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FBI databases on Americans being sifted to identify risks posed by possible terrorists The FBI is gathering and sorting information about Americans to help search for potential terrorists, insurance cheats and crooked pharmacists, according to a government report. Records about identity thefts, real estate transactions, motor vehicle accidents and complaints about Internet drug companies are being searched for common threads to aid law enforcement officials, the Justice Department said in a report to Congress on the agency's data-mining practices that was obtained Tuesday. In addition, the report disclosed government plans to build a new database to assess the risk posed by people identified as potential or suspected terrorists. The chairman of the Senate committee that oversees the Justice Department said the database was "ripe for abuse." The American Civil Liberties Union immediately derided the quality of the information that could be used to score someone as a terror threat. The report, sent to Congress this week, marked the department's first public detailing of six of its data-mining tools, which look for patterns to catch criminals. The disclosure was required by lawmakers when they renewed the USA Patriot Act in 2005. It comes as the Justice Department faces sharp criticism from Congress and civil liberties advocates for violating peoples' privacy rights in terror and spy investigations....
Senate hearing to probe Ramos-Compean prosecution Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein will preside over a Senate judiciary committee hearing examining the prosecution of former Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. As WND reported, Feinstein believes the agents' 11- and 12-year sentences for their actions in the shooting of a Mexican drug smuggler were excessive. "I strongly believe that the sentences in this case are too extreme, given the criminal nature of the defendant and his possession of large quantities of drugs," Feinstein said in a statement earlier this year. "These men were given sentences that some individuals who are convicted of murder wouldn't receive." Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., is asking a House committee also to examine the case. The congressman wants to look at the involvement of the Mexican government in the decision to prosecute the agents and Texas Deputy Sheriff Gilmer Hernandez. Sutton also prosecuted Hernandez, who was convicted of violating the civil rights of two illegal aliens injured from shell fragments that struck them as the officer shot at the tires of a van in which they escaped from a routine traffic stop. The van driver had tried to run over Hernandez....
In sting, agents buy material for 'dirty bomb' Undercover congressional investigators posing as West Virginia businessmen obtained a license with almost no scrutiny from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that let them buy enough radioactive material from U.S. suppliers to build a "dirty bomb," a new government report says. The investigators obtained the license within 28 days from officials at the NRC, the report by the Government Accountability Office says. NRC officials approved the request with a minimal background check that included no face-to-face interview or visit to the purported company to ensure it existed and complied with safety rules. Using a post-office box at Mail Boxes Etc., a telephone and a fax machine, the undercover men from the GAO obtained the license "without ever leaving their desks," the report says. After counterfeiting copies of the license, the GAO undercover agents ordered portable moisture-density gauges, which contain radioactive americium-241 and cesium-137 and are commonly used at construction sites to analyze soil, water and pavement. The investigators ordered 45 gauges - enough to build a bomb with sufficient radioactive material to qualify as a level-3 threat on the International Atomic Energy Agency's scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the most hazardous....
Military Files Left Unprotected Online Detailed schematics of a military detainee holding facility in southern Iraq. Geographical surveys and aerial photographs of two military airfields outside Baghdad. Plans for a new fuel farm at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. The military calls it "need-to-know" information that would pose a direct threat to U.S. troops if it were to fall into the hands of terrorists. It's material so sensitive that officials refused to release the documents when asked. But it's already out there, posted carelessly to file servers by government agencies and contractors, accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. In a survey of servers run by agencies or companies involved with the military and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, The Associated Press found dozens of documents that officials refused to release when asked directly, citing troop security....
N.J. senator proposes toy gun ban A New Jersey senator wants to make it illegal to sell or give to anyone under age 18 toy guns that look so realistic they can be mistaken for a real firearm. "The margin between a child's stupid mistake and a tragic ending is far too thin," said Sen. Nicholas Scutari. Scutari, D-Union, introduced the proposal in late June and plans to push it when the Legislature reconvenes late this year. He said the bill stems from an incident in a Union Township where four students were suspended after bringing a cap gun to school. "We need to stress to our children that guns are not toys, but deadly weapons which should always be regarded with extreme caution and handled with respect," Scutari said. "Restricting access to imitation firearms will help to drive that point home." Gun rights advocates plan to fight the bill. "It misses the mark because it demonizes toys instead of criminal behavior," said Scott Bach, president of the New Jersey Association of Rifle and Pistol Clubs, which is the National Rifle Association's New Jersey organization. If the measure is enacted, New Jersey would join several states that have restricted access to realistic toy guns to minors....