign Policy, Conservative Politics

Terror Trials: The Ultimate Best Answer

Two top legal scholars offer the ultimate best answer as to what to do with detainee trials: do not try detainees at all.  The scholars are hardly right-wingers: one is from the moderately liberal Brookings Institution & the other wrote a book critical of Bush/Cheney terror policies.  Here's why they are right....

Al-Qaeda Bar: More Grisly Details

This WSJ op-ed details just how certain lawyers are waging "Lawfare" against the US of A, in the guise of representing our Constitutional traditions.  SMUGGLING IN CONTRABAND, BAITING GUARDS, ENDANGERING GUARDS & OUR SOLDIERS, THE LIST IS STOMACH-TURNING.  Saturday's WSJ Editorial Report aired a lively debate on the subject.

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Homeland Security, Foreign Policy, Conservative Politics,

A Case for Civilian Terror Trials?

A New York Times article presents views in support of using civil courts to try terrorists, instead of military tribunals.  Their arguments...

21st Century "Wizard War": America in Peril

What British WW-II PM Winston Churchill called "the Wizard War"--advanced technology sensors & weapons--has morphed into new, more deadly threats.  Clifford May at NRO warns that we are unprepared for increasingly grave cyber-security threats.  And the Heritage Foundation's Baker Spring warns that the EMP threat from rogue nations is growing.  Details will keep you awake nights....

Arms Control: Reach for the Stars or Muddle Through?

A Saturday Washington Post front-pager presents the strategic nuclear posture choices President Obama faces.  The stakes are immense and the risks also huge.  The Post article frames 44's dilemma....

Al Haig's Warning: Fix Presidential Succession

My "Alexander Haig's 1981 Warning: Fixing Presidential Succession" article has been posted at Discovery Institute's website.

Terror Trials: The Road From Civilian to Military Courts

Ex-Reagan era Jusstice Department prosecutor Victoria Toensing explains how civilian terror trials in the 1970 & 1980s morphed into the military procedures available today.  She shows why KSM should be tried before a military court.  An essential op-ed.

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Homeland Security, Supreme Court, Conservative Politics

LFTC - Senator Grassley Confronts Holder's Al-Qaeda Bar

The American Spectator's Prowler column details A-G Holder's influential secret stash of al-Qaeda Bar lawyers buried into obscure warrens of the Justice Department.  Included are lawyers for "American Taiban" John Walker Lindh, a/k/a Johnny Jihad, plus key lawyers in several major cases that went to the Supreme Court.  Worse, Prowler suggests that some of these same lawyers whose work Holder is stonewalling may well have been sources for leaks at the expense of CIA interrogators facing possible investigation by Holder.

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Homeland Security, Supreme Court, Conservative Politics

LFTC - Homeland Terror Politics: Hill Democrats Cave

Last week the House (351-93) & Senate (unanimous) voted to extend for one year the USA Patriot Act, which was due to sunset Feb. 28.  Politico provides the gory details...

LFTC - Bio-Terror Prep: Three Options

AEi health care maven Tevi Troy explains the three bio-terror prep options Team Obama can choose: (1) Post Office delivery of vaccines; (2) central distribution, with everyone in line; (3) home "medikits" stored at home.  Look for option 2, because the union hates #1 & 3 percent of homes in a 2006 test did not use the medikits properly.  It is always those who choose badly who make the government's argument for denying everyone rights to choose.

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Homeland Security, WMD, Foreign Policy, Economy, Conservative Politics

LFTC - Eric Holder Hires Al Qaeda Bar

NRO sleuth Byron York informs us on how the Justice Department is slow-rolling Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IW) on "at least" nine lawyers hired by Eric Holder who represented terror defendants and now are working on detainee issues at Justice.  Savor the stupefying details....

LFTC - Interrogation: Pelosi's Latest Fib

Jed Babbin at Human Events explains the latest revelations from newly-released CIA interrogation memos.  In a nutshell, Pelosi was briefed on interrogation of top al-Qaeda big Abu Zubaydah in 2002; none of the detainees who died at Gitmo were subjected to the enhanced interrogation techniques that CIA Director Hayden told Congress in 2007 extracted nearly all the intel we got from senior al-Qaeda detainees.

LFTC - Interrogation: Obama, Pakistan v. Lawfare

The electrifying capture of Mullah Omar's top military commander in the recent Karachi raid tees up inconvenient questions for Team Obama: Can a seriously productive interrogation be conducted under Team Obama's publicly proclaimed rules?....

LFTC - MIssile Defense Takes a Giant Step

Last week the Pentagon announced its first successful tests of the AirBorne Laser against a ballistic missile.  Here is more detail from DoD's Missile Defense Agency.  ABL is a 747 equipped with lasers that track a missile from launch, "paint" the target and then zap a hole in the missile's skin, causing it to blow up within seconds of launch.  Here is Boeing's AirBorne Laser homepage.  Read on to learn why this is so important a step in missile defense....

LFTC - Another TSA Triumph: Torturing a Four-Year-Old

Dan Rubin of the Philadelphia Inquirer offers another TSA triumph: forcing a developmentally disabled 4-year old to take off his leg braces.  Read on for another Transportation Stupidity Administration special...

