In as much as a blog is something of an exercise in self-indulgence, it is nevertheless nice to get a sense of who you are reaching. For those who are keen on knowing who your fellow readers are: Over 85% of you are registered as coming from a .com, which is good because it means…

On Target I knew there was a reason I shopped at Target so much more than I do a certain other large retail chain. In the past few years, [Target] has taken a lead role in teaching government agencies how to fight crime by applying state-of-the-art technology used in its 1,400 stores. Target’s effort has…

I’m amazed at the stunning lack of understanding about the now widely reported NSA terrorism surveillance program. I expect as much for the yak-o-sphere, but listening to the AG go round and round with the Senate Judiciary Committee made me dizzy. Surely this august panel isn’t this dim? Oh wait, I forgot we were talking…

Eli Lake throws a log on the fire: The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is studying 12 hours of audio recordings between Saddam Hussein and his top advisers that may provide clues to the whereabouts of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. The committee has already confirmed through the intelligence community that the recordings of…

The director of the CIA has launched a major internal probe into media leaks about covert operations. In an agencywide e-mail, Porter Goss blamed “a very small number of people” for leaks about secret CIA operations that, in his words, “do damage to the credibility of the agency.” According to people familiar with the Goss…

Math geeks strike back!

. . . Same old stuff again . . . UPI reports that even during the “long war” recruiting intelligence officers isn’t a cake walk: U.S.News & World Report said Saturday the CIA would not be able to meet a demand by members of Congress and President George W. Bush to expand its human intelligence…

Written to cast more shadows on the NSA terrorist surveillance program, but the bottom line issue is captured in the beginning of this piece in the Washington Post: Fewer than 10 U.S. citizens or residents a year, according to an authoritative account, have aroused enough suspicion during warrantless eavesdropping to justify interception of their domestic…

One thing has been strikingly absent from the public debate about the terrorist surveillance program run by the National Security Agency: Perspective. While we may not know the full scope of the use of personal information by our intelligence services, we know quite a bit about the routine use and compromise of our most personal…

Slate takes a brief look at intel whiste-blowers and the potential significance of Russ’ testimony next week. I’m particularly fond of the wrap-up: Sources in addition to Tice sketched out the wiretapping program for the Times. But since the revelations became public, no one else has come forward. In an echo chamber of unnamed “senior…