Center for Investigative Reporting

May 4th, 2012

Explainer: How Guantanamo’s ‘war court’ differs from federal system

Tomorrow, five men accused of planning the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people on 9/11 will be arraigned in a military courtroom at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. The high-profile case will shine an international spotlight on a “war court” system that, despite legal reforms, is derided as inherently unjust by critics and lauded by proponents as the most secure, efficient forum to try detainees suspected of terrorism. A trial could offer an intimate look at the events leading up to the 2001 terrorist attacks and also could raise the issues of torture and inmate abuse that became synonymous with the infamous prison.

We break down how the Guantanamo ‘war court’ will differ from the federal system. Check out our Explainer for more.

Image: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is shown in this file photograph during his arrest March 1, 2003. The accused 9/11 mastermind and four suspected co-conspirators are facing trial in a Guantanamo war crimes tribunal on charges that could carry the death penalty. Credit: Courtesy of U.S. News & World Report/Reuters

March 30th, 2012

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Our new investigation looks at a Department of Defense program that allows local police departments around the country to receive free new and used military surplus gear. The equipment bazaar is another sign of how aggressively some police departments increasingly resemble small armies. Civilian law enforcement have equipped themselves with assault-style weapons and even tanks, first as part of the war on drugs and later in the name of fighting terrorism.

Police nationwide sought $498 million worth of equipment, including 60 aircraft and thousands more weapons than in 2010. For example, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department took control of this $4 million patrol boat in 2005.

January 12th, 2012

Private company hoarding license-plate data on U.S. drivers

Capitalizing on one of the fastest-growing trends in law enforcement, a private California-based company has compiled a database bulging with more than 550 million license-plate records on both innocent and criminal drivers that can be searched by police.

The technology has raised alarms among civil libertarians, who say it threatens the privacy of drivers. It’s also evidence that 21st-century technology may be evolving too quickly for the courts and public opinion to keep up. The U.S. Supreme Court is only now addressing whether investigators can secretly attach a GPS monitoring device to cars without a warrant.

A ruling in that case has yet to be handed down, but a telling exchange occurred during oral arguments. Chief Justice John Roberts asked lawyers for the government if even he and other members of the court could feasibly be tracked by GPS without a warrant. Yes, came the answer.

Meanwhile, police around the country have been affixing high-tech scanners to the exterior of their patrol cars, snapping a picture of every passing license plate and automatically comparing them to databases of outstanding warrants, stolen cars and wanted bank robbers. Read more.

Photo Courtesy of Steve Reed: Security guards at the Arden Fair mall in Sacramento see this visual interface after digitally scanning a license plate.

December 23rd, 2011

Contractor earns $46M to dispose of all that crazy junk airports have to seize from your travel bag

ageofperil:

Fireworks. Medical needles. Insect spray. Cooking fuel. Flammable gas torches. Ammunition. Yes, people forget they have cooking fuel in their travel bags. Or, amazingly, they thought it was acceptable in the first place to take cooking fuel onto an airplane.

So what happens to all that bizarre crap security screeners have to confiscate? It doesn’t just disappear, after all. Turns out a mammoth defense contractor you’ve probably never heard of called Science Applications International Corporation gets paid a lot of money to dispose of it. They just won a contract worth $46.8 million for that very task from the Transportation Security Administration.

But unfortunately, the trade pub Government Security News had some difficulty getting the whole story:

SAIC, which was awarded a contract valued at $46,806,079 on Dec. 19, 2011, declined an opportunity to be interviewed by Government Security News on its plans to execute this contract.

Image: Niezam Sandakan

Reblogged from Perilous

December 21st, 2011

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Despite an overall decline in urban violence since the early 1990s, the past century has witnessed a series of dramatic and bloody events that have prompted law enforcement to examine their tactics and demand more sophisticated equipment to deal with perceived threats. Significant police reforms – from domestic surveillance to SWAT teams and special training on “urban warfare” – have been sought since these flashpoints of violence. Learn more about flashpoints in urban violence in our new timeline feature.