LFTC - Targeting Terrorists: Obama's Calculus

In a shrewd NRO Blog post worth reading, Victor Davis Hanson assesses the Obama Terror Calculus and finds cynical calculation that neutralizes his Left base and isolates the Right.  My parallel take: There are two Ones: Barack NOT Bush & Barack WE Bush.  The two talk to each other & to us, as needed.

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Homeland Security, Foreign Policy, Conservative Politics

LFTC - Homeland Security: Brennan Bungles Again!

WH terror chief John Brennan is the gift that keeps on giving.  Over the weekend Brennan said that the 20 percent detainee recidivism rate "isn't too bad" because America's domestic back-to-crime rate is 50 percent.  Brennan's exact words:

"People sometimes use that figure, 20 percent, say 'Oh my goodness, one out of five detainees returned to some type of extremist activity.  You know, the American penal system, the recidivism rate is up to something about 50 percent or so, as far as return to crime. Twenty percent isn't that bad.  Many of these detainees have returned, have engaged not just extremism, but terrorist attacks. It is something that we have to look at very carefully."

Well, let's see.  Shoplifters, robbers go back to criminal careers, terror detainees return to terrorism.  Same stuff, right?  Can't make this stuff up, can you?

LFTC - TSA Access to Secret Terror Watch Intel

USA Today reported last Friday that Transportation Security Administration (TSA) senior personnel will be given access to secret terror watch intel, in an effort to tighten security at airports.  Over a two-year period 10,000 TSA people will get this training, including managers, supervisors and so-called "behavior detection officers."  Already, 740 TSA personnel have received secret clearance.  Under federal security clearance levels "secret" ranks above "confidential" & below "top secret."  (There are higher clearances, such as "Q" clearance, beyond the three basic levels.)

Bottom Line. If TSA can keep its access details out of the press, it is a good move, enabling more focus on targeting specific individuals rather than targeting things--which brings TSA closer to what Israeli security does.  It is unlikely TSA can implement this as well as Israel does, but almost anything will be an improvement.

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Homeland Security

LFTC - Team Obama's "Bush Did It Too!" Defense: Capitulation!

The Washington Post reports that Team Obama is developing revised procedures to govern interrogation of terror suspects, with intelligence agencies actively consulted before a decision is made whether to give the Miranda warnings to suspects in custody.  GOP Senator Jefferson Sessions (R-AL), a former prosecutor & federal judge, called the idea a "finesse" & urged all terror suspects be placed instantly in military custody and interrogated thoroughly outside Miranda. 

The Washington Times reports that the XMAS bomber recently told interrogators about a Yemeni al-Qaeda program to recruit English-speaking terrorists to target America.  So much for Team Obama's position that the initial psychiatrist's hour interrogation got everything from Abdulwhat'shisname.  Still, nice work, guys & thanks also to Mom & Pop for getting their idiot son to resume talking.

It gets better, because PRACTICALLY NOTHING Team Obama says about Bush terror policy is fully true.....

LFTC - New Photos From September 11, 2001

The Daily Mail published new photos of the 9/11 attacks, after ABC News won a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to get the photos released.  They are a grim reminder, this Presidents' Day, of the war we fight, a war Islamists started.

LFTC - Radical Islam's Detroit War Against the FBI

Terrorism maven Steven Emerson details how the murder of a radical Detroit imam is the latest part of a long-running war against the FBI conducted by militant Islamists and radical local political leaders.  Killed in a shootout with the FBI, avowedly intent upon establishing militant Islam in America by violence if necessary, nonetheless one of the most senior & radical Members of Congress, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI)  has rallied to the imam's side along with several prominent Islamist groups who sail under false moderate flags.  A must-read story.

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Homeland Security

LFTC - Terror Trials & Interrogations: Team Obama Helps Team bin Laden

Incredibly, President Obama told Katie Couric on Super Sunday that he STILL has not ruled out holding the 9/11 trial in New York City!!!!

Ex-Brit special forces Tim Wilson nails Team Obama for national security sins, including disclosing that the XMAS bomber kid started talking again after five weeks of Miranda silence.  By revealing this--to counter GOP charges that Mirandizing the kid permanently sealed his lips, Team Obama gave al-Qaeda a heads-up and put the kids parents in peril.  Here's how....

LFTC - Nuclear Nightmare: Reminder

As Iran nears nuclear status & North Korea continues to make nukes, and a nuclear-armed Pakistan looks less table by the day, here is a WP article after a major Senate hearing in Bush's ast year, detailing how witnesses described the destruction a nuclear device that exploded on the Mall in Washington, DC would wreak on the nation's capital.

Were a device exploded on the Mall near the White House....

LFTC - Eric Holder's Latest Gift to the GOP

Attorney-General Eric Holder gives another gift to the Republicans!  His Feb. 3 Letter to GOP Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) on the interrogation mess re the Flight #253 XMAS bomber contradicts what his boss at 1600 Pennsylvania said last Spring.  ....

LFTC - Homeland Security: Tectonic Political Shift

Mark February 2, 2010 as the Day the Political San Andreas Fault over which President Obama's homeland security policies straddled precariously, split asunder in a massive domestic political earthquake--as senators were warned yesterday by America's three top intel chiefs that by July another attempted attack is "certain".  (The three: DNI Dennis Blair, CIA Director Leon Panetta & FBI Director Robert Mueller.)  Terror trials in civilian courts in civilian settings, gone.  Instant Mirandizing of high-profile terror suspects, gone.  Putting law enforcement before intelligence gathering, gone.  Here's why....