National Security

National

Keeping Track Of The 'Security-Industrial Complex'

10:59am June 22, 2013

Weekend Edition Saturday host Scott Simon talks with Washington Post investigative reporter Robert O'Harrow about the merging of public and private surveillance and the growth of the "security-industrial complex" in the U.S.

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National

U.S. Charges NSA Leaker Snowden With Espionage

7:23pm June 21, 2013

The U.S. Justice Department has prepared the documents to formally charge Edward Snowden with espionage. Snowden is the former contractor who has publicized details about U.S. surveillance programs

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Jim Comey, then deputy attorney general, testifies during a House Judiciary Committee hearing in 2005.

Obama's Pick To Lead FBI Adds New Layer To Privacy Debate

4:34am June 21, 2013

by Carrie Johnson

President Obama will nominate Jim Comey to be the country's next FBI director on Friday. Comey is best-known for raising alarms about a secret surveillance program during the Bush years. That issue has taken on new resonance after the latest revelations of government surveillance.

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At A Texas Base, Battling Army's Top Threat: Suicide

6:42pm June 20, 2013

by Quil Lawrence

Suicide killed more U.S. troops last year than combat in Afghanistan, a trend that's likely to continue this year. The causes and remedies are complicated, but Fort Bliss in Texas has bucked the trend. Suicides have declined there, after implementation of an interactive suicide prevention program.

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The National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters at Fort Meade, Md.

'The Watchers' Have Had Their Eyes On Us For Years

3:07pm June 19, 2013

Shane Harris, an author and journalist who covers intelligence, surveillance and cybersecurity for a number of publications, says that the revelations about the NSA from Edward Snowden are nothing new, and that such programs have a significant recent history in the United States.

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National

Obama's Former Legal Adviser Urges U.S. To 'Disciple Drones'

2:03pm June 18, 2013

Harold Koh, who was a legal architect for President Barack Obama's drone policies, criticized the administration's lack of transparency on its use of drones. In a speech at Oxford University, the former legal adviser for the State Department suggested the U.S. "discipline drones."

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Why The FISA Court Is Not What It Used To Be

1:52pm June 18, 2013

by Nina Totenberg

President Obama says federal judges have been "overseeing" the recently exposed government surveillance programs. But few, if any, experts in the Bush or Obama administrations believe that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has the enforcement teeth it once had.

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National

After SCOTUS DNA Ruling, What Changes For Police?

1:54pm June 17, 2013

The Supreme Court ruled in June that police can routinely take DNA samples from people who are arrested for comparison against a national database. The decision raises major questions about how law enforcement and criminal justice processes will change.

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Protesters gather outside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday to rally against the National Security Agency's recently detailed surveillance programs.

National

Privacy Past And Present: A Saga Of American Ambivalence

6:17pm June 16, 2013

by NPR Staff

American privacy concerns go back as far as the country's origins. Today, in the wake of major revelations about the scope of the National Security Agency's surveillance, polls show that feelings are still mixed.

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The National Security Agency's headquarters in Fort Meade, Md.

National

The Case For Surveillance: Keeping Up With Terrorist Tactics

4:40pm June 15, 2013

by Tom Gjelten

Since the leak of the National Security Agency's data-gathering program, U.S. officials have been defending their strategies. But they've been arguing for years that intelligence gathering has to keep up with the new ways America's enemies are planning and communicating.

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