December 21st, 2011

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More than 14,000 people attended the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Chicago this October. This 19,000-pound tactical protector vehicle, the Pit-Bull by Virginia-based Alpine Armoring, is nearly 8 feet tall, more than 7 feet wide, and comes standard with nine gun ports and a V-10 engine. Learn more about the militarization of local police departments in our new investigation.

December 12th, 2011

New website makes it startlingly easy to see what files you've been downloading from the Internet

ageofperil:

I don’t use online file-sharing networks to download copyrighted music and movies, not due to some position I take on the matter, but mostly because I’m paranoid about linking my computer to anything that can feasibly inject malicious software. So I didn’t hesitate to drop by the site Youhavedownloaded.com, because I knew they wouldn’t have any records of my Internet activity. Guess I took the Department of Homeland Security’s whole “Stop. Think. Connect.” cybersecurity campaign seriously.

But so seemingly powerful is the new site, I’m not providing a link to it here. You’ll have to decide whether to go there yourself. Once you do, the site will automatically check your IP address against a massive database of 50 million unique identities and spit out a list of files you may have downloaded from a file-sharing network, everything from “Pink Librarians” to “Maroon 5 Reinterprets the Christmas Classics.”

How does the site do this? Many file-trading networks are public, and the entertainment industry relies on this fact to collect information for randomly targeted lawsuits against people who are alleged to have illegally downloaded copyright-protected material. Youhavedownloaded.com is simply making it easier for the world to see this information.

As one would imagine, the site’s founders have already received panicked emails from Internet users. According to blogger Brian Krebs:

[Site founder Suren] Ter-Saakov said he’s received emails from users whose information was listed but who deny having downloaded any files (he also said people can have their information removed on request). ‘One guy claimed he downloaded stuff only because his grandmother was ill and he wanted to watch a ‘Harold & Kumar’ movie to cheer himself up,’ Ter-Saakov said. ‘Another kid wrote and asked to have his information removed because he was downloading porn and was afraid his parents would be able to see what kinds of movies he downloaded.’

Krebs adds that there are significant limitations with the database. IP addresses can be dynamic and change over time, or an address at a home or business may cover the activity of multiple users. But searching “Family.Guy” out of curiosity turned up numerous IP addresses, as seen above. We already know that relying too heavily on IP addresses for copyright-infringement lawsuits can turn unwitting elderly women into civil defendants. It’s also important to point out that the site’s creators believe they can “see” only about 20 percent of the file-sharing activity online.

Reblogged from Perilous

November 28th, 2011

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When Luis Alarid was a child, his mother would seat him in the car while she smuggled people and drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border. She was the sweet-talking commuter, he was her cute boy, and the mother-son ploy regularly kept customs inspectors from peeking inside the trunk.

Twenty-five years later, Alarid was back at the border in San Diego, seeking a job as a customs inspector. To get hired by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, he first needed to clear screening that examined his personal, financial and work histories.

Alarid had served in the Marines and Army, which was a factor in his favor. But there was cause for concern: His finances were in shambles, including $30,000 in credit card debt. His mother, father and other relatives had been convicted of or indicted on charges of smuggling.

After the background check and an interview, Alarid was cleared for a border posting.

Within months, he turned his government job into a lucrative criminal enterprise. In cahoots with a gang that included his uncle and, allegedly, his mother, Alarid let cars into California filled with drugs and illegal immigrants.

Customs and Border Protection agents and officers are increasingly becoming the target of corruption investigations. Click the photo above to see some recent cases. And read more of our article with the Los Angeles Times.

November 10th, 2011

Nixon Grand Jury Testimony Released

From NPR: “The Nixon Library and National Archives have released a trove of documents relating to former President Richard Nixon’s grand jury testimony. The testimony, taken after Nixon resigned, was the first by a sitting president. Nixon was interviewed at his California home on June 23 and 24, 1975, after he had been pardoned by President Gerald Ford.”

Photo by AP.

Center for Investigative Reporting

Explainer: How Guantanamo’s ‘war court’ differs from federal system

Private company hoarding license-plate data on U.S. drivers

Nixon Grand Jury Testimony Released

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