Center for Investigative Reporting

September 11th, 2011

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latimes:

The Tribute in Light shines above the Statue of Liberty and One World Trade Center, left, Saturday night in New York.
View more Sept. 11 memorial photos on Framework.
Photo credit: Mark Lennihan / Associated Press

The Tribute in Light shines above the Statue of Liberty and One World Trade Center, left, Saturday night in New York.

View more Sept. 11 memorial photos on Framework.

Photo credit: Mark Lennihan / Associated Press

Reblogged from Los Angeles Times

September 10th, 2011

From CIR’s homeland security reporter G.W. Schulz. See more of his reporting on our website America’s War Within.

ageofperil:

This amazing graphics package from the folks at Wired’s Danger Room blog goes a long way in illustrating the last 10 years of the war on terror. Data supporting the graphics are available for download so you can do your own analysis.

Reblogged from Perilous

September 9th, 2011

We wouldn’t be shooting it down. We’d be ramming the aircraft. I would essentially be a kamikaze pilot.

Lt. Heather “Lucky” Penney talked to the Washington Post about her experience on Sept. 11, 2001, when she was a F-16 combat pilot at Andrews Air Force Base. After the attack on the World Trade Center, she was ordered into the air. However, her jet did not have live ammunition in it. Penney and her supervisor made a pact to bring down United Airlines Flight 93, on its way to Washington, using their own planes as weapons.

September 7th, 2011

After 9/11, the government began encouraging local police, private security and everyday Americans to report so-called “suspicious activity” that may indicate a security threat. Taking photos of landmarks, walking “nervously” and writing in a notebook are all activities that have led to people being stopped and questioned. Could you be next? Watch our Suspect America animation and then click through to read our investigation with NPR: Mall of America visitors unknowingly end up in counterterrorism reports.

September 5th, 2011

From G.W. Schulz, homeland security reporter at CIR.

ageofperil:

We created a new website at the Center for Investigative Reporting to house our ongoing homeland security project. It includes the in-depth story we posted today in partnership with Newsweek about a little-known intelligence arm of the Department of Homeland Security. The full-length version of that story is available here. More of our work will be appearing at Americaswarwithin.org in the coming days.

Reblogged from Perilous

September 5th, 2011

NPR Journalists Reflect: Sept. 11, Then And Now

npr:

Ten years ago, Americans watched in horror as their nation came under attack. In the hours that followed, NPR reporters and hosts scrambled to report on the tragic news of the day. We asked several of them to look back on the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and describe what stands out to them now, a decade later.

Reblogged from NPR

September 5th, 2011

Homeland security office creates ‘intelligence spam,’ insiders claim

In the days after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the White House and Congress demanded the government find better ways to “connect the dots” of terror threats to prevent a repeat of the carnage.

A year later, a new bureaucracy was created to gather, analyze and share intelligence related to terrorism inside the United States. Now called the Office of Intelligence and Analysis at the Department of Homeland Security, it was envisioned as the center of gravity in a new era of domestic security.

But despite a clear mandate from Congress and hundreds of millions spent on personnel and technology, the office has fallen far short of its mission and done little to improve the accuracy and quality of the nation’s intelligence data, according to an examination by the Center for Investigative Reporting. Read our full investigation.

August 31st, 2011

10 years later: 9/11 Commission members say many of their findings remain unaddressed

ageofperil:

Senior members of the 9/11 Commission have released their report card on recommendations that remain unfulfilled 10 years after the hijackings. Among the findings they say have not been fully addressed:

An executive-level Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board charged with safe-guarding the rights of Americans remains virtually non-existent.

There is still no comprehensive exit system in place for when foreign nationals leave the United States.

Nationwide standards and consistent security features for identification documents like drivers licenses have not been fully implemented.

“It is still not clear” that the newly created Director of National Intelligence has better integrated the intelligence community, which should foster the sharing of information between agencies about possible threats. “We are also concerned that there have been four DNIs in six years.”

Attempts to make it easier for public safety officials to communicate effectively with one another during disasters “continue to languish.”

The aviation screening system still falls short, and despite a decade of working on the problem, “explosives detection technology lacks reliability and lags in its capability to identify concealed weapons and explosives.”

Reblogged from Perilous

August 16th, 2011

FBI creates website detailing its 10-year long response to Sept. 11

ageofperil:

By the numbers: How the FBI responded to 9/11

7,000 agents aided in the recovery and investigation

500,000 investigative leads responded to by agents

167,000 interviews conducted by agents

5 FBI dogs participated in search for Pentagon survivors

1,600 small or damaged pieces of paper examined

126,600 finger-print comparisons conducted

35 terabytes of data investigated by computer experts in first 30 days

170,000 images snapped by photographers

1.8 million tons of debris sifted through for remains of victims

Source fbi.gov

Reblogged from Perilous

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Homeland security office creates ‘intelligence spam,’ insiders claim

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